Hiw (sometimes spelled ''Hiu'') is the northernmost island in

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, located in

Torba Province Torba (or ''TorBa'') is the northernmost and least populous province of Vanuatu. It consists of the Banks Islands and the Torres Islands. The province's name is derived from the initial letters of "''TORres''" and "''BAnks''". Population The ...

Name

The island's name ''Hiw'' is taken from the local

Hiw language Hiw (sometimes spelled ''Hiu'') is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Hiw, in the Torres Islands of Vanuatu. With about 280 speakers, Hiw is considered endangered. Hiw is distinct from Lo-Toga, the other language of the Torres group. ...

; it is known as ''Hiu'' in neighboring

Lo-Toga Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu. The language has sometimes been called ''Loh'' ('' sic'') or ''Toga'', after either of its two dialects. Name T ...

. Etymologically, these forms reflect Proto-Torres-Banks *''siwo'', from

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Oceanic is a descendant ...

*''sipo'' “(go) down”, understood here in its geocentric sense of “located northwest”.

Geography

Hiw is the largest island in the

Torres Islands The Torres Islands are in the Torba Province of the country of Vanuatu, and is that country’s the northernmost island group. The chain of islands that make up this micro-archipelago straddles the broader cultural boundary between Island Melane ...

. It is situated east of the Torres Trench, south of

Vanikoro Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thou ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. It has an area of . The highest point is Mount Wonvara (. Hiw's climate is humid tropical. The average annual rainfall is about 4000 mm. The island is subject to frequent cyclones and earthquakes. ''Vewoag Point'' (locally called ''Ngrë Twome''), the northern cape of Hiw, is the northernmost point of land of Vanuatu. of Hiw is a submerged

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

, ''Ngwey Gakwe'' (formerly ''Recif Giraudeau''), over which the waves break.

Population

Hiw has a population of about 270 inhabitants. They are distributed in three villages, all located on the east coast: ''Yogwye'' ; ''Yaqane'' ; and the main village ''Yögevigemëne'' , whose name is sometimes shortened to ''Yugemëne'' . The language spoken on the island is also called Hiw.

Transportation

The Torres islands are served by

Torres Airport Torres Airport is an airfield serving the Torres Islands in the Torba Province, Torba provinces of Vanuatu, province in Vanuatu. It is located on Linua island, just north of Lo (island), Lo (or ''Loh'') island. Airlines and destinations Refe ...

, which is located on the

Linua Linua is an island in the Torres Islands archipelago in Torba Province of Vanuatu in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Geography Linua has a length of 2.8 km and diameter of 1 km. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 23 m ...

island, south of Hiw.

References

Islands of Vanuatu Torba Province {{Vanuatu-geo-stub