Kwakéa (or Pakea, or Qakea ) is an islet located east of

Vanua Lava Vanua Lava is the second largest of the Banks Islands in Torba Province, Vanuatu, after slightly larger Gaua. It is located about 120 km north-northeast of Espiritu Santo and north of Gaua. Name The name ''Vanua Lava'' comes from the Mota ...

in the

Banks Islands The Banks Islands (in Bislama ''Bankis'') are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu. Together with the Torres Islands to their northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba. The island group lies about north of Maewo, and include ...

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 ...

. According to the 2009 census, it has a population of only 29.

Geography

The island of Kwakéa has a monsoon climate. The average temperature is 22 °C. The warmest month is March (23 °C), and the coldest month is September (22 °C). The average annual rainfall is 3337 millimeters. The channel that flows between Kwakea and Vanua Lava is known as Dudley Channel. Islet

Nawila Nawila (also Ngéré Néwet, Nawila, Île Nowéla, Île Nivoula, Île Niwula Pulo) is a small uninhabited island in Torba Province of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. Name Geography Nawila lies 500 m east of Kwakéa in the Banks Islands The ...

lies 500 m west of Kwakéa.

Name

The spellings ''Kwakéa'' (or ''Kwakea'') and ''Pakea'' represent two different attempts at transcribing the form , which is the island's name in the

Mota language Mota is an Oceanic language spoken by about 750 people on Mota island, in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu. The language (named after the island) is one of the most conservative Torres–Banks languages, and the only one to keep its inherited five-v ...

. This form is rendered as ''Qakea'' in Mota's orthography. The same island is known under slightly different names in the vernacular languages of the region: ''Qakē'' () in Vurës; ''Qeke'' () in Mwesen; ''Aqke'' () in

Mwotlap Mwotlap (pronounced ; formerly known as ''Motlav'') is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people in Vanuatu. The majority of speakers are found on the island of Motalava in the Banks Islands, with smaller communities in the islands of Ra ...

. All of these names can be derived from a form *''ᵐBwaᵑgea'' in Proto-Torres-Banks.

History

The islet was once settled by migrants from nearby

Mota Mota, MOTA or variations thereof may refer to: Geography * Mota (island), Vanuatu * Mota, Ethiopia, a town * Mota, Gujarat, India, a town * Mota, Ljutomer, Slovenia, a village Music * ''M.O.T.A.'' (album), a 2005 album by Cultura Profética * "M ...

. In addition, the anthropologist Robert Codrington spoke of an earlier migration of

Polynesians Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sou ...

from

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

sometime during the first half of the 19th century, around 50 years before he wrote his work on Melanesian languages in 1885. However, they were forced to leave after a series of quarrels with the native

Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in a wide area from Indonesia's New Guinea to as far East as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages of the Austronesian language fa ...

and when they tried to return a year later, they were attacked and were driven off.

Robert Henry Codrington Robert Henry Codrington (15 September 1830, Wroughton, Wiltshire – 11 September 1922)Davidson, Allan K. "The Legacy of Robert Henry Codrington." ''International Bulletin of Missionary Research.'' Oct 2003, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p. 171-176full tex ...

's
The Melanesian Languages, pp. 9
'. In the mid-1890s, English settlers Frank and Alice Whitford purchased the island from the native title owners, who were from Mota. The Whitfords created palm plantations, but a hurricane on November 25, 1939, wiped out the island, and nothing was ever redeveloped. The only thing that remains is the Whitford family cemetery.

References

External links

University of Canterbury LibraryWhitford storiesExperiencing new worlds
Islands of Vanuatu Torba Province {{Vanuatu-geo-stub