Owaraha or Owa Raha (also known as Santa Ana) is an island in Makira-Ulawa Province, Solomon Islands.

Description

This relatively small coral island is 5.6 km long and 4.5 km wide. It is located at the eastern end of Makira (San Cristobal), separated from it by a 7.5 km wide strait, and just north of smaller

Owariki Owariki or Owa Riki (formerly Santa Catalina) is an island in Solomon Islands; it is located in Makira-Ulawa Province. Description This small coral island is 2.8 km long and 2 km wide. It is located off the eastern end of Makira (San Cr ...

(Santa Catalina). The sound between Owaraha and Owariki is only 2.5 km wide. The island has two main villages Gupuna (or Ghupuna) and Nafinotoga. The inhabitants of Owaraha speak the Owa language and share the same culture with the people in Owariki and in the eastern end of Makira Island. The Pagewa and Aiga Tatari clans of Owaraha and other nearby islands claim descent from the refugees from

Teonimanu Teonimanu is a former island in the Solomon Islands; it was located south of Ulawa and north of the Olu Malau (Three Sisters) Islands in what is now Makira-Ulawa Province. Lark Shoal is probably a remnant of the island. The Pagewa and Aiga Tatari cl ...

which was washed away.

History

First recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of

Álvaro de Mendaña Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

on 4 July 1568. More precisely the sighting and also landing in Owahara was due to a local voyage done by a small boat, in the accounts the

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...

''Santiago'', commanded by

Francisco Muñoz Rico Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

and having Hernán Gallego as pilot. They charted it as ''Santa Ana''. Owaraha was visited by

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

anthropologist and photographer Hugo Bernatzik in 1932. Bernatzik carefully documented daily life among the island people and published an

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

a few years later. He also took some of the best and earliest photographs of the islanders, reflecting a culture that he deemed was dying in contact with the modern world. During his sojourn in Owaraha Bernatzik met

Heinrich Küper Heinrich Küper (1888 in Hamburg Germany – 1950 in Owaraha) was a German adventurer who lived in the Solomon Islands. Biography Küper lived in Gupuna village, Owaraha, Makira-Ulawa Province, between 1912 and 1950, the year of his death. He w ...

, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

adventurer who lived in Gupuna village. Küper was married to a respectable local woman, Kafagamurirongo, and was the only white who ever reached the ''arafa'' (high person) status within a Melanesian community. Küper's grandchildren still live in Owaraha.Sandra Revolon, ''Heinrich Küper: le Blanc dont on parle à mi-voix'', Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie (CREDO), Campus Saint Charles, 3 Place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille, France, '' Journal de la Société des Océanistes''. ISSN 0300-953X

References

Islands of the Solomon Islands {{SolomonIslands-geo-stub