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Temotu (or Te Motu, literally "the island" in Polynesian) is the easternmost
province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
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 capita ...
. The province was formerly known as
Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...
Province. It consists, essentially, of two chains of islands which run parallel to each other from the northwest to the southeast. Its area is .


Administrative divisions

Temotu Province is sub-divided into the following wards: Temotu Province (pop 21,362) *
Reef Islands The Reef Islands are a loose collection of 16 islands in the northwestern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. These islands have historically also been known by the names of Swallow Islands and Matema Islands. Geography The islan ...
** Polynesian Outer Islands (353) ** Fenualoa (1,305) ** Nipua/Nopoli (880) ** Lipe/Temua (796) ** Manuopo (1,030) ** Nenumpo (1,163) *
Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...
** Graciosa Bay (1,264) ** North East Santa Cruz (1,843) ** Nanggu/Lord Howe (1,863) ** Nea/Noole (1,770) ** Nevenema (947) ** Luva Station (2,335) ** Neo (1,558) * isolated islands and groups **
Duff Islands The Duff Islands are a small island group lying to the northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. They are also sometimes known as the Wilson Islands. Location and geography The islands are located at 9°5 ...
(509) **
Utupua Utupua is an island in the Santa Cruz Islands, located 66 km to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group, between Vanikoro and Santa Cruz proper (Nendo Island). This island belongs administratively to the Temotu Province of the Solomon Is ...
(1,168) **
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 thoug ...
(1,293) **
Tikopia Tikopia is a high island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It forms a part of the Melanesian nation state of Solomon Islands but is culturally Polynesian. The first Europeans arrived on 22 April 1606 as part of the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fer ...
(1,285)


Islands

The islands or island groups which make up the province are: *
Anuta Anuta is a small high island in the southeastern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu, one of the smallest permanently inhabited Polynesian islands. It is one of the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia. Geography The island ...
*
Duff Islands The Duff Islands are a small island group lying to the northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. They are also sometimes known as the Wilson Islands. Location and geography The islands are located at 9°5 ...
(including
Taumako Taumako is the largest of the Duff Islands, in the Solomon Islands. This island has steep sides and rises to a height of above sea level. It is composed of basaltic lavas and pyroclastics like the other islands in the Duffs. The inhabitants of ...
) *
Fatutaka Fatutaka, Fatu Taka or Patu Taka (also known as Fataka and Mitre Island) is a small high island in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu in the south-west Pacific Ocean. The easternmost of the Solomon Islands, Fatutaka is located southeast o ...
*
Malo Mal, which in Spanish means ''bad or evil'', may also refer to: Places * Malo, Italy, a town *Malo Island, formerly known as St. Bartholomew, Vanuatu * Malo (Solomon Islands), an island *Malo, Washington, Ferry County, Washington, United States * ...
*
Reef Islands The Reef Islands are a loose collection of 16 islands in the northwestern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. These islands have historically also been known by the names of Swallow Islands and Matema Islands. Geography The islan ...
(including
Fenualoa Fenualoa is the second largest island in the Reef Islands, administratively located in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. Geography The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is some 17 metres. At low tide, Fenualoa is connected to the n ...
,
Lomlom Lomlom is the largest of the Reef Islands in the Solomon Islands. It is located in Temotu Province, measuring seven by four kilometres and separated from Fenualoa by a deep channel. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is some 21 metres ...
, Makalom,
Matema Matema is a town in southwestern Tanzania. The town is primarily a fishing village with some agriculture. It is located on the northern tip of Lake Nyasa and is 90 kilometres (straight-line distance) south-east of Mbeya Mbeya is a city loc ...
, Nalongo and Nupani,
Nifiloli Nifiloli is an island in the Reef Islands (Latitude: 10° 10' 60 S, Longitude: 166° 13' 60 E), in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu Province, Temotu. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 19 metres. Despite its location in Melane ...
,
Nukapu Nukapu is one of the islands of the nation of Solomon Islands. It is in the Reef Islands group in Temotu Province; the easternmost province of the Solomons. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 15 metres. The island contains a memo ...
, Patteson Shoal, Pigeon Island and
Pileni 300px, Map of the Reef Islands Pileni is a culturally important island in the Reef Islands, in the northern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. Despite its location in Melanesia, the population of the islands is Polynesian. Pileni ...
) *
Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...
(including the large island Nendö) *
Tikopia Tikopia is a high island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It forms a part of the Melanesian nation state of Solomon Islands but is culturally Polynesian. The first Europeans arrived on 22 April 1606 as part of the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fer ...
*
Tinakula Tinakula is a conical stratovolcano which forms an island north of Nendo in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. It lies at the north end of the Santa Cruz Islands. It is about wide and rises above sea level, rising from the sea floor. The v ...
*
Utupua Utupua is an island in the Santa Cruz Islands, located 66 km to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group, between Vanikoro and Santa Cruz proper (Nendo Island). This island belongs administratively to the Temotu Province of the Solomon Is ...
*
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 thoug ...
(including
Banie Banie (formerly ) is a village in Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Banie. It lies approximately south-east of Gryfino and south of the re ...
and Teanu) The provincial capital is
Lata Lata (Hindi: लता) is a Hindu/Sanskrit Indian female given name, which means "creeper" and "vine". Lata may refer to: Notable people named Lata *Lata Bhatt (born 1954), Indian singer. * Lata (born 1975), Musician. *Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2 ...
, located on Nendö, the largest and most important of the Santa Cruz islands.


Population

The population of 21,362 (2009) is quite diverse for the small land area encompassed. The Santa Cruz Islanders are predominantly
Melanesian Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to: * Melanesians * Melanesian mythology * Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...
, although the inhabitants of Tikopia, Anuta, the Duff Islands and some of the Reef Islands are
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 ...
.


Languages

The province has given its name to the ''
Temotu languages The Temotu languages, named after Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands, are a branch of Oceanic languages proposed in Ross & Næss (2007) to unify the Reefs – Santa Cruz languages with Utupua and Vanikoro, each a group of three related languag ...
'', a putative linguistic subgroup within the broader
Oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
family of languages. The languages spoken in the province include all nine '' Temotu'' languages proper, plus two
Polynesian outlier Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian societies that geographically lie outside the main region of Polynesian influence, known as the Polynesian Triangle; instead, Polynesian outliers are scattered in the two other Pacific su ...
languages:
Vaeakau-Taumako Vaeakau-Taumako (formerly known as ''Pileni'') is a Polynesian language spoken in some of the Reef Islands as well as in the Taumako Islands (also known as the Duff Islands) in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. The language is spoke ...
and
Tikopia Tikopia is a high island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It forms a part of the Melanesian nation state of Solomon Islands but is culturally Polynesian. The first Europeans arrived on 22 April 1606 as part of the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fer ...
.


See also

*
Remote Oceania Remote Oceania is the part of Oceania settled within the last 3,000 to 3,500 years, comprising south-eastern Island Melanesia and islands in the open Pacific east of the Solomon Islands: Fiji, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Polynesia, t ...
*


References


External links


Solomon Islands Photogallery of Temotu Province. Includes a map.

Provinces of the Solomon Islands States and territories established in 1981 {{Solomons-geo-stub