Tinakula is a conical

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

which forms an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

north of Nendo in

Temotu Province Temotu (or Te Motu, literally "the island" in Polynesian) is the easternmost province of Solomon Islands. The province was formerly known as Santa Cruz Islands Province. It consists, essentially, of two chains of islands which run parallel to ...

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 ...

. It lies at the north end of the

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 ...

. It is about wide and rises

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, rising from the

sea floor The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

. The volcano was first recorded in eruption in 1595 when

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 ...

sailed past it.

History and occupation

The island is uninhabited. A population was eradicated when the volcano erupted around 1840 and

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...

s swept all sides of the island. In 1951,

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

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 ...

and

Nupani Nalongo and Nupani is a small atoll in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a coral reef totally encircling a 6 km wide lagoon. Nupani Island, also called Nimba, is inhabited with some 100 people, while Nalongo has no permanent habitation ...

settled on the island, which reached a peak population of 130, before it had to be evacuated with the 1971 eruption. The village of ''Temateneni'' was on the southeast coast. In the late 1980s, two families (fewer than 10 people) from Nupani made another attempt at settlement. The first recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of

on 7 September 1595, when sailing towards

Nendo Island Nendo may refer to: * Nendo Island Nendo may refer to: * Nendo Island, part of the Solomon Islands * Nendo (design firm), design firm founded by Sato Oki {{Disambiguation ..., part of the Solomon Islands * Nendo (design firm), design fir ...

where they stayed for several weeks. The volcano was described as lofty, with a well shaped peak, and a circumference of around 3 leagues (6.6km).Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.136. There is a brief reference in the ''Melbourne Age'' newspaper of 10 November 1868 of the journey of the barque ''Tycoon'', a ship carrying tea from

Foo Chow Foo Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

for the Joshua Brothers. The ship, it states, "... passed Volcano Island, one of the South (Santa) Cruz Group, on the 17th of October (1868). It was then in active operation, vomiting forth immense volumes of fire and smoke."

References and sources

;References ;Sources *

External links

Tinakula featured on Solomon Islands stamps
{{Authority control Active volcanoes Mountains of the Solomon Islands Stratovolcanoes of the Solomon Islands Uninhabited islands of the Solomon Islands Former populated places in Oceania Holocene stratovolcanoes

History and occupation

See also

References and sources

External links