Map of the Santa Cruz Islands (Solomon Islands)

Utupua is an island in 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 ...

, located 66 km to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group, between

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 ...

and Santa Cruz proper (

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 ...

). This island belongs administratively to the

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 ...

of 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 capita ...

Geography

Utupua is a high u-shaped island surrounded by a coral reef. Its land surface is and its highest point . Utupua has a population of 848 inhabitants (1999 census) scattered in small villages. The main villages on the island are Avita, Malombo, Tanimbili, Apakho, and Nembao. Utupua has a forested path that leads to viewpoints overlooking the coral reef that encloses the island.

Languages

Three

Oceanic languages The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...

are spoken on Utupua: *

Amba Amba or AMBA may refer to: Title * Amba Hor, alternative name for Abhor and Mehraela, Christian martyrs * Amba Sada, also known as Psote, Christian bishop and martyr in Upper Egypt Given name * Amba, the traditional first name given to the first ...

, or ''Nembao'' * Asumboa, or ''Asubuo'' * Tanimbili, or ''Tanibili''

History

First sighting by Europeans was in September 1595 by the second 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 ...

. More precisely it was sighted by Lorenzo Barreto while in command of one of the smaller vessels on a local voyage round the then called Santa Cruz, which is today's

.Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.136.

Notes

References

*

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