The Calvados Chain are a group of islands in the Solomon Sea, belonging to
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
within the
Louisiade Archipelago
The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea.
It is located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread o ...
.
Geography
The group extends from
Pana Varavara in the west to the small island of
Nigaho in the east over a distance of .
The easternmost island of
Nigaho is where the chain of islands end.
Pana Tinani is separated from the group by the isolated
Magamaga Channel.
The islands rise up to (Motorina) steeply from the sea and are either wooded or overgrown with grass. Many islands are surrounded by their own reefs and small lagoons. Apart from the high islands, there are numerous low coral islands and reefs.
The eastern edge of the chain lies to the northwest of
Vanatinai
Vanatinai Island (also called Tagula and Sudest, for the names of the extreme capes of the island) is a volcanic island in the southeast of the Louisiade Archipelago within Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The reef-fringed island is approxi ...
(formerly Sudest) Island.
[The Kula: New Perspectives on Massim Exchange](_blank)
pp. 469-70 (1983)
Population
Twelve of the islands are inhabited, with a total of 3276 residents as of 2014.
The islanders speak the
Misima-Paneati Language.
Islands
Primary islands in the chain:
[, oceandots.com (1999)(archive.com)]
References
{{Islands of Papua New Guinea, state=collapsed
Archipelagoes of Papua New Guinea
.
.C
Lists of islands of Papua New Guinea
Geography of Milne Bay Province