The Engineer Islands are an archipelago in the

Solomon Sea The Solomon Sea is a sea located within the Pacific Ocean. It lies between Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Many major battles were fought there during World War II. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of ...

belonging to

Papua New-Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Geography

The Engineer Islands belong to

Milne Bay Province Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,345 km² of land and 252,990 km² of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. The province has ...

, and are one of the groups forming 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 ...

. They are located on the western edge of Louisiade archipelago, east of Basilaki and south of Normanby . The islands form an unusual group consisting of high islands, low coral islands, atolls and underwater reefs, which are located in a radius of 24 km to 14 km away. The three largest islands lie on the southwestern part of the group. They are: Tubetube (Slade Island), Naruaruari (Skelton Island ) and Kwaraiwa (Watts island), each about 3.5 km long and about 0.75 km wide. The islands are hilly with elevations of up to 150 m (at Slade Island). The eastern boundary of the Engineer group is marked by a crescent-shaped reef, on which the four low islands Hummock, Haszard, Button and Flat are located. In the center of the archipelago there is a reef with a semi-enclosed lagoon. on it, the islands Powell and Pender lying on the western side while Messum Island is on the eastern side.

Climate

Engineer islands have a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round. The following climate data is for Slade island.

Administration

There are several more island groups that belong to the Engineer Islands Ward: *The

Shortland Islands The Shortland Islands is an archipelago of Western Province, Solomon Islands, at . The island group lies in the extreme north-west of the country's territory, close to the south-east edge of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. The largest isl ...

are located 2 km to the northwest. * Laseinie Islands (with Koyagaugau (Dawson Island)) are located 20 km to the north. * Kegawam Islands are located 25 km to the north.

History

John Moresby Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. Life and career Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...

discovered the islands in 1873 and named them in honor of the English Engineers of his steamboat HMS Basilisk. The islands were named after the individual crew members from the engine room: Slade, Skelton, Watts, Butchart, Bright, among others.

Population

There are 4 inhabited islands, with the main village Gegadali located on Watts Island. The inhabitants of the archipelago speak Bwanabwana Language.Ethnologue, Languages of the World: Bwanabwana, A language of Papua New Guinea
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References

Archipelagoes of Papua New Guinea Islands of Milne Bay Province Louisiade Archipelago {{MilneBayProvince-geo-stub