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Bougainville
Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: Bogenvil) is the central island in Papua New Guinea's Autonomous Region of Bougainville. It was once the largest landmass in the German Empire's North Solomons. It has a total land area of 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). The province's population as a whole, including surrounding islets like the Carterets, is around 300,000. (2019 census). On the main island, Mount Balbi is the highest point at 2,715 meters (8,907 ft). Buka Island, which is significantly smaller, was discovered around the year 2000. To the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait, is a 500 km2 (190 sq mi) area.
The Solomon Islands archipelago's largest island is Bougainville. The Solomon Islands, predominantly centred in the archipelago's southern and eastern parts, are home to most of the archipelago's islands. Two of these islands, the Shortland Islands, are fewer than 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) south or southeast of Bougainville and 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of Choiseul, one of whose villages, Poroporo, confronts Bougainville.
Buka features a rocky protrusion 175 kilometres (109 miles) from New Ireland. New Ireland is the nearest of Papua New Guinea's big islands to Buka. 8,000 years ago, Bougainville was first populated. Austronesian people arrived three to four thousand years ago, bringing domesticated pigs, chicks, dogs, and obsidian tools. The French adventurer Louis Antoine de Bougainville made the first European encounter with Bougainville in 1768 when he came and christened the main island after himself.
British and American whaling ships came to the island for provisions, water, and wood in the nineteenth century. In 1899, the German Empire claimed Bougainville and annexed the island to German New Guinea. In 1902, Christian missionaries came on the island. Australia conquered German New Guinea, including Bougainville, during World War I. In 1920, a League of Nations mandate made it part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea.
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To create the United Nations Trust Territory of Papua and New Guinea, governed by Australia, the Australian Territories of Papua and New Guinea joined forces in 1949. On September 9, 1975, Australia's Parliament passed the Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975. The Act established the date of independence as September 16, 1975, and abolished Australia's remaining sovereign and legislative rights over the territory. It had been planned that Bougainville would become part of an independent Papua New Guinea shortly. Bougainville, however, declared itself the Republic of the North Solomons on September 11, 1975, in a failed effort for self-determination. The country was unable to gain international recognition, and in August 1976, a settlement was negotiated. Politically, Bougainville was integrated into Papua New Guinea, with expanded self-governance capabilities.
The Bougainville Civil War claimed almost 15,000 lives between 1988 and 1998. In 1997, New Zealand brokered peace discussions that resulted in autonomy. Under Australian guidance, a multinational Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) was dispatched. In 2001, a peace accord was signed, which included the promise of a referendum on Papua New Guinea's independence. The referendum took place between November 23 and December 7, 2019, with results announced on December 11. The referendum issue was whether Papua New Guinea should have more autonomy or outright independence. A total of 98.31% of legitimate votes were cast in favour of full independence. The vote isn't legally binding; Papua New Guinea's government controls the finances.
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The Solomon Islands rain forests ecoregion includes it. Bougainville and the neighbouring island of Buka are one landmass separated by a deep strait measuring 300 meters (980 feet). The island is 9,000 km2 (3,500 sq mi) in size, with multiple active, dormant, or inactive volcanoes rising to 2,400 meters (7,900 ft). Bagana (1,750 meters [5,740 feet]) in Bougainville's north-central region is very active, producing smoke that can be seen for many kilometres. Earthquakes happen frequently, but they only cause minor harm. As a result of a local uprising against foreign mining interests, the development of the world's most significant copper reserves in Bougainville has been halted. During the Coconut Revolution, the island was sealed off from the rest of the world by a seven-year blockade by the Papua New Guinean Army.
Bougainville Island's Autonomous Region of Bougainville in northeastern Papua New Guinea's Empress Augusta Bay is a subsistence fishing location for the Bougainville people. In honour of German Emperor William II's wife, Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Empress Augusta Bay was named after her. The Battle of Empress Augusta Harbor fought between Allied and Japanese forces in November 1943, took place at the bay. During the 1970s and 1980s, copper tailings from Rio Tinto Group's Panguna mine, the world's largest copper mine, severely contaminated the bay. Between 1989 and 1997, this problem aided in developing the secessionist Bougainville Revolutionary Army and civil war on the island.
This ecoregion consists of tropical lowland and mountain forests on oceanic islands. Hill forests cover most of the islands, with only a few reaching elevations of more than a few thousand feet (3,281 feet). A variety of flora types can be found in this ecoregion, including mangrove forests, saline swamp forests, freshwater swamps, riverine forests, and lowland and montane rain forests. For habitation, food, and medicine, the Solomon Islanders employ trees from various forest types. Large swaths of the natural forest below 400 meters (1,312 feet) have been logged or will be felled shortly.