These rainforest-covered islands constitute Manus Province, the smallest and least-populous province of Papua New Guinea, in its Islands Region. The total area is 2,100 km2 (810 sq mi). The province had a population of 60,485 at the 2011 Census. Many of the smaller Admiralty Islands are atolls and uninhabited.
Islands
The larger islands in the center of the group are Manus Island and Los Negros Island. The other larger islands are Tong Island, Pak Island, Rambutyo Island, Lou Island, and Baluan Island to the east, Mbuke Island to the south and Bipi Island to the west of Manus Island. Other islands that have been noted as significant places in the history of Manus include Ndrova Island, Pitylu Island and Ponam Island.[citation needed]
The temperature of the Admiralty Islands varies little throughout the year, reaching daily highs of 30–32 °C (86–90 °F) and 20–24 °C (68–75 °F) at night. Average annual rainfall is 3,382 mm (133 in) and is somewhat seasonal, with June–August being the wettest months.[citation needed]
Manus reaches an elevation of 700 m (2,300 ft) and is volcanic in origin and probably broke through the ocean's surface in the late Miocene, 8–10 million years ago. The substrate of the island is either directly volcanic or from uplifted coral limestone.[citation needed]
The main town in the islands is Lorengau on Manus, connected by road to an airport on nearby Los Negros Island, otherwise transport around the islands is by boat. There is little tourism, although the seas are attractive to divers, including Jean-Michel Cousteau who spent time on nearby Wuvulu Island in the 1970s.
Ecology
Due to the isolated location, the rain forests of the Admiralty Islands are home to rare and endemic species of birds, bats and other animals, and are considered a separate ecoregion, the Admiralty Islands lowland rain forests. The majority of the forests on Manus still remain, but some of the smaller islands have been cleared for coconut farming. The typical tree species are various Calophyllum and Sararanga species.[1]
The 58.5 km2 (22.6 sq mi) Ndrolowa Wildlife Management Area was created in March 1985 south of Lorengau on Manus Island and contains both terrestrial and marine regions.[2] A further 240 km2 (93 sq mi) protected area has been established around the highest mountain on Manus, Mount Dremsel, but the level of protection remains undetermined in the UNEP World Database on Protected Areas.[3]
Along with New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands Archipelago, the Admiralty Islands were first inhabited approximately 40,000 years[citation needed] ago, in the initial wave of migration out of Southeast Asia that also populated Australia. This early society appears to have cultivated taro, and to have deliberately introduced wild animals from New Guinea such as bandicoots and large rats. Obsidian was gathered and traded throughout the Admiralty Islands archipelago.[5]
The Lapita culture arose around 3,500 years ago, and its extent ranged from the Admiralty Islands to Tonga and Samoa. Its origins are contested, but it may well have been a product of another wave of migration from Southeast Asia. Lapita society featured renowned pottery, stilt houses, the introduction of domestic animals such as pigs, dogs, and chickens, and substantial developments in agriculture and boat technology, allowing long-distance trade to develop. Lapita society, as a distinct culture and extended trade network, collapsed around 2,000 years ago.[5]
^ abSpriggs, Matthew (1997). "Recent History (The Holocene)". In Denoon, Donald (ed.). The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 52–69.
^Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.121
^Coello, Francisco "Conflicto hispano-alemán" Boletín de Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid, t.XIX. 2º semestre 1885, Madrid, pp.234,309,310
