Utupua from space. Courtesy NASA
1968 map of Utupua Island
First map of Tapoua (1876)

Utupua is an island in the Santa Cruz Islands, located 66 km to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group, between Vanikoro and Santa Cruz proper (Nendo Island). This island belongs administratively to the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands.

Geography

Utupua is a high u-shaped island surrounded by a coral reef. Its land surface is 69.0 square kilometres (26.6 square miles) and its highest point 380 metres (1,247 feet).

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 are spoken on Utupua:[1]

History

First sighting by Europeans was in September 1595 by the second Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña. 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 Nendo Island.[2][3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002), p.885.
  2. ↑ Sharp, Andrew The discovery of the Pacific Islands Oxford, 1960, pp.52-55.
  3. ↑ Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.136.

References

  • John Lynch; Malcolm Ross; Terry Crowley (2002). The Oceanic languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 9780700711284. OCLC 48929366.

11°20′S 166°30′E / 11.333°S 166.500°E / -11.333; 166.500


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