Bougainville Island

Bougainville

Bougainville and neighbouring islands
Bougainville Bougainville Island (Papua New Guinea)
Geography
Location	Melanesia
Coordinates	6°14′40″S 155°23′02″E / 6.24444°S 155.38389°E / -6.24444; 155.38389
Archipelago	Solomon Islands
Area	9,318 km2 (3,598 sq mi)
Highest elevation	2,715 m (8907 ft)
Highest point	Mount Balbi
Administration
Papua New Guinea
Province	Autonomous Region of Bougainville
Demographics
Population	≈300,000 (2019)
Pop. density	32.19/km2 (83.37/sq mi)
Additional information
Time zone	UTC (UTC+11)

Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: Bogenvil)^[1] is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is 9,300 km² (3,600 sq mi). The population of the whole province, including nearby islets such as the Carterets, is approximately 300,000 (2019 census). The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft).

The much smaller Buka Island, c. 500 km² (190 sq mi), lies to the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airstrip in the north is in the town of Buka. Buka has an outcropping that is 175 km (109 mi) from New Ireland. Among the large islands of Papua New Guinea, New Ireland is the closest to Buka.

Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands archipelago. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire–associated North Solomons. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern and eastern portions of it) are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. Two of these islands—the closely connected Shortland Islands—are less than 9 km (5.6 mi) south or southeast of Bougainville, and about 30 km (19 mi) west of Choiseul, one of the settlements of which, Poroporo, faces Bougainville.

In a 2019 referendum, the citizens of Bougainville voted to become independent from Papua New Guinea by 2027, but the referendum was non-binding on the Papua New Guinea government, which has not committed to this.^[2][3]