 | |
 Location of the Western Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Papua New Guinea |
| Coordinates | 1°30′S143°00′E / 1.500°S 143.000°E |
| Archipelago | Bismarck Archipelago |
| Major islands | Aua, Wuvulu |
| Administration | |
Papua New Guinea | |
| Province | Manus Province |
| Region | Islands Region |
The Western Islands are a group of islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, and within Manus Province of the Islands Region, in northern Papua New Guinea.
They are located north and west of Manus Island off the northeastern coast of New Guinea island in the Bismarck Sea of the Southwestern Pacific Ocean.
The Western Islands' tropical rainforests include several distinct ecoregions.
Islands in the group include:
The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island.
The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km.
The Bismarck Sea lies in the southwestern Pacific Ocean within the nation of Papua New Guinea. It is located northeast of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines in districts of the Islands Region, Momase Region, and Papua Region.
The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages are spoken by only two million people. The largest individual Oceanic languages are Eastern Fijian with over 600,000 speakers, and Samoan with an estimated 400,000 speakers. The Gilbertese (Kiribati), Tongan, Tahitian, Māori and Tolai languages each have over 100,000 speakers. The common ancestor which is reconstructed for this group of languages is called Proto-Oceanic.
The Admiralty Islands languages are a group of some thirty Oceanic languages spoken on the Admiralty Islands. They may include Yapese, which has proven difficult to classify.
Manus Province is the smallest province in Papua New Guinea in terms of both land area and population, with a land area of 2,100 square kilometres (810 sq mi), but with more than 220,000 square kilometres (85,000 sq mi) of water, and the total population is 60,485. The provincial town of Manus is Lorengau.
Wuvulu Island is part of the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean, part of Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the westernmost island of the thirteen island groups that make up island chain in the archipelago. It is an island of volcanic origin encircled by a coral reef with a maximum height of three meters above sea level.
The Wuvulu-Aua language is an Austronesian language which is spoken on the Wuvulu and Aua Islands and in the Manus Province of Papua New Guinea.
The golden monarch is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae found in New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The golden monarch displays marked sexual dimorphism, the male a striking golden colour with black mask, wings and tail, the female a golden or golden-olive colour. Both bear a characteristic 'teardrop' white pattern below the eye.
The New Guinea Islands Region is one of four regions of Papua New Guinea (PNG), comprising the Bismarck Archipelago and north-western Solomon Islands Archipelago, located north-east of New Guinea island.
Aua is an island in the Bismarck Archipelago. It is part of the Western Islands within Manus Province of northern Papua New Guinea.
The Seimat language is one of three Western Admiralty Islands languages, the other two being Wuvulu-Aua and the extinct Kaniet. The language is spoken by approximately 1000 people on the Ninigo and the Anchorite Islands in western Manus Province of Papua New Guinea. It has subject–verb–object (SVO) word order.
The Kaniet languages were two of four Western Admiralty Islands languages, a subgroup of the Admiralty Islands languages, the other two being Wuvulu-Aua and Seimat. The languages were spoken on the Kaniet Islands in western Manus Province of Papua New Guinea until the 1950s.
The Ninigo Islands are a group of 31 islands within the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Their coordinates are 1°16′S144°15′E.
The Hermit Islands are a group of 17 islands within the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Their coordinates are 1°30′S145°4′E.
The Kaniet Islands are the easternmost group islands within the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. It consists four islands and one islet. Their coordinates are 0°54′S145°32′E, located north-east of the Hermit Islands. Sae Island is a nearby island often subsumed under the Kaniet(-Sae) Islands, albeit the two are distinct. Another name for the Kaniet(-Sae) Islands is "Anchorite Islands".
Sae Island is the northernmost island within the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. It is located just north-west of the Kaniet Islands, under which it is often subsumed, although the two are distinct. Another name for the Kaniet(-Sae) Islands is "Anchorite Islands".
New Guinea, lying within the tropics and with extensive mountain areas, comprises a wide range of ecoregions. These include rainforests, grasslands and mangrove.
Andersen's naked-backed fruit bat or Andersen's bare-backed fruit bat is a large cave-dwelling species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the Bismarck Archipelago including the Admiralty Islands in Papua New Guinea.
The West Melanesian Trench is an oceanic trench in the Bismarck Sea north of Papua New Guinea delineating the plate tectonic boundary between the Caroline and North Bismarck plates.
