Arawe is an
island
An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. It is located on the southern coast of
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
about from
Cape Gloucester. It is also the name given to the island's surrounding area (also known as Cape Merkus), which consists of around 40 islands.
The region is primarily inhabited by the Arawe people, who maintain trade with other people groups primarily via water. There are also multiple archaeological sites featuring
Lapita
The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their distinct material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. The Lapita people are believed to have originated fro ...
structures and goods.
A small harbour known as Arawe Harbour provides an anchorage.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Japanese and Allied forces fought in the
Battle of Arawe for control of the region.
References
West New Britain Province
{{WestNewBritainProvince-geo-stub