The Bonis Peninsula is a narrow

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

located on

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is . The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at . The much smaller Buk ...

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 ...

, at the north of the island. The Buka Passage separates the peninsula from Buka Island.

History

20th century

In the first half of the 20th century, the peninsula had an established

coconut palm The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

plantation to harvest copra. During the Second World War, the peninsula was occupied by forces of

Imperial Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

. In 1943, the Imperial Japanese Navy had Bonis Airfield constructed to serve as an auxiliary landing strip for Buka Airfield. The airfields' proximity to one another allowed for a shared anti-aircraft defense. Though the peninsula was hit by Allied bombing runs and strafing attempts during the period of 1943–1944, it remained occupied by Japanese forces until September, 1945 and the cessation of hostilities.

References

Peninsulas of Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-geo-stub