Makura, locally known as Makira, is a small, inhabited island in

Shefa Province Shefa is one of the six provinces of Vanuatu, located in the center of the country and including the islands of Epi (island), Epi and Efate and the Shepherd Islands. The province's name is derived from the initial letters of SHepherd and EFAte. It ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

in the Pacific Ocean. Makura is a part of the

Shepherd Islands The Shepherd Islands (coordinates ) are a group of islands lying between the larger islands of Epi and Éfaté, in the Shefa province of Vanuatu. The aggregate land area is . They were named by Captain Cook after Anthony Shepherd, a British as ...

archipelago.

Geography

The estimated terrain elevation above the sea level is some 132 meters. Makura is a peak of a primeval volcano. The other existing ramparts of the ancient volcanic rim are considered to be the neighboring islands of

Emae Emae is an island in the Shepherd Islands, Shefa, Vanuatu. Geography Maunga Lasi is the highest peak at 644 m. It forms the northern rim of the (mostly) underwater volcano of Makura, which also covers the nearby islands of Makura and Mataso. ...

and

Mataso Mataso is an island in the Shefa of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean. The island is a part of Shepherd Islands archipelago. Geography The island of Mataso is located south of Makira. It is formed by two hills separated by white sandy beaches known ...

Population

As of 2015, the official local population was 93 people in 19 households. The island's main language is

Namakura The Namakura language, ''Makura'' or ''Namakir'', is an Oceanic language of Vanuatu. The language is spoken in Shefa Province, north Efate, Tongoa, and Tongariki. It is the only North-Central Vanuatu language to have preserved the Proto-Oceani ...

or Namakir.

References

{{authority control Islands of Vanuatu Shefa Province