Tabar Island is an island of the

Tabar Group The Tabar Group is an island group in Papua New Guinea, located north of New Ireland. It is a part of the Bismarck Archipelago. The Tabar group consists of a short chain of three main islands - Tabar Island (a.k.a. Big Tabar) in the south, Tat ...

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 ...

, located to the east of New Ireland. It is inhabited by the Tabar people.

Geography

Tabar Island is the main island of the

and forms part of the

New Ireland Province New Ireland Province, formerly New Mecklenburg (), and Nova Hibernia, is the northeasternmost Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province of Papua New Guinea. Physical geography The largest island of the province is New Ireland (island), New Irelan ...

. It is located approximately north east of

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

and about northeast of the province's main island New Ireland. The island is of volcanic origin and has an area of about with a length of about and about wide. The highest altitude is approximately above sea level. Tabar Island is the largest and southernmost island in the archipelago. The population is mainly divided into a few villages along the coast and the island's interior is covered mostly by rainforest. The main town of ''Datava'' is located on the island's northern part at ''Koko Bay''. The islands can only be reached by ship or chartered amphibian aircraft as they do not have an airport. The neighboring

Tatau Island Tatau Island is an island of the Tabar Group of Papua New Guinea, located to the east of New Ireland (island), New Ireland and about a mile south of Simberi Island. References

Islands of Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-geo-stub ...

is on the other side of the narrow strait from Tabar that separates the islands. Tabar south

History

The island has been inhabited by

Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...

since about 1500 BC. It was charted by Dutch captains

Jacob Le Maire Jacob Le Maire (c. 1585 – 22 December 1616) was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the Earth in 1615 and 1616. The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honour, though not without contro ...

and Willem Corneliszoon Schouten in June 1616 and then named "Gardner Islands". They were later visited by

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch sea explorer, seafarer and exploration, explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New ...

who then dubbed the area to the "Visser Islands". The area came under German sovereignty in 1885 as part of

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

. The area was managed initially by the

German New Guinea Company The German New Guinea Company () was a German Chartered Company which exploited insular territory in and near present Papua New Guinea. History In the 1870s and 1880s German commercial firms began to site trading stations in New Guinea. Agents ...

. Carl Emil Pettersson, a Swedish sailor who was shipwrecked and landed on the island in 1904, became its king (nicknamed "Strong Charly") after his marriage to the daughter of a local chief after he died. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the area ended up under Australian control, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

later became officially mandated for the entire

Bismarck Archipelago 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 . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. From 1942 to 1945, the area was occupied by

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, but returned to the Australian government mandate until Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975.

References

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