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The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than 160 km and spread over an ocean area of 26,000 km² between the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to the south. The aggregate land area of the islands is about 1,790 km² (690 square miles), with Vanatinai (formerly Sudest or Tagula as named by European claimants on Western maps) being the largest.
Sideia Island and Basilaki Island lie closest to New Guinea, while Misima, Vanatinai, and Rossel islands lie further east.
The archipelago is divided into the Local Level Government (LLG) areas Louisiade Rural (western part, with Misima), and Yaleyamba (western part, with Rossell and Tagula islands. The LLG areas are part of Samarai-Murua District district of Milne Bay. The seat of the Louisiade Rural LLG is Bwagaoia on Misima Island, the population center of the archipelago. [1]
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The Louisiade Archipelago consists of the following island groups and islands [2]:
The islands were probably observed by Luis Váez de Torres in 1606, but Malay and Chinese sailors may have visited the islands earlier. Louis Antoine de Bougainville named them in 1768 for Louis XV, the king of France. Visits were also paid by Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1793 and Captain Owen Stanley in 1849. The 1942 Battle of Coral Sea was fought nearby, after Japanese occupation in the same year.
The islands have a moist tropical climate, and are largely covered with tropical moist broadleaf forests. The Louisiade Archipelago rain forests form a distinct ecoregion, and are home to a number of endemic species, including several endemic trees (in genera Pandanus, Diospyros, and Hopea), as well as five endemic frog species, two endemic lizard species, and five endemic bird species.
Coordinates: 11°12′S 153°00′E / 11.2°S 153°E
LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO, a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, extending south-eastward from the easternmost promontory of New Guinea, and included in the Australian territory of Papua (British New Guinea). The islands number over eighty, and are interspersed with reefs. They are rich in tropical forest products, and gold has been discovered on the chief island, Tagula or South-east (area 380 sq. m.) and on Misima or St Aignan. The natives are of Papuan type, and practise cannibalism. The islands were probably observed by Torres in 1606, but were named by L. A. de Bougainville in 1768 after Louis XV.
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   | Louisiade Archipelago rain forests (World Wildlife Fund) - Terrestrial Ecoregions -- Louisiade Archipelago rain forests (AA0110) |
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