New Britain
New Britain (Tok Pisin: Niu Briten) 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 the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits) and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel. The main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan. When the island was part of German New Guinea, its name was Neupommern ("New Pomerania"). In common with most of the Bismarcks it was largely formed by volcanic processes, and has active volcanoes including Ulawun (highest volcano nationally), Langila, the Garbuna Group, the Sulu Range, and the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan of the Rabaul caldera. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul. Most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo.
This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. For other uses of the name, see New Britain (disambiguation).Geography
35,144.6 km2 (13,569.4 sq mi)[1]
38th
520 km (323 mi)
146 km (90.7 mi)
2,500 m (8200 ft)[1]
513,926 (2011)
14.07/km2 (36.44/sq mi)
Papuans and Austronesians
New Britain forms part of the Islands Region, one of four regions of Papua New Guinea. It comprises the mainland of two provinces:
Non-Austronesian (Papuan) languages spoken on New Britain:[10]: 784
The last two are spoken in West New Britain, and the rest in East New Britain.
Austronesian languages include Tolai, Lungalunga, Siasi, Kimbe, Lamogai, Mengen and othee North New Guinea languages.
Ecology[edit]
The island is part of two ecoregions. The New Britain–New Ireland lowland rain forests extend from sea level to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) elevation. The New Britain–New Ireland montane rain forests cover the mountains of New Britain above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) elevation.
Forests on New Britain have been rapidly destroyed in recent years, largely to clear land for oil palm plantations.
Lowland rainforest has been hardest hit, with nearly a quarter of the forest below 100 metres (330 ft) disappearing between 1989 and 2000. If those rates of deforestation continue, it is estimated that all forest below 200 metres (660 ft) will be cleared by 2060.[11][12] Despite this, most forest birds on New Britain are still widespread and secure in conservation status, though some forest-dependent species such as the New Britain kingfisher are considered to be at risk of extinction if current trends continue.[13]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Thomas Kennedy (1913). "Vicariate Apostolic of New Pomerania". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
