Ulawa Island

Ulawa Island is an island in the Solomon Islands. It is located near Malaita Island and belongs to Makira Ulawa Province. The island has an area of 65.92 square kilometres (25 square miles) and has a population of 4429.

A hilly island, its highest point is 181 metres (594 feet) above sea level. Average temperatures are around 27 °C year-round, and the island receives an annual average rainfall of some 2,800 mm (110.24 inches).

A dialect of the Sa'a language is spoken on Ulawa.

History

First recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña in May 1568. More precisely the sighting and also landing in Ulawa was due to a local voyage done by a small boat, in the accounts the brigantine Santiago, commanded by Alférez Hernando Enríquez and having Hernán Gallego as pilot. They charted it as La Treguada and reported that the name given to it by the natives was Uraba.[1][2]

References

  1. ↑ Sharp, Andrew The discovery of the Pacific Islands Oxford 1960 p.46.
  2. ↑ Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.133.

External links

Coordinates: 9°46′S 161°57′E / 9.767°S 161.950°E / -9.767; 161.950


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.