Menu
- Home
- Search▼
- List▼
- Add▼
- My Relate▼
- Admin▼
ViewsWatchers |
Contained Places
The Banks Islands (in Bislama Bankis) are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu. Together with the Torres Islands to their northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba. The island group lies about north of Maewo, and includes Gaua and Vanua Lava, two of the 13 largest islands in Vanuatu. In 2009, the islands had a population of 8,533. The island group's combined land area is 780 km2. [edit] History
Like the rest of Vanuatu, the Banks Islands were first settled around the by Austronesian navigators belonging to the Lapita culture. Archaeologists have found ancient obsidian in Motalava, Vanua Lava and Gaua, and they have found Lapita pottery on Motalava. Between 25 and 29 April 1606, the Banks Islands became the first part of Vanuatu to be discovered by a European explorer: A Spanish expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernández de Quirós sailed past Merelava and stopped at Gaua before landing on Espiritu Santo and establishing a short-lived colony there. Merelava was charted as San Marcos, Mota Lava as Lágrimas de San Pedro (St. Peter's tears), Vanua Lava as Portal de Belén (Stable at Bethlehem), and Gaua as Santa María. Captain James Cook explored Vanuatu in 1774, and believed he had seen the whole chain, but he did not see the Banks Islands. They were explored by William Bligh, of the British Navy, and named after his patron, Sir Joseph Banks. They were charted by Matthew Flinders. Vanua Lava was first explored by a New Zealand bishop, George Augustus Selwyn in 1859. [edit] Research Tips
|
|||||||||||
