Nukumanu Islands

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The Nukumanu Islands, part of Papua New Guinea, have a Polynesian population which migrated westwards out of Polynesia. Their language is classified in the Samoic outlier branch of Polynesian. The Nukumanu Islands retain a Polynesian character despite their location in the Melanesian Archipelago of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Their most recent claim to fame, however, is that they were the last place on the path of Amelia Earhart before she and her co-pilot disappeared forever into the vast Pacific Ocean.

Comprising a ring of more than twenty islets on a reef surrounding a large lagoon, the islets and islands of Nukumanu remain largely unchanged. They are located on a sandy strip of coral no more than a meter above sea level just 4 degrees south of the equator. The land resources of the Nukumanu people are quite few and they grow a kind of taro and bananas. Coconuts are, however, an integral part of the islanders' diet with the soft inside being a staple food and coconut flesh being consumed with raw fish and clams. They are also competent fishermen who dive for beche-de-mer in the lagoon. This is exported mainly to Asia and along with trochus shells which are used to make mother-of-pearl, they comprise the backbone of the Nukumanu economy.