Autonomous Region of Bougainville
Bougainville ( BOH-gən-vil; ; Tok Pisin: Bogenvil), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil), is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the region also includes Buka Island and a number of outlying islands and atolls. The interim capital is Buka, although this is considered temporary, with the capital likely to move. One potential location is Arawa, the previous capital.
In 2011, the region had an estimated population of 250,000 people. The lingua franca of Bougainville is Tok Pisin, while a variety of Austronesian and non-Austronesian languages are also spoken. The region includes several Polynesian outliers where Polynesian languages are spoken. Geographically the islands of Bougainville and Buka are part of the Solomon Islands archipelago, but are politically separate from the independent country of Solomon Islands. Historically the region was known as the North Solomons.
Bougainville has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years. During the colonial period the region was occupied and administered by the Germans, Australians, Japanese, and Americans for various periods. The name of the region originates from French admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who reached it in 1768.
Bougainvillean separatism dates to the 1960s, and the Republic of North Solomons was declared shortly before the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975; it was subsumed into Papua New Guinea the following year. Conflict over the Panguna mine became the primary trigger for the Bougainville Civil War (1988–1998), which resulted in the deaths of up to 20,000 people. A peace agreement resulted in the creation of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
In late 2019, a non-binding independence referendum was held with 98.31% voting for independence rather than continued autonomy within Papua New Guinea. As a result, the regional authorities intend to become independent by 2027.
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