5°25′19″S154°40′22″E / 5.42194°S 154.67278°E /-5.42194; 154.67278
Buka | |
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 Satellite image of Buka Township, withSohano Island (Bottom left) andBuka Airport | |
  Buka Location in Bougainville Show map of Bougainville Island Buka Buka (Papua New Guinea) Show map of Papua New Guinea | |
| Coordinates:5°25′19″S154°40′22″E / 5.42194°S 154.67278°E /-5.42194; 154.67278 | |
| Country | Papua New Guinea |
| Autonomous Region | Bougainville |
| District | North Bougainville District |
| LLG | Buka Rural LLG |
| Time zone | UTC+11:00 (BST) |
| Main languages | Nasioi and Rorovana |
| Climate | Af |
Buka is atown located on the southern coast ofBuka Island, in theAutonomous Region of Bougainville, in easternPapua New Guinea.[1] It is administered underBuka Rural LLG.[2] It is the capital ofNorth Bougainville District and the interim capital of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. It containsOur Lady of the Assumption Cathedral.[3]
The city and Buka Island are separated from the northern tip ofBougainville Island by the deep, narrow Buka Passage, which varies in width from 980 to 3,000 feet (300 to 1,070 metres). Both islands are in the northernSolomon Islands archipelago and the only major ones not within the nation ofSolomon Islands.
Buka Island isvolcanic formation measuring 35 miles by 9 miles (56 km by 14 km), with a total land area of 190 square miles (492 km²). The elevation reaches to 1,634 feet (498 metres) in the hills in the southwest, and the interior of the island is densely forested.[1] Rainfall is abundant, with more than 100 inches (2,500 mm) annually. Coral reefs fringe the south and west coasts, the latter deeply indented by Queen Carola Harbour.
Buka consists of three major geological units: a plateau of uplifted coral reefs, steep hills and coral formations of post-Pleistocene age.[4]
The city is served byBuka Airport.
Discovered by Europeans in 1768,[5] theGerman Empire laid claim to the island in 1899, annexing it intoGerman New Guinea. Buka became the capital of theBougainville Province decades later, during the 1990sBougainville Civil War. The former, or "proper" capital of Bougainville,Arawa, was all but destroyed in 1990 as tensions reached a critical level in a civil uprising, which ended with the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 1998. The Bougainville government intends to return the capital to Arawa in the future.[6]
Provincial capitals ofPapua New Guinea | ||
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