Native name: Mwotlap | |
|---|---|
 Mota Lava, viewed from space. The islet ofRa can be seen in this image at a point southwest of Mota Lava. | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 13°42′S167°39′E / 13.7°S 167.65°E /-13.7; 167.65 |
| Archipelago | Vanuatu,Banks Islands |
| Area | 24 km2 (9.3 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
Vanuatu | |
| Province | Torba Province |
| Largest settlement | Lahlap |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 1,640 (2009) |
| Pop. density | 67/km2 (174/sq mi) |
Mota Lava orMotalava is an island of theBanks group, in the north ofVanuatu. It forms a single coral system with thesmall island of Ra.
The2009 census figures[1] give a population of 1,640 inhabitants (Mota Lava +Ra), which amounts to a population density of 67 people per km2.
With an area of 24 km2 (9.3 sq mi), Mota Lava is the fourth largest island in the Banks Islands, afterGaua,Vanua Lava andUreparapara. It is the highest (411 m or 1,348 ft) of the eastern chain of islands, as well as the largest.
Ra, a small island of 50 ha (120 acres), is located 270 meters (886 ft) off the southern coast of Mota Lava. It is attached to it by high corals that one can wade through at low tide.
The climate on Mota Lava is humid tropical. The average annual rainfall exceeds 4000 mm. The island is subject to frequent earthquakes and cyclones.
The island is served byMota Lava Airport.
Mota Lava is composed of at least fivebasalticstratovolcanoes. Two of the cones, Vetman and Tuntog, are well-preserved. Vetman is a pyroclastic cone in the centre of the island with a breached summit crater. At the southwest end of the island, Tuntog is a composite cone with a 500 meters (1,640 feet) wide crater.
Geochemical analysis shows that the island's lava has a similar composition to that from nearbyMota andUreparapara, as well as lava from the south of the country, but differs from material erupted in central Vanuatu. The latter region has been affected by the subduction of a submerged, extinct island arc complex called the D'Entrecasteaux Zone.
In early 19th-century texts and maps, Mota Lava was calledSaddle Island, after the distinctive saddle-shaped profile it presents when seen from a boat offshore.
The inhabitants of Mota Lava call the islandMwotlap, locally spelledM̄otlap (pronounced[ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap]).[2]
The language spoken by the inhabitants of Motalava is also calledMwotlap. It is the most widely spoken language in theBanks Islands, with about 2,100 speakers. The recently extinctVolow language also used to be spoken on Mota Lava.
An early attempt to transcribe the native name, both for the island and the language, yielded a formMotlav.
The nameM̄ota Lava[ŋ͡mʷotalaβa] (or in simple spelling,Motalava) caught on after it started being used by 19th-century missionaries to the island. They borrowed that name fromthe language spoken on neighbouringMota. Both the Mota and Mwotlap names of the island descend from a protoform *mʷota laβa inProto-Torres-Banks, literally "largeMota". A process ofvowel deletion, regular in Mwotlap, explains how *[mʷotaˈlaβa] was shortened to[ŋ͡mʷɔtˈlap].
Like therest of Vanuatu, Motalava was first settled around the12th century BCE byAustronesian navigators belonging to theLapita culture. Archaeologists have found ancientobsidian in Mota Lava,Vanua Lava andGaua, andLapita pottery have been found in the island.[3][4]
The island was first sighted by Europeans during the Spanish expedition ofPedro Fernández de Quirós, from 25 to 29 April 1606. The island’s name was then charted asLágrimas de San Pedro (“St. Peter's Tears”, inSpanish).[5]
