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{{Short description|Island of the Bismarck Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox islands
| name = New Ireland
| image_name = NewIrelandOMC.png
| image_caption = New Ireland's main towns and nearby islands
| image_size =
| map = Papua New Guinea
| map_caption =
| native_name = ''Niu Ailan''
| native_name_link = Tok Pisin
| nickname =
| location =
| coordinates = {{coord|3.33|S|152|E|scale:2500000|display=inline}}
| archipelago = [[Bismarck Archipelago]]
| total_islands =
| major_islands =
| area_km2 = 7404
| length_km = 360
| width_km = 10 
| width_footnotes =  - {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=on|0}}
| highest_mount = [[Mount Taron]]
| elevation_m = 2340
| country = Papua New Guinea
| country_admin_divisions_title = Province
| country_admin_divisions = [[New Ireland Province]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 =
| country_admin_divisions_1 =
| country_admin_divisions_title_2 =
| country_admin_divisions_2 =
| country_largest_city = [[Kavieng]]
| country_largest_city_population = 10,600
| population = 118,350<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nri.org.pg/research_divisions/cross_divisional_projects/17%20New%20Ireland.pdf |title=New Ireland Province |format=PDF |access-date=16 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808033927/http://www.nri.org.pg/research_divisions/cross_divisional_projects/17%20New%20Ireland.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| population_as_of =2002
| density_km2 =
| ethnic_groups =
| additional_info =
}}

'''New Ireland''' ([[Tok Pisin]]: ''Niu Ailan''), or '''Latangai''', is a large [[island]] in [[Papua New Guinea]], approximately {{convert|7,404|km2|abbr=on}} in area with {{circa}} 120,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=United Nations Environment Program |url=http://islands.unep.ch/IHD.htm#857 |title=Islands by land area: New Ireland |work=islands.unep.ch |date=1988}}</ref> It is named after the island of [[Ireland]]. It is the largest island of [[New Ireland Province]], lying northeast of the island of [[New Britain]]. Both islands are part of the [[Bismarck Archipelago]], named after [[Otto von Bismarck]], and they are separated by [[Saint George's Channel (Papua New Guinea)|Saint George's Channel]].

The administrative centre of the island and of New Ireland province is the town of [[Kavieng]] located at the northern end of the island. While the island was part of [[German New Guinea]], it was named '''Neumecklenburg''' ("New [[Mecklenburg]]").
== Geography ==
[[File:NewIreland2022OSM.png|thumb|left|Detailed map of New Ireland and New Hanover]]
[[File:New Ireland Topography.png|thumb|left|Topographic map of New Ireland]]
[[File:Kavieng 1996.jpg|thumb|Children playing in Kavieng harbour, New Ireland]]

The island is part of the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] and is often described as having the shape of a [[musket]]. New Ireland is surrounded by the [[Bismarck Sea]] in the southwest and by the [[Pacific Ocean]] in the northeast.<ref>{{cite web |author=US Army Map Service |year=1964 |title=New Guinea Topographic Map Book, TK250, Sheet SB 56-3 |url=http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/new_guinea/txu-oclc-6552576-sb56-3.jpg |publisher=University of Texas at Austin}}</ref>

For much of its {{convert|360|km|mi|abbr=on}} in length, the island's width varies between less than {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} to {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=on}}, yet the central mountainous spine is very steep and rugged. The highest peak is [[Mount Taron]] in the [[Hans Meyer Range]] ({{convert|2,340|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=comma}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount Taron, Papua New Guinea |url=https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=11805 |website=Peakbagger.com}}</ref> Other mountain ranges are Tirpitz, [[Schleinitz Range|Schleinitz]], [[Verron Range|Verron]] and Rossel.<ref>{{cite web|title=NI mountains tell a tale|url=http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20060922/weekend06.htm |access-date=19 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405200422/http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20060922/weekend06.htm |archive-date=5 April 2012}}</ref> The island lies between two and five degrees south of the [[equator]]. The original land cover was primarily dense [[rainforest]].

== History ==

=== Pre-colonial period ===
The first inhabitants of the Bismarck Archipelago arrived around 33,000 years ago after sailing from what is now [[Papua New Guinea]]. Later arrivals included the [[Lapita]] people approximately 3,000 years ago. Three distinct cultural practices are characteristic of the native people of New Ireland: [[Kabai]], [[Malagan]] and [[Tubuan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newirelandtourism.org.pg/culture.htm |title=People & Culture |publisher=New Ireland Tourism |access-date=16 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603104812/http://www.newirelandtourism.org.pg/culture.htm |archive-date=3 June 2013 }}</ref>

=== Colonial period ===
In 1616 the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] sailors [[Jacob Le Maire]] and [[Willem Schouten]] were the first Europeans to set foot on the island. [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]] anchored here on 6 July 1768, eleven months after [[Philip Carteret]].<ref name="Anne">{{cite book|last1=Salmond|first1=Anne|title=Aphrodite's Island|date=2010|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520261143|pages=[https://archive.org/details/aphroditesisland00salm/page/114 114]|url=https://archive.org/details/aphroditesisland00salm/page/114}}</ref>

[[Whaling]] ships often called at the island in the 19th century, for water, wood and provisions. The first recorded whaler to visit was the ''Resource'' in 1799.<ref>Robert Langdon (ed.) ''Where the whalers went: an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century'', Canberra, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, 1984, p.187. {{ISBN|0-86784-471-X}}</ref> Islanders sometimes served as crewmen on these vessels. The last known whaling visitor was the ''Belvedere'' in 1884.<ref>Langdon, p.187.</ref>

In the 1870s and 1880s, the [[Marquis de Rays]], a [[French people|French]] nobleman, attempted to establish a [[France|French]] colony on the island called New France.<ref>{{cite web |first=Ben |last=Cahoon |url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Papua_New_Guinea.htm |title=Papua New Guinea |publisher= Worldttatesmen.org |year= 2000}}</ref> He sent four ill-fated expeditions to the island, the [[de Rays Expedition|most famous of which]] caused the death of 123 settlers.

From 1885 to 1914 New Ireland was a part of [[German New Guinea]] and bore the name ''Neumecklenburg''. Germans managed several highly profitable [[Copra plantations in New Guinea|copra plantations]] and built a road to transport the goods. This road is currently in service and is named the [[Boluminski Highway]] after the German administrator of German New Guinea, [[Franz Boluminski]]. After [[World War I]], Neumecklenburg was renamed New Ireland and was controlled by Australia under a League of Nations mandate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnson Clay |first1=Brenda |title=Unstable Images: Colonial Discourse on New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, 1875-1935 |date=2005 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Google Books |isbn=9780824874612 |page=96 }}</ref> In January 1942, during [[World War II]], the island was captured by [[Imperial Japanese Army|Japanese forces]] and was under their control.

==Ecology==
The island is part of two [[ecoregion]]s. The [[New Britain–New Ireland lowland rain forests]] extend from sea level to 1000 meters elevation. The [[New Britain-New Ireland montane rain forests]] cover the mountains of New Ireland above 1000 meters elevation.

Widespread [[deforestation]] and [[environmental degradation|degradation]] of lowland rainforest is an issue on New Ireland and the other eastern islands of Papua New Guinea ([[New Britain]], [[Bougainville Island]]) as well as on Papua New Guinea mainland. Nearly 60% of their forests are accessible to [[logging]], and by 2002, 63% of the accessible forests had been deforested or degraded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=8842|title=Forest Change on New Ireland, Papua New Guinea|first=NASA's Visible|last=Earth|date=11 August 2009|website=visibleearth.nasa.gov}}</ref>

== Culture ==
{{see also|New Ireland languages}}

* [[Malagan]] – funerary arts that originate in [[Tabar Group]], and have been imported to the northern region of New Ireland.<ref>{{cite book| last = Gunn| first = Michael| author2 = Phillipe Feltier| title = New Ireland: Art of the South Pacific| publisher = Continents Editions| year = 2006| location = Milan| isbn = 88-7439-369-5| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/newirelandartofs0000unse}}</ref>
* [[Tatanua mask|Tatanua]] – "The person who organises a tatanua performance must select the music and dancers, assemble a male chorus and acquire the [[masks]]. The masks are usually rented from one of the sculptors who makes them."<ref>{{cite book|last=d'Alleva|first=Anne|editor=Kara Hattersley-Smith|title=Arts of the Pacific Islands|year=1998|publisher=Perspectives – Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers|location=New York|isbn=0-8109-2722-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/artsofpacificisl00dall/page/75 75]|url=https://archive.org/details/artsofpacificisl00dall/page/75}}</ref>
*''[[Kulap]]'' – chalk limestone funerary sculptures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nwir/ho_1981.331.5.htm |title=Male Figure (Kulap) [Southern New Ireland] (1981.331.5) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art |publisher=Metmuseum.org |date=2 June 2014 |access-date=16 August 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|New Ireland}}
{{Collier's Poster|New Ireland}}
* [http://www.ida.liu.se/~g-robek/PNG-NiuAilan.htm Entry] at the [[Linköping University]]
* {{WWF ecoregion|id=aa0111|name=New Britain-New Ireland lowland rain forests}}
* [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jso_0300-953x_1997_num_105_2_2023 Persée : Archaeological survey in southern New Ireland]
* [http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AM05175.pdf Wallaby extinctions at the Macropodid frontier]
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=New Mecklenburg|short=x}}

{{coord|3.33|S|152|E|scale:2500000|display=title}}
{{Districts of New Ireland Province}}
{{Islands of Papua New Guinea}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Bismarck Archipelago]]
[[Category:New Ireland Province]]
[[Category:Islands of Papua New Guinea]]

New Ireland (island) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article