D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS

islands in Papua New Guinea, lying across Ward Hunt Strait from the eastern tip of New Guinea, in the Solomon Sea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. The large islands of Normanby, Fergusson, and Goodenough (qq.v.) and the much smaller Sanaroa (Welle) and Dobu are volcanic, precipitous (rising to 5,0008,000 feet [1,5002,400 m]), and forested. Perhaps the remnants of a submerged mountain range, they have a combined land area of 1,213 square miles (3,142 square km). Visited and named by the French navigator Bruni d'Entrecasteaux during his search for Jean-Franois de Galaup La Prouse in 1793, the group was more accurately charted and individually named by Captain John Moresby of HMS Basilisk in 1873. Copra is produced in fertile coastal patches. Pop. (1990 prelim.) 49,167.