MANUS ISLAND

also called Great Admiralty Island, largest of the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea, 200 miles (320 km) north of the island of New Guinea in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Measuring 50 by 20 miles (80 by 32 km) and having a total land area of 633 square miles (1,639 square km), the volcanic island is an extension of the Bismarck Archipelago. From a coast that alternates between mangrove-swamp-fringed bays and steep slopes, it rises to a well-dissected interior reaching 2,356 feet (718 m) at Mount Dremsel. Heavily forested and well watered, Manus is drained by numerous short, swift streams, whose valleys provide the only lowlands besides a narrow, densely populated east-coast plain. Manus, perhaps visited by the Spaniard lvaro Saavedra in 1528, was sighted by the Dutch navigator Willem Schouten in 1616. Navigational studies of the island were not made until 1875. The Germans established a post in 1912 at Lorengau, which came under Australian administration in 1914. Lorengau is the principal settlement. Manus was the site of a large U.S. naval base built in Seeadler Harbour in 1944. Exports, including copra, cocoa, and coffee, are sent from Seeadler Harbour, northeastern Manus. There is regular air service to Manus Island, but tourism is restricted to passengers aboard ships. Pop. (1989 est.) island (including adjoining islets), 29,700.