Trobriand Islands

/troh"bree ahnd', -and', -euhnd/

a group of islands north of the eastern end of New Guinea: part of Papua New Guinea. 170 sq. mi. (440 sq. km).

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or Kiriwina Islands

Group of small coral islands, Solomon Sea, South Pacific Ocean, Papua New Guinea.

The islands are low-lying with coral reefs. The group has a total land area of about 170 sq mi (440 sq km). The largest, Kiriwina, is an atoll 30 mi (48 km) long and 3–10 mi (5–16 km) wide, covered largely with swamp; it served as an air and naval base for the Allies in 1943. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski conducted research among the Trobriand islanders 1915–18.

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▪ islands, Papua New Guinea

also called  Kiriwina Islands 

      coral formations in the Solomon Sea of the southwestern Pacific, Papua New Guinea, 90 miles (145 km) north of the southeasternmost extension of the island of New Guinea. The low-lying group of 28 islands, all of coralline limestone and many fringed by coral reefs, comprises four larger islands, Kiriwina (Trobriand), Kaileuna, Vakuta, and Kitava, and several islets, with a total land area of about 170 square miles (440 square km). The largest, Kiriwina, is a raised atoll 30 miles (48 km) by 3–10 miles (5–16 km). Covered largely with swamp, it rises to 100 feet (30 metres) at a central ridge. The island, the chief settlement of which is Losuia, was an air and naval base for the Allies in 1943. In drier areas the Trobrianders (Trobriander) produce yams for export to other islands.

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