D'Entrecasteaux Islands

/dahonn trddeuh kann stoh"/

a group of islands in Papua New Guinea, off the E tip of New Guinea.

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Island group, Papua New Guinea.

Located in the South Pacific Ocean, the group includes Normanby, Fergusson, and Goodenough islands and many islets, atolls, and reefs. Most are volcanic, precipitous, and forested. They have a combined land area of 1,213 sq mi (3,142 sq km). They were named by the French navigator Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1793. The chief settlement is Dobu, located on an islet between Normanby and Fergusson.

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▪ islands, Papua New Guinea

      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 (Normanby Island), Fergusson (Fergusson Island), and Goodenough (Goodenough Island) and the much smaller Sanaroa (Welle) and Watoa (Dobu) islands are volcanic, precipitous (rising to 5,000–8,000 feet [1,500–2,400 m]), and forested. Perhaps the remnants of a submerged mountain range, the islands of the group 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 the missing explorer Jean-François de Galaup La Pérouse in 1793, the group was more accurately charted and individually named by Capt. John Moresby of HMS Basilisk in 1873. Copra is produced in fertile coastal patches.

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