History
The first human settlement of Bougainville occurred some 28,000 years ago from New Ireland. Three to four thousand years ago, Austronesian people arrived, bringing with them domesticated pigs, chickens, dogs and obsidian tools. The first European contact with Bougainville was in 1768, when the French explorer Louis de Bougainville arrived and named the main island for himself. Germany laid claim to Bougainville in 1899, annexing it into German New Guinea. Christianity arrived on the island in 1902.
During World War I, Australia occupied German New Guinea, including Bougainville, taking it over as part of a League of Nations mandate.
In 1942 during World War II, Japan invaded the island, but it was returned to Australian control in 1946. Bougainville became part of an independent Papua New Guinea in 1975.
A civil war broke out, and the independence of Bougainville was declared twice, once in 1975 and once in 1990. Peace talks brokered by New Zealand began in 1997, leading to autonomy for the island.
Read more about this topic: Bougainville Island
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