Empress Augusta Bay is a major bay on the western side of the island of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, at 6°25′S 155°5′E / 6.417°S 155.083°E / -6.417; 155.083Coordinates: 6°25′S 155°5′E / 6.417°S 155.083°E / -6.417; 155.083. It is a major subsistence fishing area for the people of Bougainville. It is named after Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein, wife of German Emperor William II.
In November 1943, the bay was the site of the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, between Allied and Japanese forces. During the 1970s and 1980s the bay was seriously polluted by copper tailings from the world's largest copper mine, Panguna, operated by Rio Tinto Group. This issue contributed to the formation of the secessionist Bougainville Revolutionary Army and a civil war on the island between 1989 and 1997.
Famous quotes containing the word empress:
“We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside our skin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to convince ourselves and others we are. We may fool all the rest of the people all of the time, but we never fool our parents. They can see behind the mask of adulthood. To her mommy and daddy, the empress never has on any clothes—and knows it.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)