Rabaul Simpsonhafen  East New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Location of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea
Population:	3,885 (17,044 1990)
Main languages:	Tok Pisin, English, Kuanua
Language area:	Kuanua
Established:	2000
Coordinates:	4°12′S, 152°11′E
A view from Rabaul Volcano Observatory across the relatively undamaged western half of Rabaul and towards Tavurur

Papua New Guinea Portal

Rabaul (German: also Simpsonhafen) is a town in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town is built within the caldera of a large volcano, called Rabaul caldera, and is continually vulnerable to eruptions. Settlements around the edge of the caldera continue collectively to be referred to as Rabaul despite the town of Rabaul itself being reduced to insignificance by a volcanic eruption in 1994. Little of its pre-1994 site having survived or been rehabilitated. Image File history File links Flag_of_East_New_Britain. ... East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea. ... Image File history File links Dot-yellow. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Kuanua is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. ... Kuanua is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 173 KB) View of Tavurur volcano from the volcano observatory in Rabaul. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Papua_New_Guinea. ... Rabaul caldera is the large volcano situated in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. ... East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea. ... Satellite image of Santorini. ... Rabaul caldera is the large volcano situated in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. ...

Until 1994 Rabaul was the provincial capital, after the volcanic eruption the capital was moved to Kokopo, about 20 km (12 mi) away. The destroyed airport was rebuilt at Tokua, farther away on the far side of the caldera. Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ...

Rabaul was the headquarters of German New Guinea and then the Australian mandatory Territory of New Guinea from 1910 until 1937. During World War II it was the base of Japanese activities in the South Pacific. German New Guinea (Ger. ... Territory of New Guinea was the name given to the Australia-controlled, League of Nations-mandated territory in the north eastern part of the island of New Guinea, and surrounding islands, between 1920 and 1949. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

As a tourist destination Rabaul is popular for SCUBA diving, muff diving by gundy and for snorkelling sites and a spectacular harbour; it had been the premier commercial and travel destination in Papua New Guinea and indeed in the wider South Pacific during much of the 20th century until the 1994 volcanic eruptions. There are still several diving operators based there. Scuba diving is swimming underwater while using self-contained breathing equipment. ... A snorkeler amid corals on a coral reef near Fiji. ... A harbor (or harbour) or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. ...

History

Rabaul's proximity to its volcanos has always been a source of concern. In 1878 before being established as a town an eruption caused the formation of Vulcan in the harbour. Vulcan is a pumice cone in Papua New Guinea. ...

Colonisation

In 1910 the Germans as part of establishing German New Guinea relocated its headquarters from the unsuccessful township of Lae to the new town of Rabaul. It was given the name Rabaul, as this means mangrove in Kuanua (the local language) and the town was built on a reclaimed mangrove swamp. Lae is the second largest city of Papua New Guinea with a population of approx 120,000. ... Above and below water view at the edge of the mangal. ... Kuanua is spoken by the Tolai people of Papua New Guinea, who live on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. ...

At the outset of the First World War Australia occupied German New Guinea with its Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. Following Germany's defeat at the end of the war in 1919, the territory was handed to Australia by the League of Nations as a Trust Territory. Rabaul subsequently became the capital of the Territory of New Guinea. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was a small Australia shortly after the outbreak of the First World War to seize and destroy German wireless stations in the south-west Pacific. ... The League of Nations was an international organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919–1920. ... Territory of New Guinea was the name given to the Australia-controlled, League of Nations-mandated territory in the north eastern part of the island of New Guinea, and surrounding islands, between 1920 and 1949. ...

1937 eruption

Under the Australian administration, Rabaul developed into a regional base. Then in 1937 a catastrophic volcanic eruptions destroyed the town after the two volcanos, Tavurvur and Vulcan, exploded killing 507 people and causing enormous damage. Tavurvur is a stratovolcano in Papua New Guinea. ... Vulcan is a pumice cone in Papua New Guinea. ...

Following this the Australian administration for the Territory of New Guinea decided to return the territorial headquarters to the safer location of Lae, which had been the original German headquarters before the booming colonial economy of the New Guinea Islands region had made it desirable to have an administrative hub in the Islands. Lae is the second largest city of Papua New Guinea with a population of approx 120,000. ...

The Australian administration had determined not to re-establish the territorial headquarters at Rabaul in the long term the second World War II, however, intervened before substantial steps had been taken to deal realistically with the improvidence of having established the New Guinea islands' principal town in so hazardous a location.

World War II

World War II Japanese landing barges near Rabaul

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour it was apparent that Rabaul would come under attack. By December 1941 all women and children were evacuated. In January 1942 Rabaul was heavily bombed, and on January 23 the Battle of Rabaul began with the landing of thousands of Japanese marines. Japanese landing barges in a tunnel off the Rabaul-Kokopo road. ... Japanese landing barges in a tunnel off the Rabaul-Kokopo road. ... This article is about the harbor in Hawaii. ... The Battle of Rabaul, around the main town of Rabaul on the island of New Britain, in early February 1942, represented a strategically-significant defeat of Allied forces by Japan, in the Pacific campaign of World War II. Following the capture of Rabaul, Japanese forces turned it into a major...

During their occupation the Japanese developed Rabaul into a much more powerful base than the Australians had planned after the 1937 volcanic eruptions, with long term consequences for the town in the post-War period. The Japanese army dug many kilometres of tunnels as shelter from the Allied air forces. By 1943 there were about 110,000 Japanese troops based in Rabaul. The Japanese army also set up brothels in Rabaul where "... perhaps 2000 or more women were deceived and forced into prostitution of a most demanding kind ...", according to Emeritus Professor Hank Nelson from the Australian National University's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.^[1] This article is about the independent states that comprised the Allies. ...

On April 18 1943, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was shot down and killed by U.S. fighter planes over South Bougainville, between Buin (on its then-coastal location) and Kahili after taking off from Rabaul. Japanese communications describing Yamamoto's flight itinerary were decrypted allowing the hastily dispatched fighter contingent. For other uses, see Admiral (disambiguation). ... Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ) (4 April 1884 – 18 April 1943) was Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, graduate of Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and an alumnus of U.S. Naval War College and Harvard University (1919–1921). ... This article is about the actual attack. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...

Instead of capturing Rabaul, the Allied forces bypassed it by establishing a ring of airfields on islands around it. Cut off from re-supply and under constant air attack, the base became useless. The Japanese held Rabaul until they surrendered at the end of the war in August 1945. The eastern part of the Territory of New Guinea, and the northern Solomon Islands; the area in which Operation Cartwheel took place, from June 1943. ...

The war made a lasting impression on Rabaul. There is still much military debris in the harbour, on the land and buried in the hills.

1994 eruption

Remains of an internal staircase in Rabaul from the 1994 eruption. Note the depth of the ash.

In 1983 and 1984 the town was ready for evacuation when the volcanos started to heat up. Nothing happened until 19 September 1994, when again Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted, destroying the airport and covering most of the town with heavy ashfall. Most of the buildings in the eastern half of Rabaul collapsed due to the weight of ash on their roofs. The remains of a house in the part of Rabaul which suffered the most ashfall in the 1994 eruptions. ... The remains of a house in the part of Rabaul which suffered the most ashfall in the 1994 eruptions. ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ...

The last eruption prompted the relocation of the provincial capital to Kokopo. Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ...

References

External links

• East New Britain Tourism & Trade Directory
• Tavurvur, Rabaul Caldera

Coordinates: 4°12′S, 152°11′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...