Temotu Province

Temotu Province is sub-divided into the following wards:

Temotu Province (21,362)

• Reef Islands
  • Polynesian Outer Islands (353)
  • Fenualoa (1,305)
  • Nipua/Nopoli (880)
  • Lipe/Temua (796)
  • Manuopo (1,030)
  • Nenumpo (1,163)

• Santa Cruz
  • Graciosa Bay (1,264)
  • North East Santa Cruz (1,843)
  • Nanggu/Lord Howe (1,863)
  • Nea/Noole (1,770)
  • Nevenema (947)
  • Luva Station (2,335)
  • Neo (1,558)

• isolated islands and groups
  • Duff Islands (509)
  • Utupua (1,168)
  • Vanikoro (1,293)
  • Tikopia (1,285)

The islands or island groups which make up the province are:

• Anuta
• Duff Islands (including Taumako)
• Fatutaka
• Malo
• Reef Islands (including Fenualoa, Lomlom, Makalom, Matema, Nalongo and Nupani, Nifiloli, Nukapu, Patteson Shoal, Pigeon Island and Pileni)
• Santa Cruz Islands (including the large island Nendö)
• Tikopia
• Tinakula
• Utupua
• Vanikoro (including Banie and Teanu)

The provincial capital is Lata, located on Nendö, the largest and most important of the Santa Cruz islands.

Tepukei (ocean-going outrigger canoe) from the Santa Cruz Islands, held in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.

The population of 21,362 (2009)[2] is quite diverse for the small land area encompassed. The Santa Cruz Islanders are predominantly Melanesian, although the inhabitants of Tikopia, Anuta, the Duff Islands and some of the Reef Islands are Polynesians.

The province has given its name to the Temotu languages, a putative linguistic subgroup within the broader Oceanic family of languages.

The languages spoken in the province include all nine Temotu languages proper, plus two Polynesian outlier languages: Vaeakau-Taumako and Tikopia.

• Remote Oceania
• Koch, Gerd (1971). Die Materielle Kultur der Santa Cruz-Inseln (in German). Berlin: (Museum fur Volkerkunde) Ethnological Museum of Berlin.

• Solomon Islands Photogallery of Temotu Province. Includes a map.