Autonomous Region of Bougainville

Bougainville , officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil), is an <a href="/facts/Provinces_of_Papua_New_Guinea/EWCNV5yr">autonomous region</a> in <a href="/facts/Papua_New_Guinea/RLaVlhFC">Papua New Guinea</a>. The largest island is <a href="/facts/Bougainville_Island/fwT7am3R">Bougainville Island</a>, while the region also includes <a href="/facts/Buka_Island/Y8b1Rcyz">Buka Island</a> and a number of outlying islands and atolls. The provisional capital is <a href="/facts/Buka%2c_Bougainville/TJMUqevj">Buka</a>, on Buka Island.
In 2011, the region had an estimated population of 250,000. The <a href="/facts/Lingua_franca/dlGrD7ra">lingua franca</a> of Bougainville is <a href="/facts/Tok_Pisin/o3da6Hwg">Tok Pisin</a>, while a variety of <a href="/facts/Austronesian_languages/jpygNVzl">Austronesian</a> and <a href="/facts/East_Papuan_languages/0WEQYolw">non-Austronesian languages</a> are also spoken. The region includes several <a href="/facts/Polynesian_outlier/SEFSK0QR">Polynesian outliers</a> where <a href="/facts/Polynesian_language/Q0Cm2uk6">Polynesian languages</a> are spoken. Geographically, the islands of Bougainville and Buka form part of the <a href="/facts/Solomon_Islands_(archipelago)/eLYljvB4">Solomon Islands archipelago</a>, but they are politically separate from the independent country of <a href="/facts/Solomon_Islands/tcyQWq3Q">Solomon Islands</a>. Historically, Bougainville and Buka, together with the islands of Choiseul, Santa Isabel, the Shortlands, and Ontong Java, which are all now part of the country of Solomon Islands, formed the German Solomon Islands Protectorate, the geographical area later being referred to as the <a href="/facts/North_Solomon_Islands/CzKl6n5C">North Solomon Islands</a>.
Bougainville has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years. During the colonial period, the region was occupied and administered by the Germans, Australians, Japanese, and Americans for various periods. The name of the region originates from French admiral <a href="/facts/Louis_Antoine_de_Bougainville/KQr4MlIX">Louis Antoine de Bougainville</a>, who reached it in 1768.
Bougainvillean separatism dates to the 1960s, and the <a href="/facts/Republic_of_the_North_Solomons/4kxrRpRG">Republic of the North Solomons</a> was declared shortly before the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975; it was subsumed into Papua New Guinea the following year. Conflict over the <a href="/facts/Panguna_mine/QkGpRlls">Panguna mine</a> became the primary trigger for the <a href="/facts/Bougainville_Civil_War/R4lapjIU">Bougainville Civil War</a> (1988–1998), which resulted in the deaths of up to 20,000 people. A peace agreement resulted in the creation of the <a href="/facts/Autonomous_Bougainville_Government/LHBsjkPS">Autonomous Bougainville Government</a>.
In late 2019, a non-binding <a href="/facts/2019_Bougainvillean_independence_referendum/4UErsVgt">independence referendum</a> was held with 98% voting for independence rather than continued autonomy within Papua New Guinea. As a result, the regional authorities intend to become independent between 2025 and 2027, pending ratification by the Papua New Guinean government. If ratified, the capital may relocate from Buka back to the previous location of <a href="/facts/Arawa%2c_Bougainville/F4KRFBD2">Arawa</a>. In March 2025, the Bougainville Independence Leaders Consultation Forum recommended 1 September 2027 as the date of independence.

Autonomous Region of Bougainville open-in-new

Autonomous Region of Bougainville