Erromango
Encyclopedia
Tafea Province
Tafea is the southernmost province of Vanuatu. The name is an acronym for the five main islands that make up the province:1) including Goat Island and Vete Manung Island...
, the southernmost province of Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
. Its highest point is Mount Santop, at 886 m. Its largest villages are Port Narvin (Potnarvin) and Dillons Bay (Upongkor). The former main village was Ipota. The total area of Erromango is 888 km².
It was formerly known as Martyr's Island by the Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century, because of the risk attached to missionary activity there.
John Williams
John Williams (missionary)
John Williams was an English missionary, active in the South Pacific. Born near London, England, he was trained as a foundry worker and mechanic...
of the London Missionary Society died at Dillon Bay in 1839. In December 2009, after a lengthy collaboration between the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and church and cultural leaders in Vanuatu, descendants of Williams travelled to Erromango to accept the apologies of descendants of those who killed their ancestor in a ceremony of reconciliation. To mark the occasion, Dillons Bay was renamed Williams Bay.
The Rev. George Nicol Gordon
George N. Gordon
George N. Gordon was a Protestant Canadian missionary to the Pacific Islands. Due to the murder of he and his wife, they were considered to be martyrs of modern times by many....
, of Prince Edward Island, Canada and his wife, Ellen Catherine Powell, missionaries from the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia to the New Hebrides, were massacred by the natives at Eromanga on May 2Oth, 1861. A memoir of the couple appeared in book form, at Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
in 1863.
The youngest volcanoes on the island are the three stratovolcano
Stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...
es that form the Traitor's Head peninsula, north of Cook Bay on the eastern coast. A submarine vent between the peninsula and nearby Goat Island
Goat Island
-Arts:* Goat Island , a Chicago-based company* Goat Island , Delitto all'isola delle capre, by Ugo Betti-Canada:* Goat Island, one of the Little Bay Islands in Newfoundland and Labrador* Goat Island -Ireland:...
erupted in 1881.
Formerly it was known as a source of sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
in the 19th century, and much of it was depleted. It is also home to the kauri and tamanu trees. There has been extensive logging, but most of the area is recovering, and efforts are underway to try to make the industry sustainable. With European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
support, there is a protected Happy Lands Kauri Reserve.
Erromango was one of the more important sources of workers for the blackbirding
Blackbirding
Blackbirding is a term that refers to recruitment of people through trickery and kidnappings to work as labourers. From the 1860s blackbirding ships were engaged in seeking workers to mine the guano deposits on the Chincha Islands in Peru...
crews. At one time the population of Erromango exceeded 10,000, today it is approximately 1500.
Historically there have been four languages of Erromango, Sie, Sorung, Ura, and Utaha (Ifo), but Sorung and Utaha are now extinct, and there are very few speakers of Ura. They constitute the Erromanga-language branch of South Vanuatu languages
South Vanuatu languages
-Languages:*Erromanga: Sie, Sorung , Ifo , Ura *Anejom–Tanna**Aneityum**Tanna:***Kwamera...
.