The Shepherd Islands are a group of islands lying between the larger islands of Epi

Epi (island)

Epi is the name of an island in Vanuatu, at the north end of the Shepherd Islands. It is in Shefa Province. It is long northwest-southeast, and wide, with an area of . Its shoreline measures 130 km...

 and Éfaté

Éfaté

Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...

, in the Shefa

Shefa Province

Shefa is a province of Vanuatu, including the islands of Epi and Efate and the Shepherd Islands. The name Shefa is derived from the initial letters of Shepherd and Efate. It has a population of 45,280 people and an area of 1,455 km²...

 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...

. The aggregate land area is 88 km². At the 2009 census

2009 Vanuatu Census

The 2009 Vanuatu Census refers to the census conducted in Vanuatu on 16 November, 2009. The census revealed growth by an average of 2.3 percent since the last population survey in 1999....

 the population numbered 3634.

From north to south, the principal islands are: Laika, Tongoa (Kuwaé), Tongariki, Émaé

Emae

Emae is an island in the Shepherds Islands, Shefa, Vanuatu. Maunga Lasi is the highest peak at 644 m. It forms the northern rim of the underwater volcano of Makura, which also covers the nearby islands of Makura and Mataso...

 (Mai), Makira

Makira

The island of Makira is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Islands. The island is located east of Guadalcanal and south of Malaita. The largest and capital city is Kirakira....

 (Emwae), Mataso (Matah), and Monument (Étarik). Émaé and Tongoa are the largest ones islands in the group.

The region includes two submarine volcanoes, Kuwae

Kuwae

Kuwae is a submarine caldera between Epi and Tongoa islands. Kuwae Caldera cuts through the flank of the Tavani Ruru volcano on Epi and the northwest end of Tongoa....

, and Makura. The islands are principally in the outlines of the calderas of these volcanoes.

The highest of the islands is Émaé, at 644 m (2,113 ft) above sea level, Tongariki is also above 500 m (1,640 ft).

Languages

Most of the islands are inhabited by Melanesia

Melanesia

Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...

ns like most of Vanuatu, but Émaé is a Polynesian outlier

Polynesian outlier

Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian islands which lie in geographic or political Melanesia and Micronesia. Based on archaeological and linguistic analysis, these islands are believed to have been colonized by seafaring Polynesians, mostly from the area of Tonga, Samoa and...

. Other than Emae, on which is spoken a Futunic language, there are, according to Ethnologue

Ethnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...

, two languages spoken on the other islands: North Éfaté

North Efate language

North Efate, or Nguna, is an Oceanic language spoken on several islands of Vanuatu.-External links:*...

, spoken on Tongoa; and Namakura

Namakura language

Namakura, or Makura or Namakir, is an Oceanic language of Vanuatu.-External links:*...

, spoken on Mataso, Makura, Tongoa, and Tongariki. These are all also spoken on the island of Éfaté, and are closely related to one another and the other languages of Éfaté and central Vanuatu in the language group Central Vanuatu languages

Central Vanuatu languages

The languages of the Central Vanuatu family belong to the Nuclear Southern Oceanic language family. There are half a dozen languages, all spoken in the province of Shefa, central Vanuatu, on the islands of Epi, Éfaté, and the many small islands of the Shepherds Group.The primary division is between...

.