Supiori Island

Supiori is an island in Cenderawasih Bay just west of Biak in the Schouten Islands in Papua Province, Indonesia. It has a rugged surface, largely covered in tropical rainforest, with its highest point at 1034 metres. It is about forty kilometres (25 miles) long and 25 km (16 mi) wide, covering a total area of 659 square kilometres (254 square miles). Principal settlements include Korido on the south coast and Yenggarbun on the north coast. South of Supiori lie the small coral islands Aruri (Insumbabi) and Rani. Before 1963, the island formed part of Netherlands New Guinea. They now comprise Supiori Regency within Papua (province).

History

The island was first sighted by Europeans in the person of the Portuguese Jorge de Menezes in 1526. Menezes landed at Biak Islands, where he was forced to winter.^[1] One of the first sightings was also made by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on 24 June 1528, when trying to return from Tidore to New Spain. The Schoutens were charted as Islas de Oro (Golden Islands in Spanish). Its sighting was again reported by Spanish navigator Íñigo Órtiz de Retes in 1545. It was charted as Los Martires by the Spaniards, possibly because it was where Spanish navigator Hernando de Grijalva was murdered by its mutinied crew.^[2]

Coordinates: 0°45′S 135°30′E / 0.750°S 135.500°E

References

1. Kratoska, Paul H. (2001). South East Asia, Colonial History: Imperialism before 1800, Volume 1 de South East Asia, Colonial History. Taylor & Francis. p. 56.
2. Hamy, Ernst T. "Comentarios sobre algunas cartas antiguas de la Nueva Guinea para servir a la historia del descubrimiento de aquel país por los navegantes españoles (1528-1606)" Translated by Martín Ferreiro and included in the work of Justo Zaragoza in Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid, tIV, primer semestre, 1878, p.44