Across the Bougainville Strait: Commercial Interests and Colonial Rivalry, c. 1880-1960

Abstract

In the years since political independence, the peoples of the border lands between Papua New Guinea and the Western Solomon Islands have had extensive and varied contacts, mirroring in their nature, if not their extent, more ancient linkages. From the mid-19th century European traders and local chiefs had collaborated to exploit these connections. Colonial annexation by Germany and Britain introduced constraints on free access across this border. Despite rationalisations about the welfare of the indigenous people, the main reason for this was the interests of commerce, especially plantation development. Bougainville was seen as a major reserve from which all concerned colonial administrations wished to draw labour for their own planters. Local preference found little recognition until post-war decolonisation began.