What is Bismarck Archipelago?
The '''Bismarck Archipelago''' is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of [[New Guinea]] in the western [[Pacific Ocean]] and part of [[Papua New Guinea]]. ==History== The first inhabitants of the archipelago arrived around 33,000 years ago after they sailed from what is now [[Papua New Guinea|Papua New Guine]]<nowiki/>a. Later arrivals included the [[Lapita]] people. The first [[Europe|European]] to visit the islands was the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] explorer [[Willem Schouten]] in 1616.<ref>Sigmond,J.P and Zuiderbann, L.H.(1976) ''Dutch Discoveries of Australia'', Rigby, Australia. {{ISBN|07270 08005}}</ref><ref>Spate, O.H.K. (1979) ''The Spanish Lake'', Australian National University, Second Edition, 2004. {{ISBN|1920942 173}}</ref> The islands remained unsettled by [[Western Europe|Western Europeans]] until they became part of the [[Germany|German]] [[protectorate]] of [[German New Guinea]] in 1884. The area was named after [[Germany|German]] [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Otto von Bismarck]]. On [[13 March]] [[1888]], a [[volcano]] erupted on [[Ritter Island]] causing a [[Tsunami|megatsunami]]. Almost all of the volcano fell into the ocean, which left a small lake in the [[volcanic crater]].<ref>{{cite journal |date=September 2003 | title = Ritter Island Volcano —lateral collapse and the tsunami of 1888 | journal = Geophysical Journal International | volume = 154 | issue = 3 | pages = 891–902 | publisher = Doi Publishing | doi = 10.1046/j.1365-246X.2003.02016.x | url = http://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-246X.2003.02016.x | access-date = 2007-12-17 | quote = In the early morning of 1888 March 13, roughly 5 km3 of Ritter Island Volcano fell violently into the sea northeast of New Guinea. This event, the largest lateral collapse of an island volcano to be recorded in historical time, flung devastating tsunami tens of metres high on to adjacent shores. Several hundred kilometres away, observers on New Guinea chronicled 3 min period waves up to 8 m high, that lasted for as long as 3 h. The