Torres Islands facts for kids
The Torres Islands are a group of seven islands in the country of Vanuatu. They are the northernmost islands in Vanuatu and are part of the Torba Province. These islands are located between the larger island of New Guinea and Australia. To their north are the Solomon Islands, and to their south are Espiritu Santo and the Banks Islands. Deep under the ocean to the west is the Torres Trench, where two of Earth's giant plates (the Australian and Pacific plates) meet.
The seven islands in the Torres group, from north to south, are: Hiw (the largest), Metoma, Tegua, Ngwel (a small island with no people), Linua, Lo, and Toga. The whole chain of islands stretches about 42 kilometers (26 miles). The highest point on any of these islands is only 200 meters (656 feet) above the sea. Unlike some other islands in Vanuatu, the Torres Islands are not very rugged. Most of their coastlines are made of rocky coral, not white sand beaches.
Around 2004, about 950 people lived on the Torres Islands. They live in at least ten villages, mostly along the coast. Some of these villages are Yögevigemëne and Tinemēvönyö on Hiw, Lotew on Tegua, Lungharegi on Lo, and Likwal on Toga. A small airport on Linua, built in 1983, is the main way to travel between the Torres Islands and the rest of Vanuatu. Lungharegi is the main town, but it's quite small with just a community phone, a medical clinic, and a couple of small shops. There are no banks or police stations.
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Island Name: Where "Torres" Came From
The name "Torres" was given to these islands by European mapmakers. They named them after Luis Vaz de Torres, a navigator from the 16th century. He sailed near parts of Vanuatu in 1606 as part of a Spanish journey across the Pacific Ocean. Interestingly, Torres himself never actually saw or even knew about the Torres Islands. However, his commander, Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, did sail close to them while looking for other islands.
Long before Europeans arrived, the local people and their neighbors called these islands by different names. The most important old name was Vava. But once the name "Torres" started appearing on maps, it stuck. For almost 200 years, the islands have been known as the Torres Islands. Even the people living there today use this name, and only the oldest residents remember the name Vave.
History of the Torres Islands
Scientists believe people first lived on the Torres Islands about 3,200 years ago. Before Europeans arrived, villages were often built on higher ground, away from the coast, and were home to fewer people. The islands likely had many small clearings with a few homes and public areas.
In the late 1800s, European explorers visited the islands. Around the 1880s, the Melanesian Mission (a Christian group) began to have a big influence. They encouraged the islanders to move to coastal villages, which were easier for the missionaries to reach and manage. A Torres islander named Adams Tuwia became one of the first local priests. The mission decided to use the Mota language from the nearby Banks Islands for teaching Christianity. Because of this, Mota was taught in Torres mission schools until the 1970s, and some older islanders can still speak it.
A non-local missionary, Reverend Walter John Durrad, lived on the islands from 1905 to 1910. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the population of the Torres Islands dropped sharply. This happened because new diseases brought by Europeans spread, and many people were taken away from the islands (a practice called "Blackbirding"). At one point in the early 1930s, only about 56 people lived on the islands. It's amazing that the local population has grown back and kept their language and culture alive. The Torres Islands became part of the New Hebrides (a joint British and French colony) in 1906 and then joined the independent Republic of Vanuatu in 1980.
Island Ecology: The Coconut Crab
The Torres Islands are part of the Vanuatu rain forests area, just like the rest of the country. One of the most famous animals here is the coconut crab (Birgus latro). These crabs are very important to the islanders.
Since the airport opened on Linua, selling coconut crabs has become the most important way for people to earn money. The demand for crabs comes mainly from tourists in Port Vila (Vanuatu's capital) and, to a lesser extent, from the town of Luganville. Because so many crabs were being caught and sold, their numbers started to go down across northern Vanuatu, especially in the Torres Islands.
To help the crabs recover, local governments put a temporary ban on selling, buying, or eating them in some areas. This ban started in 2004 and was planned to last until 2008. Now, the export of crabs from the Banks and Torres Islands to Port Vila is managed by "open" and "closed" seasons and limits on how many can be caught.
Languages Spoken on the Islands
Two languages are spoken in the Torres Islands: Hiw and Lo-Toga.
- Hiw is spoken by about 280 people on the island of Hiw.
- Lo-Toga is spoken by about 580 people on the southern islands of Lo and Toga. It has two very similar dialects, Lo and Toga.
People who speak Hiw and those who speak Lo-Toga cannot easily understand each other. However, many Hiw speakers also know Lo-Toga. Both Hiw and Lo-Toga belong to the East Vanuatu languages, which are part of the larger Oceanic language family. Like most unwritten languages in Vanuatu, there isn't much detailed information published about them yet. In 2004, a linguist named Alexandre François started studying these two languages.
Island Culture
The people of the Torres Islands see themselves as two main groups, which match their language differences: the 'people of Hiw' and the 'people of Toga'. There's also a smaller difference recognized between the people of Lo and Toga.
Today, the people of the Torres Islands still live much like their ancestors did. They grow their own food (called subsistence agriculture) and fish. They also keep alive many of their old traditions and rituals. Two important male-centered traditions are the hukwe and the lēh-temēt.
- The hukwe is a set of rituals where men can gain higher status and power in the community.
- The lēh-temēt is a smaller group of men who learn special ritual knowledge. This knowledge helps them work with mana (a kind of spiritual power) and connect with the spirits of the dead.
The most noticeable part of the lēh-temēt activities is making and using special headdresses called temēt during singing and dancing ceremonies. These headdresses are believed to be the temporary physical forms of ancient spirits. Because of this, using them is seen as a very delicate process, and people must be careful to avoid spiritual harm. This is partly why the headdresses are always destroyed right after the ceremony ends.
Even though many old customs continue, life on the Torres Islands has changed a lot. Over more than a hundred years, contact with the Anglican church, colonial rulers, traders, and more recently, the country of Vanuatu and the global market, has brought many changes. Things like money, independent travelers, sailing ships, and luxury cruise liners now visit the islands.
Images for kids
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The Torres Islands.
See also
In Spanish: Islas Torres para niños
