Bougainville, a south Pacific island, to become world's newest nation

The South Pacific island of Bougainville on December 11 has freely voted to become independent of Papua New Guinea, becoming the latest territory in the world to seek secession. Buka town situated on Buka island is the capital of the region and the headquarters of the government is stationed there. It has a population of 3,00,000 people living in the territory mostly in villages on the outskirts of Buka and the two other main towns of Arawa and Buin, both on Bougainville island.

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About the island

According to the 2011 census, the small town recorded a population of  2,49,358. More than 2,00,000 voters were registered to cast votes in the referendum which is a significant increase, according to the chief referendum officer, Mauricio Claudio. The people are mostly Melanesian and the local language is Tok Pisin. It is a Papua New Guinean pidgin English. There are at least 19 distinct indigenous languages in the region. The island was named after French sailor Louis Antoine de Bougainville sailed along its east coast in 1768. Bougainville was colonized by Germany in the 19th century. The island was used by Japan as a military base during World War Two and it was controlled by Australia until Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975.

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Copper mine established 

A giant copper mine was also established in 1969 by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), a subsidiary of resources giant Rio Tinto. As many as 20,000 died in the civil war between Bougainville's rebel guerrilla army and Papua New Guinea forces that ended in  1998. It was the worst conflict in the Oceania region since World War Two. Vice President of Bougainville, Raymond Masono has said that he would revive a plan to overhaul the region's mining laws after the independence referendum.

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