Schouten Islands (Papua New Guinea)

This article is about island group in Papua New Guinea. For other islands with same name, see Schouten (disambiguation).

Schouten Islands in Papua New Guinea.

The Schouten Islands are a group of six small volcanic islands in the province of East Sepik in Papua New Guinea, north of the island of New Guinea. The group is also called Eastern Schouten Islands or Le Maire Islands to separate it from unrelated Schouten Islands in Indonesia. The combined land area is approximately 50 km² (19 sq mi).

The Schouten Islands includes the following islands:

• Bam, active volcano – last eruption 1960.
• Blup Blup, volcano.
• Kadovar, volcano – possible but unconfirmed eruption c. 1700.
• Koil
• Vokeo
• Wei, also known as Vial Island

The first recorded sighting by Europeans of the Eastern Schouten Islands was by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on 21 July 1545 when on board of the carrack San Juan tried to return from Tidore to New Spain.