Bougainville Strait and Island Discovery
- When
- 1768
- Where
- Strait between Choiseul Island and Bougainville Island; Main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
- Episodes
- 2
In 1768, during his circumnavigation aboard Boudeuse and Étoile, Louis Antoine de Bougainville became the first European to pass through the Solomon Islands strait that now bears his name, and he named Bougainville Island after himself. The supplied sources give the year but no exact day for these discoveries.
Episodes
- First European passage through Bougainville Strait
In 1768 Louis Antoine de Bougainville became the first European to pass through the strait in the Solomon Islands, which was later named for him.
- European contact with and naming of Bougainville Island
The first European contact with Bougainville Island occurred in 1768, when Louis Antoine de Bougainville arrived and named the main island after himself.
Background and detail
Background. The 1768 discoveries occurred during the circumnavigation that Bougainville, a French military officer and explorer, had undertaken after receiving permission from Louis XV in 1766.
The Strait. Bougainville Strait separates Choiseul Island, part of the Solomon Islands, from Bougainville Island, part of Papua New Guinea. The first European to pass through it was Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768, and the waterway was subsequently given his name. It later became one of the major shipping routes through the Solomon Islands.
The Island. Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. The first European contact with the island came in 1768, when Louis Antoine de Bougainville arrived and named the main island after himself. His name is also given to the strait dividing it from Choiseul.
People involved
- Louis Antoine de Bougainville · French explorer who first passed through the strait and named the island
Sources
- Bougainville Strait Wikipedia, revision of 2026-03-27
- Bougainville Island Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-10
- Louis Antoine de Bougainville Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.