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1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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NEW MECKLENBURG (Ger. Neu-Mecklenburg, formerly New Ireland, native Tombara), an island of the Bismarck Archipelago, N.E. of New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, about 3° S., 152° E., in the administration of German New Guinea. It is about 240 m. long but seldom over 15 wide. From St George 's Channel at the south, separating it from New Pomerania, it sweeps north and then north-west, being divided from New Hanover at the other extremity by Byron Strait. It is mountainous throughout, having an extreme elevation of about 6500 ft. in the north, where the prevalent formations are sandstone and limestone, whereas in the south they are granite, porphyry and basalt. There is a white population of about forty; the natives are Papuans of a less fine type than the natives of New Pomerania, and rather resemble the Solomon islanders. Jacob Lemaire and Willem Cornelis Schouten sighted New Mecklenburg in 1616, but it was only recognized as part of an island separate from New Guinea by William Dampier in 1700, and as separate from New Pomerania in 1767 by Philip Carteret.