Strait of Torres

The Détroit of Torres is a stretch of water ranging between the Australia and the New Guinea. Its width is approximately 150 km at the narrowest point. In the south is the Péninsule of the course York, the continental point most septentrional of the State Australia N of the Queensland, in north, the Western province of the New Guinea-News Guinea, in the west the Mer of Arafura and in the east the Mer of Coral.

Geography

The strait connects the Mer of Coral to the east and the Mer of Arafura in the west. Important international passage, the strait is not very deep and the number of reefs and islands makes navigation hazardous.

Several series of islands strew the strait, whose collective name is “islands of the strait of Torres”. They are 274 of which 17 are inhabited today permanently.

One finds in these islands a large variety of Topographie S, of ecosystem S and their formation largely differs. Many of those closest to the New Guinea low, are formed alluvial sedimentary deposits due to the coastal rivers. The majority of the Western islands broken and stiff, are made mainly of Granit and are the tops of the most septentrional extension of the Great Dividing Range. These mounts became islands when the sea level went up after the last Glacial period. The central islands are Cayes and those of the east are of origin volcanic. All the islands are managed by Australia since Thursday Island.

The indigenous inhabitants are the islanders of the strait of Torres, of the people mélanésiens related to Papous of New Guinea. The various communities of the islands have cultures distinct and a history from long time with the islands and the coastal regions. Their maritime trade and their interactions with Papous in north and the Aborigènes in the south maintained a diffusion cultural constant between the three companies going back at least to a few thousands of years.

Two indigenous languages are spoken in the strait about Torres: Lagau Ya and Meriam Mìr, as well as Brokan, otherwise called Creole of the strait of Torres. In 2001, according to the Australian census, the population of the islands was assembled to 8.089, even if much more lives in Australia apart from the strait of Torres.

History

The first known European navigator to have crossed this strait was Luis Váez de Torres, a sailor Portuguese which was the second of the forwarding of Pedro Fernandes de Queirós which went from Callao to the Peru until the Vanuatu and in the island of Espiritu Santo in 1605. After the return of the boat of Queiros to Mexico City, Torres set out again to go to Manila by the Moluques. It sailed along the southern part of New Guinea and saw surely the septentrional end of Australia, although no report/ratio indicates it.

In 1769, the Scottish Géographe Alexander Dalrymple found the report/ratio of voyage of Torres with Manila and gave the name of Torres to the strait.

In 1770, James Cook annexed the totality of the oriental party of Australia to the British Crown. It passed through the strait after having sailed along the Australian coasts. The London Missionary Society arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) in 1871. The islands of the strait of Torres were annexed in 1879 by Queensland. Thus became they then left the British colony of Queensland, even if some of them are with some encablures of New Guinea, then were built-in the new Australian Federation in 1901.

An important pearl-bearing industry developed years 1860 until worms 1970, date on which it crumbled vis-a-vis the competition of plastic industry. The collecting of the pearls was at the origin of the arrival of plungers tested coming from various countries, in particular of the Japan.

The strait of Torres is mentioned in Twenty thousand miles under the seas , the novel of Jules Verne, as a dangerous strait where the submarine Nautilus is failed a given moment.

References

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