This Day in History February 27, 1700

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I have to admit that I have never heard of New Britain, as far as I know, but it was discovered by William Dampier on this date in 1700.  He named it Nova Britannia.  It sounds a little sketchy, but he does appear to be the first European to set foot on it.

Where is New Britain, you may ask?  It is the largest island in the Bismark Archipelago of Papua, New Guinea.  It is an island comprised of volcanoes, and there are several active volcanoes on the island.  It is the 38th largest island in the world.  In fact, in 1994, East Great Britain was destroyed by a volcano and mostly still lies under ash.  In 2010, its population was 493,585.


There is a lot of information--I had no idea that such a small place has such a history, and for that information, please check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_New_Britain
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/New_Britain_(island).aspx

I do realize that wikipedia is one of the main sources, but from what I can tell, it is right.