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Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is 9,300 km⁲ (3,600 sq mi). The population of the whole province, including nearby islets such as the Carterets, is approximately 300,000. The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft). The much smaller Buka Island, c. 500 km⁲ (190 sq mi), lies to the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airstrip in the north is in the town of Buka. Buka has an outcropping that is 175 km (109 mi) from New Ireland. Among the large islands of Papua New Guinea, New Ireland is the closest to Buka. Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands archipelago. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire–associated North Solomons. Most of the islands in this archipelago are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. Two of these islands—the closely connected Shortland Islands—are less than 9 km (5.6 mi) south or southeast of Bougainville, and about 30 km (19 mi) west of Choiseul, one of the settlements of which, Poroporo, faces Bougainville. In a 2019 referendum, the citizens of Bougainville voted to become independent from Papua New Guinea by 2027, but the referendum was non-binding on the Papua New Guinea government, which has not committed to this.