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History
Their former name was New Britain Islands. The English explorer and navigator William Dampier landed on them in 1699, and in 1885 Britain assigned them to the German sphere of influence, under which cotton plantations were started. In September 1914 they were occupied by Australia and administered as a UN Trust Territory until independence in 1975, when the Bismarck Archipelago became a part of Papua New Guinea. The islands were occupied by Japan during World War II.