[2] Kadovar is part of the Schouten Islands about 25 kilometres (15 mi) north of the mouth of the Sepik River.

Authorities had thought around 700 people lived on the island, but this number was related to the registered voters on the island and the actual number was found to be much higher during a re-settlement ordered after the volcano erupted in January 2018.

[3][4] The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Kadovar was by the Spanish navigator Yñigo Ortiz de Retez on 21 July 1545 when on board the carrack San Juan trying to return from Tidore to New Spain.

[6] The island was again evacuated by boats and canoes immediately after an eruption began on 5 January 2018 that lasted several days and resulted in at least half of the island being covered in lava.

[7] The Rabaul Volcanological Observatory described "mild vulcanian activity from a vent at the southeast base of the cumulodome" and that "a fissure may be opening just inside of the western wall of the vent’s breach, descending down to at least sea level".