The island was evacuated in 2004 and its residents resettled elsewhere in Papua New Guinea, but many have begun to return despite concerns of future volcanic activity.

[1] The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Manam Island was on 5 August 1545 by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on board the carrack San Juan, trying to return from Tidore to New Spain.

[5] Thirteen local residents were killed during an eruption on 3 December 1996, when pyroclastic flows reached the village of Budua.

The eruption began October 24 but was not seen as a major threat until the wind changed pushing ash and debris towards inhabited areas.

[6] In March 2007 the government of Papua New Guinea made a large area of land available for permanent resettlement of displaced islanders at Andarum near Bogia.