Comprising a ring of more than twenty islets on a reef surrounding a large lagoon, Nukumanu's sandy islands are located on a strip of coral rising no more than 1 metre (3.3 ft) above sea level.

The border between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands runs between these neighboring atolls, which form a small geographic group together with the wholly submerged Roncador Reef at the southern end.

[4] It was captured by Australia in 1914 and formally transferred to Australian administration as a League of Nations mandate in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles,[5] after Germany's defeat in World War I.

[6] Nukumanu's most recent claim to fame is that it was the last place on the path of Amelia Earhart before she and her co-pilot Fred Noonan disappeared forever into the vast Pacific Ocean.

This is exported mainly to Asia, and along with trochus shells, used to make mother-of-pearl, they comprise the backbone of the Nukumanu economy.