The Samarai Islands archipelago, part of the larger Louisiade Archipelago, is located 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of mainland New Guinea island, within the nation of Papua New Guinea.

The islands stretch over more than 50 kilometres (31 mi), and spread over an ocean area of 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi), between the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to the south.

The entire archipelago is within the Bwanabwana Rural LLG (Local Level Government), a part of the Samarai-Murua District in Milne Bay Province, southeastern Papua New Guinea.

[1] Malay and Chinese sailors may have visited the islands before European explorers.

European stops were also paid by Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1793, and Captain Owen Stanley in 1849.