Manus - Settlements

Villages rarely have more than 400 residents. They frequently are made of hamlets, sets of houses built around a central clearing, often with an associated patrician's men's house. Hamlets and village sections are connected by paths. These hamlet clearings and the areas around houses are cleaned carefully. Households often maintain a dwelling house with a separate house for cooking. Houses may be built on the ground or on posts (up to about 6 feet) and may be of one or two stories. The household usually is a nuclear family, though a married child may build a house adjacent to the parents' dwelling. Manus has two urban areas. Lorengau, the Provincial capital and market center, is a harbor town with about 4,000 people. Lombrum, a Defense Force naval base, has about 1,500 people. Both were built during Australian Control with commercial housing materials.