Geography Of The Solomon Islands
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Geography Of The Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, that lies east of Papua New Guinea. Islands The major part of the nation of Solomon Islands is the mountainous volcanic islands of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), which includes Choiseul, the Shortland Islands, the New Georgia Islands, Santa Isabel, the Russell Islands, the Florida Islands, Tulagi, Malaita, Maramasike, Ulawa, Owaraha (Santa Ana), Makira (San Cristobal), and the main island of Guadalcanal. (The largest island in the archipelago is Bougainville, but it is politically an autonomous region of the neighbouring country of Papua New Guinea.) Solomon Islands also includes isolated low-lying atolls and volcanic islands such as Sikaiana, Rennell Island, Bellona Island, the Santa Cruz Islands and the remote, tiny outliers, Tikopia, Anuta, and Fatutaka. The distance between the most western and most eastern islands is about . Especially the Santa Cruz Islands, north of Vanuatu, are isolate ...
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South Malaita Island
South Malaita Island is the island at the southern tip of the larger island of Malaita in the eastern part of Solomon Islands. It is also known as Small Malaita and Maramasike for Areare speakers and Malamweimwei for more than 80% of the islanders. The island is referred to as ''Iola Raha''. It is called "small" to distinguish it from the much larger sibling. It is part of Malaita Province. South Malaita came under effective control of the colonial administration after the Solomon Islands was declared a British Protectorate in 1893. During the colonial days, the island was divided by the colonial government and missionary establishments into the ''Asimeuri'', ''Asimae'', and ''Raroisu'u'' districts. First settlers The history of Mwalamwaimwei began with early migrants who settled in the coastal zone and later moved to the highlands. A revolution in the highlands led residents to return to the coastal zone. Governance The ruling chiefs inherit the chiefly bloodline and govern e ...
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Fatutaka
Fatutaka, Fatu Taka or Patu Taka (also known as Fataka and Mitre Island) is a small volcanic island in Temotu Province, in the nation of Solomon Islands, south-west Pacific Ocean. The easternmost island in Solomon Islands, Fatutaka is located southeast of Anuta and can be seen from there in clear weather. Fatutaka and Anuta were discovered for Europeans by Admiral Edward Edwards in 1791. The island, located at , is a small rocky outcropping, rising to an elevation of . The total land area of the island is . Human activities The island's soil is rocky, and not especially fertile, although it has in the past been used as a gardening location for the people of Anuta. The population of Anuta, the closest inhabited island, regularly sail to Fatutaka to eat and collect sea-birds and their eggs. The birds of Fatukaka have never been surveyed although the presence of Frigatebird, Eastern Reef Egret, Pacific Imperial Pigeon, and Emerald Dove have been reported. Geology Fatutaka ...
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Anuta
Anuta is a small volcanic island in the province of Temotu in the southeastern part of Solomon Islands. It is one of the smallest permanently inhabited Polynesian islands. It is one of the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia. Geography The island lies about to the east-southeast of Nendö. It is a small volcanic island with a fringing coral reef. The highest point on the island is above sea level. The island has a diameter of only about and an area of . The island lies halfway between the Solomon Islands archipelago and Tuvalu. Anuta's nearest populated neighbour is Tikopia Island, about to the southwest. The next closest islands are Vanikolo, Utupua, and the Reef Islands—with mixed Melanesian and Polynesian populations—and the Duff Islands, all over away. Further southwest lie the Banks and New Hebrides Groups. History Anuta was first mentioned in 1791, and the political and geographical circumstances led to isolation of Anuta's population. Accordi ...
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Tikopia
Tikopia is a volcanic island in Temotu Province, in the independent nation of Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Although most of Solomon Islands is Melanesian, Tikopia is culturally Polynesian. Its remoteness has enabled much of its culture to persist. One overview calls it "arguably the most thoroughly documented small-scale society in the ethnographic record". Tikopia played a significant role in solving the mystery of the Lapérouse expedition, which had disappeared in 1788. The ''Calcutta Government Gazette'' wrote in 1828, "It is a curious fact that the discovery of the wreck of LaPerouse's ships arose out of a massacre at the Fejee Islands,  in 1813". Survivors from this massacre were put ashore at the nearest landfall, which turned out to be Tikopia, and thus began a chain of events which resulted in this tiny island becoming a recognised name around the world. Location and geography Covering an area of , this Pacific island is the remn ...
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Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands form an archipelago in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. They lie approximately to the southeast of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu and are considered part of the Vanuatu rain forests ecoregion. The term Santa Cruz Islands is sometimes used to encompass all the islands of Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. Geography The largest island is Nendo Island, Nendö, which is also known as Santa Cruz Island proper. Lata, Solomon Islands, Lata, located on Nendö, is the largest town, and is the capital of Temotu Province. Other islands belonging to the Santa Cruz group are Vanikoro (which is actually made up of two islands, Banie (island), Banie and its small neighbour Teanu (island), Teanu) and Utupua. The table below provides basic data on these three islands. The Santa Cruz Islands are less than five million years old and were pushed upward by the Plate tectonics, tectonic subduction ...
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Bellona Island
Bellona Island (indigenous name Mungiki) is an island within Rennell and Bellona Province, in Solomon Islands. Its length is about and its average width . Its area is about . It is almost entirely surrounded by high cliffs, consisting primarily of raised coral limestone. Population Bellona Island is one of the Polynesian islands of the Solomon Islands archipelago, located over 100km South of the island of Guadalcanal. There are three districts namely Matangi (East), Ghongau (Central) and Sa'aiho (West). The island has seven original tribes in the center of the island namely: Nuku'Angoha, Ngikobaka, Baitanga, Tongaba, Sa'apai, Hangekumi, and Ghongau, with two subregions namely Ngutuanga Bangitakungu and Ngutuanga Bangika'ango. There are over ten traditional villages on Bellona Island namely: *Matahenua/Matamoana (west) *Honga'ubea *Tongomainge *Saukapoi *Matabaingei *Ngotokanaba *Pauta *Nuku'Angoha (Nuku clinic) *Ngongona *Ghongau *Ahenoa *Matangi *NukuTonga (East) *Tehakapaia ...
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Rennell Island
Rennell Island, locally known as Mugaba, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the nation state of Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of and is about long and wide. It is the second largest raised coral atoll in the world with the largest lake in the insular Pacific, Lake Tegano, a lake that is listed as a World Heritage Site. Rennell Island has a population of about 1,840 persons of Polynesian descent who primarily speak Rennellese, Pijin and some English. Rennell and Bellona Islands are two of the few islands in the otherwise Melanesian Solomon Islands archipelago classified as a Polynesian outlier. The island lies south of Honiara and north-east of Brisbane. The provincial capital, Tigoa, is at the western end of the island. Bauxite mining and logging on the west side of the island was poorly regulated, resulted in spills, and seriously damaged the ecology and economy of the island between 201 ...
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Sikaiana
Sikaiana (formerly called the Stewart Islands) is a small atoll NE of Malaita in Solomon Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is almost in length and its lagoon, known as Te Moana, is totally enclosed by the coral reef. Its total land surface is only . There is no safe anchorage close to this atoll, which makes it often inaccessible to outsiders. Geography Sikaiana is a remote tropical coral atoll located at latitude and longitude 8°25′0″S 162°52′0″E, over 200 kilometres (125 miles) from any other islands. The main island at Sikaiana atoll, located at the easternmost corner, is called Sikaiana. The three small islands in the west of the atoll are Tehaolei (north), Matuiloto (west), and Matuavi (south). There are also two artificial islands on the reef, Te Palena and Hakatai'atata. History Administratively, Sikaiana is governed as an outlying region of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Sikaiana's population is approximately 300 people of Polynesians, Polynesian ...
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Atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most of the approximately 440 atolls in the world are in the Pacific Ocean. Two different, well-cited models, the subsidence model and the antecedent karst model, have been used to explain the development of atolls.Droxler, A.W. and Jorry, S.J., 2021. "The Origin of Modern Atolls: Challenging Darwin's Deeply Ingrained Theory". ''Annual Review of Marine Science'', 13, pp. 537–573. According to Charles Darwin's subsidence model, the formation of an atoll is explained by the sinking of a volcanic island around which a coral fringing reef has formed. Over geologic time, the volcanic island becomes extinct and eroded as it subsides completely beneath the surface of the ocean. As the volcanic island subsides, the coral fringing reef becomes a ba ...
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Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island (; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is . The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at . The much smaller Buka Island, , lies to the north, across the wide Buka Passage, Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airstrip in the north is in the town of Buka. Buka has an outcropping that is from New Ireland (island), New Ireland. Among the large islands of Papua New Guinea, New Ireland is the closest to Buka. Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago. It was previously the main landmass in the North Solomon Islands, North Solomons, which were associated with the German Empire. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern ...
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Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second-largest by population (after Malaita). The island is mainly covered in dense tropical rainforest and has a mountainous hinterland. Guadalcanal was first charted by Europeans during the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Álvaro de Mendaña in 1568. The name comes from the village of Guadalcanal, Seville, Guadalcanal, in the province of Sevilla (province), Seville, in Andalusia, Spain, birthplace of Pedro de Ortega Valencia, a member of Mendaña's expedition. During 1942 and 1943, it was the scene of the Guadalcanal campaign and saw bitter fighting between Japanese and U.S. troops. The Americans were ultimately victorious. At the end of World War II, Honiara, on the north coast of Guadalcanal, became the new capital of ...
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