Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

is divided into nine

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s. The national capital,

Honiara Honiara () is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. , it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lies ...

, on the island of

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- ...

, is separately governed as the country's Capital Territory.

History

Under the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, there were initially 12 administrative districts: Choiseul, Eastern Solomons, Gizo, Guadalcanal, Lord Howe, Malaita, Nggela and Savo, Rennell and Bellona Islands, Santa Cruz, Shortlands, Sikaiana (Stewart), and Ysabel and Cape Marsh. The administrative centre was in

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 t ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the protectorate was reorganised into four districts, namely Central, Western, Eastern, and Malaita, which were then further subdivided into councils. The administrative centre was moved from Tulagi to

. At its independence in 1978, the protectorate became the sovereign state of

. Honiara continued to function as the capital of the sovereign nation, and the inherited districts and councils remained until 1981, when the nation was reorganised into seven provinces by splitting some of the districts into provinces: the Central District was split into Central,

, and

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th c ...

provinces, while the Eastern District was split into Makira-Ulawa and Temotu provinces. The other two districts, Western and Malaita, were also designated as provinces. These new provinces corresponded to the councils of the districts before 1981. In 1983, the 22 square-kilometre

was split from Guadalcanal Province and became a separately-governed capital territory. The city remains as the capital of Guadalcanal Province. In 1995, Choiseul Province was split from Western Province, and Rennell and Bellona Province was split from Central Province, resulting in the nine provinces and one town council of today.

Population

The population census data is from the 1999, 2009 and 2019 Censuses, as provided by the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office. They show that the population has increased in the past decade for most of the provinces, especially the more urban ones, as

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It can also ...

increases. The figures for Guadalcanal Province do not include the separately-administered Capital Territory of

; if included, that province would have had a total population of 109,382 in 1999, when it was the second largest province by population; by 2009, the combined census total for Guadalcanal and the Capital Territory would be 179,166, which would have made it the most populous province; by 2019 the combined total would be 284,326.

Provinces

^{/sup> excluding the Capital Territory of Honiara

See also

* ISO 3166-2:SB

References

External links

Solomon Islands National Statistic Office – Population

{{DEFAULTSORT:Provinces Of Solomon Islands

Subdivisions of the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, Provinces
Solomon Islands 1
Provinces, Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands geography-related lists}