Solomon Islands


Figure 1.--This photo dhows two Solomon Isklands boys in 1956. They lived on thr Santa Cruz Islands to the east oif the other Solomon Islands.

The Solomons located just east of New Guinea were virtually unknown before World War II. They are a twin chain of volcanic islands streaching 900 miles in a parallel arangement north and south. The water area between the two chains came to be called the Slot. The volcanic islands are mounatenous and heavily covered with tropical vegetation. There are also small coral atols. There are about 1,000 islands and atolls. The population is primarily Melanesian (93 percent. The remainder is Polynesian, Micronesian, and other. Most of the population is Christian, divided into many different demominations: Anglican (Archdiocese of Melanesia), Roman Catholic, South Sea Evangelical, United Church (Methodist), Seventh-day Adventist. The principsal language is English in part because a common langusge was needed. There are many vernacular languages, including Solomon Islands pidgin. The major islands include the British Protectorates of Guadacanal, Malaita, New Georgia, Santa Cruz Isles (group), Choiseul, Santa Isabel, San Cristobal, and Shortland. The Santa Cruz Islands are an outlier, well to the eadt of the rest of the Sollomons. Bougainville and Buka in the north were administered by Australia as a part of the New Guinea Mandate. The main exports were copra and timber. The Solomons had few resources. What they did have was a strategic location. As a result, some of the critical battles of the Pacific War were fought in the Sollomons.

The Archepeligo

The Solomons located just east of New Guinea were virtually unknown before World War II. The core of the Solomns are a twin chain of volcanic islands streaching 900 miles in a parallel arangement north and south. The water area between the two chains came to be called the Slot during World War II and ws the scene of a series odf small and medium-sized naval and air encounters. The volcanic islands are mounatenous and heavily covered with tropical vegetation. There are also small coral atols. There are about 1,000 islands and atolls. The major islands include the British Protectorates of Guadacanal, Malaita, New Georgia, Santa Cruz Isles (group), Choiseul, Santa Isabel, San Cristobal, and Shortland. Defining the Solomons is a little complicated. The Solomons run into islands to the east of new Guinea. The boundary was set arbitrarily by the Anglo-German line negotiated by the United Kingdom and German Empire (1904) which is the basis for the current border. Bougainville and Buka in the north were thus administered by Australia as a part of the New Guinea Mandate. These islands are generally associated with the World War II Solomons camaign. Another compliction is the Sana Cruz Islands set out into the Pacific east of Guadalcanal and Santa Cruz and north of the New Hebredes (Vanuatu). This area was the scene of some of the major World War II South Pacific naval enggements. There are sevral small islands around Santa Cruz. Matema Island or Matema is of one of the Reef Islands near Santa Cruz in Temotu Province. The language spoken on Matema Island is Pileni, one of the Polynesian language family. Pileni is also spoken on the islands of Pileni, Nupani, Nifiloli, Aua and Nukapu of the Reef Islands, as well as in the Taumako Islands (Duff Islands). Pileni are believed to be descendants of Tuvalu people. It is surrounded by a circular reef one kilometre in diameter. While the islanders of the island speak Polynesian, they physically resemble Melanesians although with some obvious Polynesian ad mixture.

History

The Melanesian population was part of the first migration out of Africa ending when the aborignees reached New Guinea and Australia. The Melenesians eventually settled island east of New Guinea and Australia. Archeologists believe that people reached the Solomon Islands (about 2000 BC). Europeans first reached the Solomons in the 16th century. The Spainard Alvaro de Mendana first mentioned the islands (1568). There was initially little interest in colonizing the islands. Britain and Germany divided the islands between them (1886). The British placed the southern Solomons under a protectorate (1893). This was extended to the Eastern Solomons (1898). The Germans briefly occupied New Guinea and the northern Solomons during their colonial outreach and naval building effort. The Germans transferred the northern Solomons (except Bougainville and Buka) by treaty to Britain (1900). The British and Australians seized the German possessions at the onset of World war I (1914). The islands since World War I were thus admistered by the British and Austrlians. As the early phase of the Pacific War played out, the Solomons which had been one of the most remote, isolated areas of the world proved to have a strategic location. And it was in the Solomons that the rapidly mobilizing United States first confronted the expanding Japanese Empire on land--the climatic battle for Guadalcanal. This set off a series of bitterly fought naval engagements both up and down the Slot and the blur water east and south of the Solomons that proved to be the turning point of the War. The independent country of the Solomon Islands is what was the British southern and eastern Solomons.

Population

The population is primarily Melanesian (93 percent). The remainder is Polynesian, Micronesian, and other.

Religion

Most of the population is Christian, divided into many different demominations: Anglican (Archdiocese of Melanesia), Roman Catholic, South Sea Evangelical, United Church (Methodist), Seventh-day Adventist.

Schools

As late as World War II there were virtually no schools in the Islands. The first schools wwere founded by missionaries. Since the War a public school has been developed. Australia has played a major role in that effort and New Zealand has also assisted. About 65 percent of the country's children attend school The adult literacy rates is about 75 percent. The country is very poor. Most of the population is involved in subsistence agriculture. The endemic poverty limits the funds that can be devoted to education. Many children drop out at an early age. Many schools in the country's developing education system were destroyed by a tsumami (2007). The Government planned to make the schools completely free of charge (2009).

Language

The principsal language is English in part because a common lsngusge was needed. There are many vernacular languages, including Solomon Islands pidgin.

Economy

The main exports were copra and timber. The Solomons had few resources.







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Created: 3:04 AM 8/9/2009
Last updated: 7:47 PM 12/28/2012