Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu. It has a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi), and a population of 652,858. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands, but excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.
Malaita Province is the most populous and one of the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. It is named after its largest island, Malaita. Other islands include South Malaita Island, Sikaiana Island, and Ontong Java Atoll. Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomons, including Malaita, and central government control of Malaita began in 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern Solomon Islands as a British Protectorate with the proclamation of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.
South Sea Islanders are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islands – including the Melanesian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Vanuatu – who were kidnapped or recruited between the mid to late 19th century as labourers in the sugarcane fields of Queensland. Some were kidnapped or tricked into long-term indentured service. At its height, the recruiting accounted for over half the adult male population of some islands.
Western Province is the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. The area is renowned for its beautiful tropical islands, excellent diving and snorkelling, coral reefs and WWII wrecks, ecotourism lodges, and head-hunting shrines. The province contains many small lagoons and most of the country's tourist trade outside Honiara.
The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, of a series of Pacific islands in and around Oceania. Except for Fiji and the Solomon Islands, most of these colonial possessions were relatively minor.
Burns Philp was once a major Australian shipping line and merchant that operated in the South Pacific. When the well-populated islands around New Guinea were targeted for blackbirding in the 1880s, a new rush for labour from these islands began. James Burns and Robert Philp purchased several well-known blackbirding ships to quickly exploit the human resource in this region, and Burns Philp entered the slave trade. The company ended its involvement in blackbirding in 1886. In later years the company was a major player in the food manufacturing business. Since its delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange in December 2006 and the subsequent sale of its assets, the company has mainly become a cashed up shell company. It is wholly owned by Graeme Hart's Rank Group.
The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern islands a British protectorate. Other islands were subsequently declared to form part of the Protectorate.
Cecil Wilson was an English county cricketer and Anglican bishop. He was born in Canonbury; died in Perth, Western Australia. He was the third missionary Anglican Bishop of Melanesia from 1894 to 1911, and subsequently, the second Bishop of Bunbury from 1918 to 1937.
The South Seas Evangelical Church (SSEC) is an evangelical, Pentecostal church in the Solomon Islands. In total, 17% of the population of the Solomon Islands adheres to the church, making it the third most common religious affiliation in the country behind the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Roman Catholic Church. The SSEC is particularly popular on Malaita, the most populous island, where 47% of its members live; there are also smaller populations in Honiara and elsewhere on Guadalcanal, on Makira, and in other provinces.
Charles Morris Woodford was a British naturalist and government minister active in the Solomon Islands. He became the first Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands Protectorate, serving from 1896 until 1915.
The High Commissioner for the Western Pacific was the chief executive officer of the British Western Pacific Territories, a British colonial entity, which existed from 1877 until 1976. Numerous colonial possessions were attached to the Territories at different times, the most durable constituent colonies being Fiji and the Solomon Islands.
The Melanesian Mission is an Anglican missionary agency supporting the work of local Anglican churches in Melanesia. It was founded in 1849 by George Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand.
The Solomon Islands is an archipelago in the western South Pacific Ocean, located northeast of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesia subregion and bioregion of Oceania. It forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The archipelago forms much of the territory of Solomon Islands. The main islands are Choiseul, the Shortland Islands, the New Georgia Islands, Santa Isabel, the Russell Islands, the Florida Islands, Tulagi, Malaita, Maramasike, Ulawa, Owaraha, Makira, and Guadalcanal. The largest island, Bougainville Island, is geographically part of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), while politically an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. The nation state of Solomon Islands covers a subset of the Solomon Islands archipelago and includes isolated low-lying coral atolls and high islands including Sikaiana, Rennell Island, Bellona Island, and the Santa Cruz Islands.
Marau Sound is a sound in the Solomon Islands; it is located at the eastern end of Guadalcanal Island, in Guadalcanal Province.
Tavanipupu is an island in the Solomon Islands. It is located in Marau Sound, at the eastern end of Guadalcanal, between Towara'o Island and Marapa Island, and is part of Guadalcanal Province.
HMS Pylades was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop of the Royal Navy, built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 5 November 1884. She was later reclassified as a corvette and was the last corvette built for the Royal Navy until the Second World War.
Eric Vernon Lawson, was an Australian businessman and politician in the Solomon Islands. The Lawson Tama Stadium in the capital Honiara is named after him.
Tomako or tomoko is a large war canoe from the Solomon Islands. The name "tomako" is used in New Georgia in the Roviana language. It is also known as magoru in Marovo, niabara in Vella Lavella, mon in Bougainville, ora in Makira, and iola or ola in Malaita and Ulawa. Tomako were narrow and usually between 12 to 18 m in length. They did not possess outriggers or sails and were propelled solely by paddling. They were built by fitting planks edge-to-edge which are then "sewn" together and caulked with a paste made from the nut of the tree Parinarium laurinum. They could carry 30 to 50 warriors, and were used in raiding expeditions for slaves or for headhunting. They were characteristically crescent-shaped, with sharply upturned prows and sterns that were decorated with fringes of cowrie shells, nautilus shells, and mother-of-pearl, as well as intricate carvings. These carvings are usually of spirit animals or warriors like the kesoko and Tiolo. The body is commonly blackened to contrast with the decorations.
SS Matunga was a 1,618-gross register ton passenger-cargo ship, built by Napier and Miller, Glasgow for Mersey Steamship Co., Liverpool and originally named Zweena. Purchased by Burns Philp & Co. Ltd in 1910 for the British Solomon Islands service. Burns Philp was operating seven plantations in the Solomon Islands through subsidiaries - the Solomon Islands Development Company, the Shortland Islands Plantation Ltd and Choiseul Plantations Ltd.
Arthur Innes Hopkins (1869-1943) was a British Anglican missionary active in the north of the island of Malaita.
