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Solomon Islands is divided into nine provinces. The national capital, Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, is separately governed as the country's Capital Territory.
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Solomon Islands is divided into nine provinces. The national capital, Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, is separately governed as the country's Capital Territory.
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.
After World War II, 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 Honiara.
At its independence in 1978, the protectorate became the sovereign state of Solomon Islands. 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, Guadalcanal, and Isabel 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 Honiara 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 of today.
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 increases.
The figures for Guadalcanal Province do not include the separately-administered Capital Territory of Honiara; 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.
| # | Province | Capital | Premier | Area (km2) | Population census 1999 | Population census 2009 | Population census 2019 | Population estimate 2022 | Population per km2 (2019) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Central Province | Tulagi | Stanely Manetiva | 615 | 21,577 | 26,051 | 30,326 | 33,476 | 49.3 |
| 2 |  Choiseul Province | Taro Island | Harrison Benjamin | 3,837 | 20,008 | 26,372 | 30,619 | 38,453 | 8.0 |
| 3 |  Guadalcanal Province | Honiara | Francis Sade | 5,336 | 60,275 | 106,023 | 154,150 | 166,838 | 28.9 |
| 4 |  Isabel Province | Buala | Rhoda Sikilabu | 4,136 | 20,421 | 26,158 | 30,399 | 36,688 | 7.3 |
| 5 |  Makira-Ulawa Province | Kirakira | Julian Maka'a | 3,188 | 31,006 | 40,419 | 52,006 | 57,396 | 16.3 |
| 6 |  Malaita Province | Auki | Daniel Suidani | 4,225 | 122,620 | 152,307 | 173,347 | 163,085 | 41.0 |
| 7 |  Rennell and Bellona Province | Tigoa | Japhet Tuhanuku | 671 | 2,377 | 3,041 | 4,091 | 4,465 | 6.1 |
| 8 |  Temotu Province | Lata | Clay Forau Soalaoi | 868 | 18,912 | 21,362 | 22,132 | 25,701 | 25.5 |
| 9 |  Western Province | Gizo | Christian Mesepitu | 7,509 | 62,739 | 76,649 | 94,209 | 102,083 | 12.5 |
| – |  Capital Territory | Honiara | Eddie Siapu (mayor) | 22 | 49,107 | 73,143 | 130,176 | 94,206 | 5,917.1 |
| – | Solomon Islands | Honiara | – | 30,407 | 409,042 | 515,870 | 721,455 | 722,392 | 23.7 |
[1] excluding the Capital Territory of Honiara
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in the Melanesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. This page is about the history of the nation state rather than the broader geographical area of the Solomon Islands archipelago, which covers both Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island, a province of Papua New Guinea. For the history of the archipelago not covered here refer to the former administration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, the North Solomon Islands and the History of Bougainville.
Solomon Islands is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, that lies east of Papua New Guinea.
Guadalcanal 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. The island is mainly covered in dense tropical rainforest and has a mountainous hinterland.
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons, is a country consisting of 21 major islands Guadalcanal, Malaita, Makira, Santa Isabel, Choiseul, New Georgia, Kolombangara, Rennell, Vella Lavella, Vangunu, Nendo, Maramasike, Rendova, Nggela Sule, Shortland, San Jorge, Banie, Ranongga, Pavuvu, Nggela Pile, Tetepare, and over 900 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia. It is directly adjacent to Papua New Guinea to the west, Australia to the southwest, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the southeast, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and Tuvalu to the east, and Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia to the north. It has a total area of 28,896 square kilometres, and a population of 734,887 according to the official estimates for mid 2023. Its capital and largest city, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, but excludes the Santa Cruz Islands.
The flag of Solomon Islands consists of a thin yellow diagonal stripe from the lower hoist-side corner, with a blue upper triangle and green lower triangle, and the canton charged with five white stars. Adopted in 1977 to replace the British Blue Ensign defaced with the arms of the protectorate, it has been the flag of Solomon Islands since 18 November of that year, eight months before the country gained independence. Although the number of provinces has since increased, the number of stars on the flag that originally represented them remained unchanged.
The Solomon Islands rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion covering the Solomon Islands archipelago.
The Nggela Islands, previously known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state, since 1978, in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The name, Florida Islands, fell into disuse following Solomon Islands' independence in 1978.
The people of the Solomon Islands observe these holidays nationally.
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 660 square kilometres (250 sq mi) that is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) 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; others being Sikaiana, Ontong Java, Tikopia, Anuta, Duff Islands, and some Reef Islands.
Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the second largest island in the country by area, after Guadalcanal.
Guadalcanal Province is one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands, consisting of the island of Guadalcanal. It is a 2,510 square mile (5,336 km2) island and is largely a jungle. Its name was given by Pedro de Ortega Valencia, born in the village of Guadalcanal, Seville, Spain. The national capital and largest city of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, is on the island; in July 1983, it was designated a 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi) separately-administered Capital Territory and is no longer considered part of the province. The population of the province is 93,613 (2009), not including the capital territory. The population of the island is 161,197. Honiara serves as the provincial capital. The climate is rainforest tropical. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 447 meters (1,467 ft).
The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first established in June 1893, when Captain Herbert Gibson of HMS Curacoa declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate.
The North Solomon Islands form a geographical area covering the more northerly group of islands in the Solomon Islands archipelago and includes Bougainville and Buka Islands, Choiseul, Santa Isabel, the Shortland Islands and Ontong Java Atoll. In 1885 Germany declared a protectorate over these islands forming the German Solomon Islands Protectorate. With the exception of Bougainville and Buka, these were transferred to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in 1900. Bougainville and Buka continued under German administration until the outset of World War I, when they were transferred to Australia, and after the war, were formally passed to Australian jurisdiction under a League of Nations mandate.
Santa Isabel is the largest island in Isabel Province, Solomon Islands. It is also the longest island, with the third largest surface area, in the country.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Solomon Islands:
The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The many islands of the archipelago are distributed across the sovereign states of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The largest island in the archipelago is Bougainville Island, which is a part of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville along with Buka Island, the Nukumanu Islands, and a number of smaller nearby islands. Much of the remainder falls within the territory of Solomon Islands and include the atolls of Ontong Java, Sikaiana, the raised coral atolls of Bellona and Rennell, and the volcanic islands of Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Makira, Malaita, New Georgia, the Nggelas, Santa Isabel, and the Shortlands. The Santa Cruz Islands are not a part of the archipelago.
Honiara is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. As of 2021, it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lies along the Kukum Highway. In 1983, a Capital Territory – comprising the 22 square-kilometre metropolitan area of Honiara – was proclaimed, with a self-governing status akin to a province, although the city also retained an older role as capital of Guadalcanal Province.
On 5 June 2000, a coup d'état occurred in Solomon Islands, in the capital of Honiara, in which the prime minister, Bartholomew Ulufa’alu, was taken hostage by militants of the Malaita Eagle Force. The event came as a result of longstanding ethnic tensions between the province that saw a rise in armed political groups from the late 1990s.
Protected areas of Solomon Islands include marine protected areas that encompass coral reefs, lagoons, and seagrass meadows. East Rennell, which includes Lake Tegano, is the only area in the Solomon Islands listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. As of April 2024, the Solomons have not nominated any wetlands under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
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Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Oceanian countries | |||
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 Australasia | |||
 Melanesia |
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 Micronesia |
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 Polynesia | |||
