Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons, is a country consisting of six major islands 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 Melanesian Brotherhood is an Anglican religious community of men in simple vows based primarily in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.
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.
The Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACoM), also known as the Church of the Province of Melanesia and the Church of Melanesia (COM), is a church of the Anglican Communion and includes nine dioceses in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The Archbishop of Melanesia is Leonard Dawea. He succeeds the retired archbishop George Takeli.
The Archdiocese of Honiara is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Solomon Islands. It is the successor of the apostolic prefecture of the British Solomon Islands, which was erected in 1897. The ecclesiastical province of Honiara was created in 1978, the first such creation of Pope John Paul II, and contains two suffragan sees: Gizo and Auki (1982).
The South Sea Evangelical Church (SSEC) is an evangelical, Pentecostal church in Solomon Islands. In total, 17% of the population of 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.
Solomon Islands is an overwhelmingly Christian majority country, with adherents of Islam being a minuscule minority. Because of the secular nature of the country's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. The arrival of the Islamic Religion in the country can be traced back to the early 1980s. Islam Ahmadiyya, however, first reached Solomon Islands probably in 1987, when a Ghanaian missionary by the name of Al-Hajj Hafiz Ahmad Jibreel Saeed, belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, visited Guadalcanal on a reconnaissance trip lasting three years. Today, there are two major Islamic branches (sect) in the country, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Sunni Islam. According to a 2007 report by the United States Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report, there are approximately 350 Muslims in the country. However, in 2008, an article in the Australian Journal of International Affairs suggested that there may be as many as 1,000 Ahmadiyya in the country alone, or 0.14% of the population.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Solomon Islands, with Anglicanism being the single largest denomination.
Radio Happy Isles is a national radio station in the Solomon Islands, operated by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation. It broadcasts from Honiara.
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.
Sir David Okete Vuvuiri Vunagi,, is a retired Solomon Islands Anglican bishop who served as governor-general of Solomon Islands from 2019 to 2024. He was the archbishop of Melanesia and bishop of the Diocese of Central Melanesia from 2009 to 2015.
"Walkabout long Chinatown" is a folksong from Solomon Islands. The government of Solomon Islands describes it as "the national song of not only Solomon Islands, but also of Melanesia" as a whole.
Pijin is a language spoken in Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea and Bislama of Vanuatu; the three varieties are sometimes considered to be dialects of a single Melanesian Pidgin language. It is also related to Torres Strait Creole of Torres Strait, though more distantly.
Solomon Islands is a sovereign country in Melanesia consisting of many islands with a population of 561,231 (2013). It became self-governing from the United Kingdom in 1976 after three previous attempts at forming a Constitution. The Constitution of Solomon Islands was enacted in 1978. This however led to conflicts between cultures and armed conflict in the late 1990s forced a review of the 1978 Constitution. This review resulted in the Federal Constitution of the Solomon Islands Bill 2004 (SI) and various other amendments. The Human Rights Chapter, however, remained unchanged.
Town Ground is a suburb in Honiara, Solomon Islands, located in the main center on the Tandai Highway. Town Ground is in the Honiara City Council ward of Nggosi and Rove-Lengakiki.
Kakabona (Kakambona) is a peri-urban suburb on the fringe of Honiara, Solomon Islands and is located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of the main center and west of White River on the Tandai Highway. Kakabona borders the Honiara City Council ward of Nggosi. Refugees from Bouganville settled following the conflict.
The Holy Cross Cathedral, also referred to as the Catholic Cathedral of Honiara, is the cathedral church and seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Honiara. It is located in the city of Honiara, which is on Guadalcanal Island and is the capital of the Solomon Islands, a country in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
Women's Rights Action Movement (WRAM) is a women's rights organisation based in the Solomon Islands, which campaigns for greater representation of women in politics, as well as advocating for changes to the governance of the country to enable gender parity.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Vanuatu refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Vanuatu. As of 2022, there were 11,304 members in 37 congregations, making it the third largest body of LDS Church members in Melanesia behind Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Vanuatu has the most LDS Church members per capita in Melanesia, and the sixth most members per capita of any country in the world, behind Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia.