Solomon Islands (archipelago)

The Solomon Islands are located south-east of New Guinea, a group of islands in the South Pacific. Prior to the establishment of the independent island nation of Solomon Islands the whole island group was also called Solomon.

Geography

The Solomon Islands stretch from north to south-east for about 1100 km (5 ° South, 154 ° East to 11 ° South, 162 East). The northern islands are located 720 kilometers east of Papua New Guinea, the southern nearly 600 kilometers north of the main islands of Vanuatu.

The Northern Solomon Islands ( Bougainville and Buka in particular the islands ) are now politically Papua New Guinea, the remaining southern islands since July 7, 1978 relating to the independent island nation of the Solomon Islands.

History

Originally settled by inhabitants of New Guinea, discovered in 1568 Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra, the archipelago for the Europeans. He gave her the name of Solomon according to the Jewish King Solomon, because he suspected large amounts of gold on her.

1767, the islands were rediscovered by Philip Carteret, after they had 200 years " lost" due to a mapping error. But until 1883, the British took the islands in possession, in response to German expansionism in the region. With the completion of Samoa Treaty of 14 November 1899 in Berlin the border of today's Papua New Guinea islands belonging Buka and Bougainville was east drawn between the two areas of interest.

During the Second World War, the Solomon Islands, the scene of clashes between the U.S. and Japan and had to be wrested from the Japanese in the bloody battles of the Allies USA, Australia and New Zealand were.

On 7 July 1978, the ( southern ) Solomon Islands gained independence; see Solomon.

Climate

The air temperatures on the coast are fairly constant throughout the year and vary 28-32 ° C, the water temperature 23-28 ° C.