History of the Solomon Islands: First People, British Rule and Independence | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

NAME AND IDENTITY OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

The Solomon Islands have no official name life Republic of Solomon Islands nor a local same. The country is simply called The Solomon Islands. Its former name was the British Solomon Islands. Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira named the isles in 1568 after the wealthy biblical King Solomon in the mistaken belief that the islands contained great riches. [Source: CIA World Factbook 2023]

Nationality of Name of the People and Culture: Noun and adjective — Solomon Islander(s). Alternative Name Melanesia; Melanesians; Wantoks ("one people," people from the Melanesian region sharing certain characteristics, especially the use of pidgin English).

When Alvaro de Mendana visited the Solomon Islands in 1568, he found some gold at the mouth of what is now the Mataniko River. He then he erroneously concluded that this site could be one of the locations of the famous mines of the Biblical monarch King Solomon. Mendana then named the islands after King Solomon.

The Solomon Islands are most widely known to the outside world for the World War II battles that were fought there, especially on Guadalcanal. Since then peace prevailed for most part and in a country was sometimes called the "Happy Islands," until ethnic conflict broke out in late 1998.

First People of the Solomon Islands

Settlers from what is now Papua New Guinea arrived on Solomon Islands at least around 30,000 years ago. Human reached New Guinea, New Britain and the northern Solomon Islands at least perhaps as early as 45,000 years ago. See Australia. Prehistory

The Solomons were first settled by people coming from the Bismarck Islands and New Guinea in 30,000–28,000 B.C. based on archaeological evidence found at Kilu Cave on Buka Island in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. At this time sea levels were lower and Buka and Bougainville were physically joined to the southern Solomons in one landmass known to geographers and geologist as "Greater Bougainville"). It is not clear how far south the people of Greater Bougainville migrated. Thus far no other archaeological sites from this period have been located in the present-day nation of the Solomon Islands. [Source: Wikipedia +]

As sea levels rose as the Ice Age around 4000–3500 B.C. the Greater Bougainville landmass was partly submerged by water and the numerous islands that exist today emerged. Evidence of human settlements dating to c. 4500–2500 B.C. have been found at Poha Cave and Vatuluma Posovi Cave on Guadalcanal.] The ethnic identity of these early peoples is unclear, though it is thought that the speakers of the Central Solomon languages (a self-contained language family unrelated to other languages spoken in the Solomons) likely represent the descendants of these earlier settlers.

Early Melanesian and Austronesian People of the Solomon Islands

The Solomons are thought to have been originally inhabited by Melanesians, whose language has affinities with Malay but whose precise origin has not been determined. These people settled the main islands and developed land-based communities, first with agriculture and then through animal husbandry, particularly pigs. They also developed fishing and other marine skills, especially in the lagoons

Little about the prehistory of the Solomon Islands is known, but material excavated from archaeological sites on Santa Ana, Guadalcanal, and Gawa indicate that people that lived there at that time were hunter-gatherers. [Source: “Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009"]

About 6,000 years ago, Austronesians — a coastal people originating from Taiwan and south coastal China that spread slowly through the Philippines and other islands off Southeast Asia — came to Solomon Islands and they and they people that already lived there mixed extensively. . Despite significant inter-island trade, no attempts were made to unite the islands into a single political entity.

Later migrants, finding that the big islands were occupied, settled on the outlying islands, most of which are coral outliers, such as Sikaiana, Reef Islands and the Temotu Islands. These migrants were mostly Polynesians, and they were skilled fishermen and navigators

Lapita Culture in the Solomon Islands

Lapita culture pottery has been found on some islands of the Solomon Islands. The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 B.C.. The ''Lapita Culture'' is named after a site in New Caledonia. The Lapita intermarried with the Papuan populations to various degrees, and are the direct ancestors of the Austronesian peoples of Polynesia, eastern Micronesia, and Island Melanesia. [Source: Wikipedia]

"Lapita" people are named after a distinct pottery first discovered in New Caledonia and believed to have originated in New Britain in Papua New Guinea and transferred to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and the Marquesas Island near Tahiti.

According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Archaeologists have been able to trace their influence and probable movements thanks to discoveries on numerous islands of a relatively sudden and widespread appearance of their trademark a distinctive kind of pottery, characterized by small dentate toothlike) patterns stamped into the clay and simple line incisions, often in complex geometric designs. [Source:“Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1991 |~|]

First Europeans in the Solomon Islands

The first European contact with the Solomons, in 1567, was the sighting of Santa Isabel Island by the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendaña. He had set out from Peru to seek the legendary Southern Continent of Terra Australis, which some regarded as the source of Biblical King Solomon’s treasures.

In 1568 Mendaña and another Spaniard, Pedro de Queirós, explored some of the islands, including Guadalcanal, Santa Isabel, and San Cristobal. He found some gold at the mouth of what is now the Mataniko River of Guadalcanal. Mendaña named the islands Islas de Salomon, thinking that the gold source for King Solomon's riches was located there. Mendaña The name "Solomon Islands" and the promise of gold helped lure settlers to the region starting in 1595.

After a failed Spanish attempt at creating a permanent European settlement on the islands in the late 1500s, Solomon Islands remained free of European contact until 1767 when British explorer Philip Carteret sailed by the islands. In the years that followed, visits by outsiders became more common, with navigators from Spain, the Netherlands, England, and France all making appearances.

European Whalers, Traders and Missionaries Arrive in the Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands were regularly visited by European explorers and traders and American and British whaling ships into the 1800s. The first European settlers were killed by the islanders and by disease. Other attempts to colonize the islands failed. Missionaries arrived in the mid-1800s. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

During the period 1845–93, the Solomons were frequently visited by missionaries and traders. Indigenous peoples were also subjected to exploitation by "blackbirders," who press ganged their captives into forced labor, The brutality of the kidnappers provoked reprisals by the islanders, resulting in mass slayings of both Europeans and local peoples. Missionaries made little progress at first, because the “blackbirding”.

Following Carteret's visit, the British navy began to make periodic calls at the islands. Germany declared a protectorate over the northern Solomon Islands in 1885, and the UK established a protectorate over the southern islands in 1893. In 1899, Germany transferred its Solomon Islands to the UK in exchange for the UK relinquishing all claims in Samoa. Lever's Pacific Plantations established large-scale plantations in the Solomon Islands..

Blackbirding in the Solomon Islands

In the 1860s, European planters on colonial sugar plantations in Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti, and Queensland. needed labor and kidnapped and men from the Pacific islands, mainly the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and forced them to work as indentured servants. Labor “recruitment” from 1864 to 1911 for plantations in Fiji and Queensland is sometimes called "blackbirding." [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

Between 1863 and 1904, about 60,000 Pacific islanders from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands were brought to Queensland, Australia to work on sugar plantations. After the introduction of the "white Australia policy" most were deported. About 20,000 of their descendants remain in northern Queensland.

British Colonization of the Solomon Islands

Horror stories about blackbirding trade prompted Britain to declare a protectorate over the southern Solomons, including Guadalcanal, Malaita (now Makira), San Cristobal, and the New Georgia group, in 1893. It was called the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP). In 1898 and 1899, more outlying islands were added to the protectorate; in 1900 the remainder of the archipelago, including Choiseul and Santa Isabel, an area previously under German jurisdiction, was transferred to British administration. [Source: “Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009"]

Under the protectorate, missionaries settled in the Solomons, converting most of the population to Christianity. Britain tried to encourage plantation farming, but few Europeans were willing to go to Solomon Islands. It left most services — such as education and medical services — to missionaries. [Source: John Moffat Fugui, “Countries and Their Cultures”, 2001]

The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was initially under the jurisdiction of the Office of the British High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. Commercial coconut farming began in the 20th century. Several British and Australian firms began large-scale coconut planting. Economic growth was slow, however, and the islanders benefited little. With the outbreak of World War II, most planters and traders were evacuated to Australia, and most cultivation ceased. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]

Impact of British Colonization on the Solomon Islanders

John Moffat Fugui wrote: Before Britain proclaimed protectorate status over the islands there was no single centralized politico-cultural system. What existed were numerous autonomous clan-based communities often headed by a male leader with his assistants. Unlike Polynesian societies, there had not been a known overall monarch ruling the islands. Within the islands, there was intercommunity trading and even warring networks. These networks were further cemented by intermarriages and mutual help alliances.

With the arrival of churches and government, communication was made easier between the islanders, and further networks then developed. The British also put an end to intertribal warfare and conflicts. As a result, the predominant cultures of Melanesia and Polynesia were deeply intertwined with the cultures of the different churches, and both urban and rural lifestyles. Added to this was the introduction of western popular culture.

For a long time the Solomon Islands has been free from large-scale social problems. Most problems were concentrated in urban areas, particularly Honiara. Otherwise the rural areas were quite free of conflicts other than the occasional land dispute cases and community arguments that emerged among villagers.

Solomon Islands During World War II

In 1942, Japan invaded Solomon Islands. The American and Allied forces counterattacked. Significant battles between the Japanese and Allied forces during the Guadalcanal Campaign proved a turning point in the Pacific war.

During World War II, most planters and traders were evacuated to Australia. The Japanese occupied the islands during the war, and they were almost constantly a scene of combat. World War II destroyed large parts of Solomon Islands. Abandoned war equipment littered the islands, some of which remains today.

The Solomons was the site of some of the most bitter fighting of World War II in Pacific. After Japanese troops invaded and occupied Guadalcanal in 1942, they set up an airfield on the island's northern coast — later known as Henderson's Field. From May 1942, when the Battle of the Coral Sea was fought, until December 1943, the Solomons were almost constantly a scene of combat.

Although U.S. forces landed on Guadalcanal virtually unopposed in August 1942, they were soon engaged in a bloody fight for Henderson Field. It was captured by US Marines on August 7, 1942. One of the most brutal sea battles ever fought took place off Savo Island, near Guadalcanal, also in August 1942. Allied forces occupy Guadalcanal in February, 1943. Japanese evacuate in December though Japanese forces remained elsewhere in the Solomons until 1945.

Over 7,000 Americans and 21,000 Japanese died. By December 1943, the Allies were in command of the entire Solomon chain. Widespread destruction, social dislocation and loss of life also hit the local peoples during the war.

Road to Independence After World War II

World War II destroyed large parts of Solomon Islands and a nationalism movement emerged near the end of the war. Following the end of war the British colonial government returned. The capital was moved from Tulagi to Honiara to take advantage of the infrastructure left behind by the U.S. military, remained on the islands until 1950. .

The large-scale American presence toward the end of the war, which dwarfed anything seen before in the islands, triggered various millennial movements and gave impetus to the development of a pro-independence nationalist movement in Malaita known as the Marching Rule. The Marching Rule defied government authority. And advocated independence, non-payment of taxes, and return to tradition. There was much disorder until some of the leaders were jailed in late 1948. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007; “Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009"]

Throughout the 1950s, other indigenous dissident groups appeared and disappeared without gaining strength. In 1953, local advisory councils were set up in Malaita, eventually spreading to other islands of the protectorate. By 1960, the British relented to allow for some local autonomy. An advisory council of Solomon Islanders was superseded by a legislative council, and an executive council was created as the protectorate's policymaking body. They were granted their first elected minority in 1964. The council was given progressively more authority.

The post-war generation steadily moved towards self-determination. A new constitution promulgated in April 1970 provided for replacement of the two councils by a unitary Governing Council, the majority of whose members were to be elected. During May and June, the Solomon Islands' first general election was held, with voters selecting 17 of the council's 26 members. In August 1974, a new constitution introduced a ministerial system of government headed by a Council of Ministers. A Legislative Assembly subsequently chose Solomon Mamaloni as the Solomons' first chief minister.

Solomon Islands Gain Independence

In May 1975, a delegation from the Solomon Islands, led by Mamaloni, met with UK officials in London and set up a timetable for internal self-government and full independence. On 22 June 1975, the territory's name was officially changed from the British Solomon Islands Protectorate to the Solomon Islands. On January 2, 1976, the Solomons became self-governing, and independence followed on July 7, 1978 under Prime Minister Sir Peter Kenilorea. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]

Solomon Islands governments are characterized by weak political parties and highly unstable parliamentary coalitions. They are subject to frequent votes of no confidence, and government leadership changes frequently as a result. Cabinet changes are common. After independence, the Solomon Islands’ country's weak party system and the fluidity of its political coalitions contributed to several changes of government through either parliamentary votes of no confidence or the resignation of the prime minister. Successive governments have largely failed to address long-standing claims by Guadalcanalese that migrants from Malaita and elsewhere have taken their jobs and land. [Source: United Nations]

The first post-independence government was elected in August 1980. Prime Minister Peter Kenilorea served as head of government until September 1981, when he was replaced by Solomon Mamaloni as a result of a realignment within the parliamentary coalitions. Following the November 1984 elections, Kenilorea was again elected prime minister, only to be replaced by his former deputy, Ezekiel Alebua, in 1986 as a result of shifts within the parliamentary coalitions. The next election, held in early 1989, returned Solomon Mamaloni as prime minister. Francis Billy Hilly was elected Prime Minister in national elections in June 1993 and led the government until November 1994, when a shift in parliamentary loyalties returned Solomon Mamaloni to power.

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Text Sources: CIA World Factbook, 2023; “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1991, Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated September 2023