New Georgia Archipelago
| New Georgia Archipelago | ||
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| Waters | Solomon Lake | |
| archipelago | Solomon Islands | |
| Geographical location | 8 ° 10 ′ S , 157 ° 20 ′ E | |
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| Main island | New Georgia | |
The archipelago of the New Georgia Archipelago in the West Pacific Solomon Islands is part of their Western Province . The approximately 20 islands are 100 to 300 km northwest of the Solomon Islands main island of Guadalcanal . The larger islands have a mountainous profile and are covered by tropical rainforest .
geography
The main islands of the archipelago are New Georgia (2037 km²), Vella Lavella (652 km²), Kolombangara (a dormant volcano with 705 km²), Ghizo (35 km², with the provincial capital Gizo), Vangunu (509 km²), Rendova (411 km²) ) and the uninhabited Tetepare (182 km²). They are all surrounded by coral reefs and enclose the Marovo lagoon , which is the largest saltwater lagoon in the world with a length of 150 kilometers.
The largest cities in the archipelago are Gizo , Munda and Noro . The main sources of income for the islanders are fishing and forestry . The tourism is just not very common, although the archipelago a good reputation in diving athletes has. The fish world is rich. Schools of king mackerel , jackfish and barracudas can be found in the Marovo lagoon . Also eagle rays and manta rays and reef sharks are occasionally seen here.
history
In the 19th century, the area of the islands around the Marovo lagoon was feared because the local population was notorious as headhunters . The use of human heads in funeral ceremonies and the cult of the dead drove the peoples regularly to head-hunt one another. Heads also played a central role in the ritual of the launch of new war canoes. At times the hunts even extended to Guadalcanal and Santa Isabel . The local population lived in fear and terror until the so-called Great Peace was proclaimed around 1850 . This peace only lasted until it was destabilized by the first Europeans , when they drove paths through the jungle with their iron axes . The island of Roviana was the most feared place until the British District Commissioner George Woodford officially banned headhunting and violated it in 1900. Today artefacts , stories, songs and dances of the Solomon Islands still remind of the time of the headhunters.
The future US President John F. Kennedy stranded in the archipelago on the island of Kasolo in early August 1943 and spent three days there until the rescue after the crew of his speedboat PT-109 had been rescued. The small island was then also called Plum Pudding Island or Kennedy Island .