Solomon Islands
| Solomon Islands | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Geographical location | 8 ° 0 ′ S , 159 ° 0 ′ E | |
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| Number of islands | 1000+ | |
| Main island | Bougainville , Guadalcanal | |
| Total land area | 38,196 km² | |
| Residents | 800,000 | |
The Solomon Islands are a group of islands located southeast of New Guinea in the South Pacific . Before the independent island state of Solomon Islands was founded, the entire archipelago was also called the Solomon Islands .
geography
The Solomon Islands extend from north to south-east for about 1100 kilometers (5 ° south, 154 ° east to 11 ° south, 162 ° east). The southernmost islands are just under 600 kilometers north of the main Vanuatu islands .
The northern Solomon Islands (especially the islands of Bougainville and Buka ) are politically part of Papua New Guinea , the remaining southern islands since July 7, 1978, part of the independent island state of the Solomon Islands .
history
Originally settled by residents of New Guinea , Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra discovered the archipelago for Europeans in 1568 . He named her Solomon after the Jewish King Solomon , because he suspected that she had large amounts of gold on her.
In 1767 the islands were rediscovered by Philipp Carteret after having been "lost" for 200 years due to a mapping error. But it wasn't until 1883 that the British took possession of the islands in response to German expansion efforts in the region. With the conclusion of the Samoa Treaty on November 14, 1899 in Berlin, the border between the two areas of interest was drawn east of the islands of Buka and Bougainville , which today belong to Papua New Guinea .
During the Second World War , the Solomon Islands were the scene of clashes between the USA and Japan and had to be wrested from the Japanese in bloody battles by the allies USA, Australia and New Zealand .
On July 7, 1978, the (southern) Solomon Islands gained independence; see Solomon Islands .
climate
The air temperatures on the coasts are fairly constant throughout the year and vary between 28 and 32 ° C, the water temperatures between 23 and 28 ° C.
