Sikaiana

Sikaiana
ISS picture by Sikaiana
Waters	Pacific Ocean
Geographical location	8 ° 24 ′  S , 162 ° 54 ′  E Coordinates: 8 ° 24 ′  S , 162 ° 54 ′  E
Number of islands	4th
Main island	Sikaiana
Land area	2 km²
Lagoon area	15 km²
total area	25 km²
Residents	249 (2009)

Sikaiana is a small atoll in the Pacific Ocean and part of the island state of the Solomon Islands . The European "explorers" called it "Stewart Islands".

geography

Sikaiana is located about 212 kilometers northeast of Malaita , the main island of the Malaita Province and belongs to the same province. There are four islands ( Motus ) on the fringing reef of the atoll : Sikaiana (east), Matiuloto ( Faore ) (west), Matuaui ( Mutuavi ) (south-west) and Tehaolei (north-west). The total land area of ​​the islands is 181 hectares . The only, shallow entrance to the lagoon, Te Avananua , is between the islands of Matuiloto and Tehaolei in the west, otherwise the ring reef, which is temporarily dry, is closed. The lagoon is called Te Moana . There are also two artificial islands, Te Palena and Hakatai'atata . The main town Taisalu is located on the lagoon-side west coast of Sikaiana, the easternmost and only inhabited island. Tehaolei was also inhabited earlier.

population

Sikaiana is inhabited by 249 people of Polynesian descent. Therefore, the islands belong to the group of Polynesian exclaves that lie outside the Polynesian triangle . The residents speak a dialect of Polynesian called "Sikaiana" belonging to the Samoian branch of the Polynesian languages .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sailing Directions, Pub. 126 (PDF; 4.67 MB)
2. ↑ Tim Bayliss-Smith: Constraints on Population Growth: The Case of the Polynesian Outlier Atolls in the Precontact Period. In: Human Ecology. Vol. 2, No. 4, October 1974, pp. 259-295, here p. 280, doi : 10.1007 / BF01531318 .
3. ↑ Information from the website solomonislands.com.sb (no longer available) ( Memento from February 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Sailing Directions, Pub. 126, 1971 edition