Santa Isabel Island is the longest in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, South Pacific

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, and the largest in the group of islands in Isabel Province

Isabel Province

Isabel Province is one of the provinces of the Solomon Islands. It has a population of around 30,000 . The capital is Buala on Santa Isabel Island.Santa Isabel is the longest Island in the Solomon Islands, South Pacific...

.

Location and geographic data

Choiseul

Choiseul Island

Choiseul Island, native name Lauru, is the largest island of the Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands, at .-Description:This island is named after Étienne François, duc de Choiseul....

 lies to the west, Malaita

Malaita

Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with 140,000 people or more than a third of the...

 to the east. The Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 lies to the north, and Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 (Isatabu) to the south.

The highest point in Santa Isabel is Mount Sasari, 1220 meters (3675 ft). River Marutho runs down that mountain into the ocean at Hofi. Almost all the rivers or streams run down that center point except for those at the other tip of the Island, Katova side.

The administrative centre is Buala

Buala

Buala is a town in the Solomon Islands.Buala is located on Santa Isabel Island . Buala consists of Jejevo station and Buala Village. Buala is located on a side of a hill so there is no place for the town to expand, therefore there is still no road in that township. Kubolota, Tithiro, and Maglau are...

, where the airport is as well. See List of airports in the Solomon Islands
Another important village on the island is Samasodu.

History

The first European contact to the Solomon Islands was made here, by the Spanish

Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....

 explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira

Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira

Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira was a Spanish navigator. Born in Congosto, in León, he was the nephew of Lope García de Castro, viceroy of Peru...

 in 1568 where a settlement was established and a boat built to survey and chart the surrounding sea and islands. Very soon however the Spanish aroused the enmity of the islanders.

Having found no gold and little food, and beset by attacks and sickness, the Spanish colonists shifted their colony to the site of today's Honiara

Honiara

Honiara, population 49,107 , 78,190 , is the capital of the Solomon Islands and of Guadalcanal Province, although it is a separately administered town...

 on Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

. Their colony, however, would die out.

Santa Isabel islanders suffered attacks from raiding headhunters

Blackbirding

Blackbirding is a term that refers to recruitment of people through trickery and kidnappings to work as labourers. From the 1860s blackbirding ships were engaged in seeking workers to mine the guano deposits on the Chincha Islands in Peru...

 in the nineteenth century. They embraced Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

around the turn of the 20th century.

Further reading

• Geoffrey M. White, Identity through History; Living Stories in a Solomon Islands Society, Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology Series (No. 83) ISBN 9780521401722
• Informal learning strategies in the Solomon Islands