Solomon Islands

 Solomon Islands comprises 992 islands, of which 147 are inhabited.  These stretch 1448 kilometers (900 miles) in a south-easterly direction from the Shortland Islands, on the border with Papua New Guinea, to the Santa Cruz Islands, which borders with Vanuatu.  The archipelago covers an area of 461,000 sq km (249,000 sq km (10,938 sq miles) is landmass.  The six biggest islands are Choiseul, New Georgia, Santa Isabel, Guadalcanal, Malaita and Makira.

On the atlas, Solomon Islands lies northeast of Australia and southwest of Hawaii.  Deeply forested mountainous islands are a towering contrast to low-lying coral atolls, right down to the tiny artificial islands built of coral and soil common on Malaita’s northern coast.

As part of the Melanesian group of islands that also includes Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji, Solomon Islands was first settled by hunters and gatherers from Southeast Asia.  Seafarers followed later.

Through the tracing of a distinct type of pottery called Lapita, archaeologists say the original settlers of Polynesia in eastern Pacific trace their origins back to Melanesia, to the Solomon Islands actually.

Today, between 70 to 80 percent of the population lives a subsistence form of life in their small villages, settlements and islands away from the main urban centres.

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