Solomon Islands
Updated: Sep 15, 2022
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Country Name
The Solomon Islands, formerly known as the British Solomon Islands.
Location
The Solomon Islands is located in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.
It is a sovereign state consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands.
Capital
Honiara.
Reason for Naming the country
History records that the first European to come to the Solomon Islands, Alvaro De Mendana, in 1568 gave the archipelago its name because he believed this area of the South Pacific was where King Solomon got the gold he used to build the Temple of Jerusalem.
The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea) but excludes outlying islands, such as Rennell and Bellona, and the Santa Cruz Islands.
Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomon Islands archipelago in June 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate.