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Solomon Islands

Updated: Sep 15, 2022

Home> Countries> Oceania/ Australia> Solomon Islands




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.



Flag

The Flag of the Solomon Islands was adopted on 18th November 1977, just before the country gained independence from Britain on July 7, 1978.

The flag of the Sol