Solomon Islands
Melanesian chain, the Solomon Islands archipelago covers approximately 310,000
square miles (803,000 square kilometers) of ocean and consists of 10,639 square
miles (27,556 square kilometers) of land. There are a total of 992 islands in the
Solomon Islands
History
When Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira visited the Solomon Islands in
1568, he found some gold at the mouth, he erroneously thought that this could be one
of the locations in which King Solomon (the Israelite monarch) obtained gold for his
temple in Jerusalem. Mendaña then named the islands after King Solomon--Solomon
Islands.
Papuan-speaking hunter-gatherers from New Guinea were settling the southern and
eastern Solomon Islands by 25, 000 BC. They were the only inhabitants for thousands
of years, until Austronesian-speaking proto-Melanesians began moving in around
4000 BC.
Most people lived in small villages on tribal lands, practicing shifting cultivation,
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