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- <text>
- <title>
- Solomon Islands: History
- </title>
- <article>
- <hdr>
- Background Notes: Solomon Islands
- History
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Although little prehistory of the Solomon Islands is known,
- material excavated on Santa Ana, Guadalcanal, and Gawa
- indicates that a hunter-gatherer people lived on the larger
- islands as early as 1000 B.C. Some Solomon Islanders are
- descendants of neolithic, Austronesian-speaking peoples who
- migrated somewhat later to the Pacific Islands from Southeast
- Asia.
- </p>
- <p> The European discoverer of the Solomons was the Spanish
- explorer Alvaro de Mendana Y Neyra, who set out from Peru in
- 1567 to seek the legendary Isles of Solomon, believed to lie
- west of South America and said to have been visited by the
- Incas. After his first visit to the Solomons, Mendana used the
- name and the promise of gold to lure potential settlers to join
- him in a colonization effort in 1595. This first attempt was a
- disaster--some settlers were murdered by the islanders, and
- many others, including Mendana, died of disease. The remnants
- of the ill-fated colony set sail for the Philippines but were
- lost at sea.
- </p>
- <p> Several more attempts to colonize the islands also failed.
- A Western navigator, British mariner Philip Carteret, entered
- Solomon waters in 1767. In the years that followed, visits by
- explorers were more frequent.
- </p>
- <p> Missionaries began visiting the Solomons in the mid-1800s.
- They made little progress at first, however, because
- "blackbirding"--the often brutal recruitment of laborers for
- the sugar plantations in Queensland and Fiji--led to a series
- of reprisals and massacres. The evils of the labor trade
- prompted the United Kingdom to declare a protectorate over the
- southern Solomons in 1893. In 1898 and 1899, more outlying
- islands were added to the protectorate; in 1900 the remainder
- of the archipelago, an area previously under German
- jurisdiction, was transferred to British administration. Under
- the protectorate, missionaries settled in the Solomons,
- converting most of the population to Christianity.
- </p>
- <p> In the early 20th century, several British and Australian
- firms began large-scale coconut planting in a move to develop
- the Solomons commercially. Economic growth before World War II
- was slow, however, and the islanders benefitted little. After
- the Japanese initiated the Pacific phase of the war in December
- 1941, most planters and traders were evacuated to Australia and
- most cultivation ceased.
- </p>
- <p> The Japanese wasted little time in attacking and occupying
- the main islands of the Solomons. From May 1942, when the Battle
- of the Coral Sea was fought, until December 1943, the Solomons
- were almost constantly a scene of combat. Although U.S. forces
- landed on Guadalcanal virtually unopposed in August 1942, they
- were soon engaged in a bloody fight for control of the islands'
- airstrip, which the U.S. forces named Henderson Field. One of
- the most furious sea battles ever fought took place off Savo
- Island, near Guadalcanal, also in August 1942. Before the
- Japanese completely withdrew from Guadalcanal in February 1943,
- 1,500 Americans and 20,000 Japanese died. The Allied forces
- later drove the Japanese from other islands; and by December
- 1943, the Allies were in command of the entire Solomon chain.
- </p>
- <p>Postwar Developments
- </p>
- <p> The war and the forceful intrusion of the outside world
- changed and disrupted the Solomon Islanders' lives. Between
- 1946 and 1950, much official attention was devoted to a native
- movement known as the Marching Rule. Some thought the movement
- originated in the wartime closeness between the islanders and
- American soldiers, who seemed to the islanders to have
- limitless wealth. Others viewed it as a nationalist movement
- following naturally from the war's profoundly disturbing
- effects. The movement led to various efforts to defy
- governmental authority. Many people on Malaita and other islands
- were affected, and there was much disorder until some of the
- leaders were jailed in late 1948. Throughout the 1950s, other
- indigenous dissident groups appeared and disappeared without
- gaining strength.
- </p>
- <p> Gradual changes in the system of governing the Solomons were
- made from the end of World War II until the early 1970s, after
- which changes came much more rapidly as the United Kingdom
- prepared to give the islanders their independence. When civil
- administration was resumed after the war, an advisory council
- of Solomon Islanders was reestablished. In 1960, the advisory
- council was superseded by a legislative council, and an
- executive council was created as the protectorate's policymaking
- body. The council was given progressively more authority.
- </p>
- <p> In 1974, a new constitution was adopted establishing a
- parliamentary democracy and ministerial system of government.
- In mid-1975, the name Solomon Islands officially replaced that
- of British Solomon Islands Protectorate. On January 2, 1976,
- the Solomons became self-governing, and independence followed
- on July 7, 1978.
- </p>
- <p>Current Political Conditions
- </p>
- <p> In the first postindependence Parliament, none of the
- members had any party affiliation. Party organizations emerged
- in the August 1980 elections, in which the newly formed United
- Party of then-Prime Minister Sir Peter Kenilorea won 14 seats;
- the People's Alliance Party led by Solomon Mamaloni won 8; and
- the National Democratic Party, 2. The remaining members elected
- in 1980 were independents. Kenilorea served as prime minister
- until September 1981, when a realignment within the Parliament
- resulted in the election of Mamaloni to replace him. Mamaloni
- remained prime minister until the expiration of the
- parliamentary term.
- </p>
- <p> In the November 1984 elections, the United Party won 13
- seats; the People's Alliance Party, 12 seats; and the others
- were split among smaller parties and independents. Sir Peter was
- able to form a coalition and was again named prime minister.
- During 1986, shifting political allegiances and growing concern
- over the deteriorating economy and finances continually
- threatened the Kenilorea government. The prime minister's
- handling of a French offer of cyclone rehabilitation assistance
- for his native village resulted in his forced resignation and
- replacement in December by his former deputy, Ezekiel Alebua.
- Parliamentary elections are due in late 1988.
- </p>
- <p>Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs,
- June 1988.
- </p>
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-