Solomon Islands

Island nation in the center of Melanesia, southwestern Pacific Ocean. The Solomon Islands were initially settled by 2000 BC, probably by people of the Austronesian language group. The first European to reach the islands was the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1568; the islands were named after the wealthy king Solomon of the Old Testament. Archaeological sequences are best known from the northern and southern extremities of the chain; the Santa Cruz islands in the south have very fine Lapita assemblages dating to c 1500-500 BC, and the island of Buka in the north has a continuous sequence from late Lapita (c 500 BC) through successive localized ceramic phases (similar to the Mangaasi tradition of Vanuatu) to recent times.

A chain of large islands in the centre of Melanesia. Dates for earliest settlement remain unknown, but widely distributed Papuan languages suggest that the islands were inhabited before the beginning of Austronesian expansion into Oceania (c3000 bc). Archaeological sequences are best known from the northern and southern extremities of the chain ; the Santa Cruz islands in the south have very fine Lapita assemblages dating to cl500-500 BC, and the island of Buka in the north has a continuous sequence from late Lapita (c500 bc) through successive localized ceramic phases (similar to the Mangaasi tradition of Vanuatu) to recent times.