Solomon Islands archipelago is in the Southwest Pacific. Its nearest neighbors are Vanuatu to the Southeast and Papua New Guinea to the west. It is made up of twenty-six main islands, roughly arranged in a double chain formation, together with hundreds of atolls and reef islands, spread out over a sea area of 1,340,000 square kilometers (517,377 square miles). The land is mainly mountainous and includes a number of volcanoes, two of which are active, and totals 28,370 square kilometers (10,954 square miles). Solomon Islands's population numbers approximately 409,000; it is made up of Melanesians (93%); Polynesians (4%); and Micronesians, Europeans, and Chinese (3%).

The first extensive settlement in Solomon Islands occurred ca. 2000 B.C.E. The first recorded European sighting was in 1568. In 1843 the southern islands of the Solomon chain became a British protectorate. Germany laid claim to the northern islands in 1885. This claim was relinquished in 1890, and in 1893 the whole country was...