Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation containing 6 major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and also northwest of Vanuatu. It has an acreage of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi), and a populace of 652,858. Its funding, Honiara, lies on the largest island, Guadalcanal.

The nation takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that likewise includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea), however leaves out afar islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands as well as Rennell as well as Bellona.

The islands have been resolved since a minimum of a long time in between 30,000 as well as 28,800 BCE, with later waves of travelers, especially the Lapita people, mixing and also generating the contemporary aboriginal Solomon Islanders population. In 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the initial European to visit them, calling them the Islas Salomón. Mendaña returned decades later, in 1595, and also one more Spanish exploration, led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, saw the Solomons in 1606.

Britain defined its location of rate of interest in the Solomon Islands archipelago in June 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of HMS Curacoa, stated the southerly Solomon Islands a British protectorate. During The Second World War, the Solomon Islands project (1942– 1945) saw intense fighting in between the USA, Commonwealth pressures and also the Realm of Japan, consisting of the Battle of Guadalcanal.

The main name of the then-British administration was transformed from the British Solomon Islands Protectorate to The Solomon Islands in 1975, as well as self-government was attained the list below year. Independence was obtained, and also the name transformed to just “Solomon Islands” (without the definite short article), in 1978. At self-reliance, Solomon Islands became an absolute monarchy. The Queen of Solomon Islands is Elizabeth II, stood for by the Governor-General.