AN ANCIENT HEADHUNTING CULTURE - SOLOMAN ISLANDS

THESE ISLANDS FORM A STATE IN OCEANIA EAST OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA.  THESE 1000 ISLANDS COVER 28,000 KM.  THEY WERE INVITED BY MELANESIA PEOPLE FOR MANY 1000'S OF YEARS.  THE FIRST EUROPEANS TO ARRIVE THERE WAS FROM SPAIN IN 1568.  ENGLAND ESTABLISHED A PROTECTORATE OVER THE SOLOMON ISLANDS IN 1893.  IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR THEY FOUGHT THE U.S. AND JAPANESE.  BY 1976 THEY ACHIEVED INDEPENDENCE. THE ISLANDS ARE A MONARCHY AND THEY HAVE A PRIME MINISTER . 

IT IS THOUGHT THAT PAPUAN SPEAKERS SETTLED HERE ABOUT 30,000 B.C.  BY 4000 B.C. AUSTRONESIA SPEAKERS ARRIVED BRINGING  CULTURAL ELEMENTS AS THE OUTRIGGER CANOE.  BY 1200  AND 800 B.C. THE ANCESTORS OF THE POLYNESIANS ARRIVED WITH KNOWLWEDGE OF CERAMICS.

IN 1568  THE FIRST EUROPEANS CAME.  THE ISLANDERS WERE NOTED FOR HEADHUNTING.  THE MISSIONARIES BEGAN VISITING THE UPLAND IN 1850'S BEGAN VISITING THE UPLAND IN 1850'S.  THEY MADE LITTLE PROGRESS AT FIRST BEFORE LABORERS FOR THE SUGAR PLANTATION THAT LED TO A SERIES OF REPRISALS AND MASSACRES.  BY 1893 ENGLAND DECLARED A PROTECTORATE OVER SOUTHERN SOLOMONS. BY 1900 MORE OF THE ISLANDS WERE ADDED TO THE TO THE PROTECTORATE OF BRITAIN.  SOME ISLANDS REMAINED GERMANY ADMINISTRATION.  THE SOLOMON ISLANDS REMAINED UNDER REMAINED UNDER UNDER GERMANY ADMINISTRATION. WITH MONO AND AALU SOCIETIES TRADED WITH MONO AND ALU AND OTHER SOCIETIES.  MISSIONARIES CONNECTED MOST OF THE POPULATION.CHRISTIANITY.  IN THE EARLY 1900S THE AUSTRALIAN FIRMS BEGAN LARGE SCALE COCONUT PLANTING.

DURING WORLD WAR II MOST OF THE PLANTERS AND TRADERS AND TRADERS MOVED TO AUSTRALIA WHILE INTENSE FIGHTING OCCURED IN THESE ISLANDS.

BY 1970 THE ELECTIONS WERE HELD AND A HELD AND A NEW CONSTITUTION WAS CREATED IN 1970.  BY 1973 THE FIRST OIL PRICE SHOCK OCCURRED AND THE COST OF RUNNING A COLONY BECAME APPARENT.  BY 1975 THEY GAINED SELF GOVERNMENT.  DURING LATE 1990'S THEY HAD AN INTENSE CIVIL WAR.

BY 2007 THEY WERE STRUCK BY A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE THAT FOLLOWED A TSUNAMI.  IT DESTROYED 700 HOMES AND LEFT MANY PEOPLE HOMELESS.  THEIR CLIMATE IS VERY HUMID THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WITH 80 DEGREES.  THEY HAVE MANY RAIN FORESTS.  THEIR SOIL IS MOSTLY VOLCANIC.  WITH INFERTILE  LIMESTONE.  THEY MUST IMPORT OIL AND SOME OTHER PRODUCTS.  THEY EXPORTED SOME TIMBER AND THE  ISLANDS HAVE UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES - LEAD, NICKLE, AND GOOD PLANTATION CLOSED.

DIVING FOR TOURISM IS A MAJOR ACTIVITY.  THEY HAVE 74 LANGUAGES AND 4 HAVE BECOME EXTINCT.  ABOUT 92% ARE CHRISTIAN WITH SOME ANGELICAN. AND THEIR AGE OLD CUSTOMS ARE HANDLED DOWN FROM OTHERS WITH ABORIGINAL SPIRITS THEMSELVES.  NOT ALL FOLKS HAVE TV'S.  THEY PLAY RUGBY AND SOCCER .  SCHOOL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IS NOT COMPULSORY.


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