Isabel Province Day – June 2, 2025

History of Isabel Province Day

On February 7, 1568, Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña became the first European to land in the Solomon Islands archipelago and Isabel Province. It was then charted as Santa Isabel de la Estrella, meaning Saint Elizabeth of the Star of Bethlehem. A settlement was then established by the Spaniards and they moved on to building a boat to survey and chart the surrounding sea and islands.

Maestre de Campo Pedro Ortega Valencia and Alférez Hernando Enríquez led the local explorations and they led to the discovery of the islands of Malaita, Savo, Guadalcanal, Makira, Vangunu, Malaupaina, Choiseul, Ulawa, Ali’ite, Malaulalo, and Ugi Island. The relationship between the Spanish and the Solomon Islanders at first was peaceful and slowly turned sour as the need for fresh food and water by the Spanish could no longer be satisfied by the subsistence economy of the Solomon Islanders. This then led to tension and conflict between the people. With little food and no gold found accompanied by attacks and sickness, the Spaniards moved their colony and their settlement on Santa Isabel was abandoned. Locals on Santa Isabel Island were periodically attacked through a process called ‘blackbirding,’ which was the kidnapping or forced recruitment of laborers for sugar plantations in Queensland and Fiji.

The North Solomon Islands came under the protection of Germany in April 1885 and that included Isabel Province. The treaty of Berlin was then signed in 1899 as Germany transferred most parts of the North Solomon Islands, including Isabel province to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in exchange for the British giving up claims to Samoa.