Malaita Province Day – August 15, 2025

History of Malaita Province Day

The Solomon Islands is a country in Oceania made up of six major islands and over 900 small islands. The Solomon Islands contain nine provinces, the capital is Honiara and the largest and most populous province is Malatia Province. The islanders are mostly Melanesian with some Polynesians on the outer islands. Most of its people live in small rural villages and tight-knit communities. Familial ties are very important for them, with most people having 200 immediate family members and being able to trace their ancestry for ten generations.

Since 30,000 B.C., the Solomon Islands have been inhabited. In the Pleistocene era, they were originally occupied by Papuan communities. From 1568 through 1886, Europeans visited the islands, with the first being a Spanish navigator. Attempts to create long-term settlements were thwarted by the new diseases imported by the Europeans, which killed a large number of people. The islands began trading with the islanders after repeated visits from the United States, Britain, and Australia in the 18th century. The islanders’ interactions with foreign tourists were frequently violent. Europeans began kidnapped islanders in the 19th century to work as workers in Australia, Fiji, and Samoa. The majority of the islanders were slaves, with some earning pitiful salaries.

They were colonized by the British in 1893. The islanders began an emancipation movement from 1944 to 1952 known as Maasina Ruru. The British arrested and charged the leaders of the movement, but islanders fought back by refusing to pay taxes and barricading their villages against the British. Their needs were met in 1951 and they gained independence in 1978. The country changed its name from British Solomon Islands to the Solomon Islands.