 Solomon Islands - national flag
The flag was officially introduced in 1977. The five stars allude to the
state's five most important archipelagos, and the blue color stands for the sea
around them. The green field symbolizes the land and its vegetation, the narrow
yellow diagonal stripe stands for the sunshine.
- Countryaah:
What does the flag of Solomon
Islands look like? Follow this link, then you will see the image in PNG
format and flag meaning description about this country.
Solomon Islands - history
The islands were possibly already inhabited from 4000 BC. of Papuan-language
hunter-gatherer groups. Around 3000 BC. forced Neolithic, Austronesian-speaking
farmers and settled in especially the coastal areas. With the highly developed
canoes, they were able to reach the outermost islands. The Spaniard Álvaro de
Mendaña de Neira (approximately 1541-95) discovered in 1568 the largest islands in the
group, which was later named after King Solomon's treasures. In 1595 he
unsuccessfully sought to establish a colony on Santa Cruz. It took almost 200
years for other European explorers to reach the Solomon Islands.
After superficial contacts with European traders and whalers, the islands
became in the second half of the 1800's. goals for an aggressive work recruitment
(blackbirding) for plantations and for an intensive Christian
missionary activity. In the Western world, the islands gained a reputation for
being dangerous to health, and the people were uncivilized and wild. In 1899,
the Solomon Islands, along with the Santa Cruz Islands, became a British
protectorate, while Buka and Bougainville became part of Papua New Guinea. For
80 years the Solomon Islands were subject to a paternalistic colonial rule,
interrupted only by World War II, when especially the Guadalcanal was the scene
of fierce fighting between the Japanese and Americans. The war gave the
population knowledge of the larger world and strengthened the desire for
independence. The Solomon Islands became an independent state in 1978 with Peter
Kenilorea (b. 1943) as Prime Minister.
Ethnic clashes between the peoples of the two central islands, Malaita and
Guadalcanal, in 2000 led to open fighting around the capital, Honiara, where
many Malaitans have settled on land claimed by the Guadalcanal people. Despite
the conclusion of a ceasefire, it has not been possible to normalize the
situation because the warring parties will not surrender all their
weapons. Economic chaos, corruption, lawlessness and murder continue to ravage
the country and are a threat to the nation's existence.
Furthermore, Solomon Islands' relations with neighboring Papua New Guinea are
strained as a result of the unrest in Bougainville.
The country's situation is marked by internal conflicts that flared up around
the year 2000 with clashes between ethnic groups. The country's prime minister
asked for help from Australia and New Zealand. In August 2010, calm
parliamentary elections were held.
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