Malaita

One of the Solomon Islands (until 1975 the British Solomon Islands Protectorate), southeast of the large island of Ysabel. Malaita is also the name of a Solomon Islands province, which comprises the islands of Malaita, Small Malaita and adjacent islets. The headquarters of the province is at Auki. The most densely populated of the Solomon Islands, Malaita provides the majority of the country's plantation labour force. The main economic activities are fishing and export of hardwood timber.

The population are mainly Melanesians, and fall into two groups. One group live on the coast, where they fish and grow food crops. Many live on coral islets and in two lagoons, and on artificial islets built on the reefs. The other group live in the interior where they cultivate areas of land cleared from the jungle.

Malaita was named Ramos by the Spaniards, who visited the Solomons in 1595. Cape Astrolabe at the northern end of the island is named after one of two French frigates, which came to the island 20 years after the Spaniards, and was wrecked off Vanikoro Island.

Malaitans form an ethnic majority on Guadalcanal Island, where the capital, Honiara, is situated. In mid-1999 the ethnic conflicts between Malaitans and indigenous Guadalcanal militants, trying to assert traditional land rights, escalated rapidly and the Solomon Islands government declared a state of emergency on Guadalcanal.