Solomon Islands

(proper noun)

A sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly 1,000 islands. Some of the most intense fighting of World War II occurred there, particularly the most significant of the Allied Forces' operations against the Japanese Imperial Forces, which were launched on August 7, 1942, with simultaneous naval bombardments and amphibious landings on the Florida Islands at Tulagi and Red Beach on Guadalcanal.

Related Terms

Examples of Solomon Islands in the following topics:

  • The Guadalcanal Campaign

    • To further those goals, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain and Guam.
    • The Allies chose the Solomon Islands (a protectorate of the United Kingdom), specifically the southern Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Island, as the first target.
    • On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.
    • Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.
    • The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic offensive in that theater and the beginning of offensive operations, including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II.

  • Coral Sea and Midway

    • In an attempt to defend their empire in the South Pacific, Imperial Japanese forces decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands.
    • After Midway, and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas.
    • Although the Japanese continued to try to secure more territory, and the U.S. did not move from a state of naval parity to one of supremacy until after several more months of hard combat, Midway allowed the Allies to switch to the strategic initiative, paving the way for the landings on Guadalcanal and the prolonged attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign.
    • Examine the importance of the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway Island as turning points for the Allies.

  • Pacific Arts Festival

    • The 2012 Festival was hosted by the Soloman Islands from July 1-14 with the theme of "Culture in Harmony with Nature."
    • By its vastness, the Pacific Ocean inhibits social and cultural interchange between the inhabitants of its island countries.
    • In 2008, about 2,000 artists attended the Festival of Pacific Arts from the following participating countries: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Easter Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Sāmoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

  • The Rise of Pacific Cultures

    • The ancestors of the people of these islands came from Southeast Asia by two different groups at separate times.
    • The first, an Australoid people and the ancestors of modern day Melanesians and Australian Aboriginals, came to New Guinea and Australia, with the Melanesians expanding as far as the northern Solomon Islands by 38,000 BCE.
    • From there they ventured further out into the Pacific and settled the Marquesas and northern Cook Islands.
    • New areas were also settled during this time, including Hawaii, Easter Island, Tahiti, and New Zealand.
    • At about 1200 CE, the people of Pohnpei, an island in Micronesia, embarked on another megalithic construction, building Nan Madol, a city of artificial islands and a system of canals.

  • MacArthur's Leapfrogging

    • Nimitz—advanced through the Solomon Islands toward Bougainville.
    • Joint Chiefs of Staff but which was ultimately implemented, called for the capture of Tulagi (later Guadalcanal) and the Santa Cruz Islands (Operation Watchtower), the capture of the northeast coast of New Guinea and the central Solomons; and the reduction of Rabaul and related bases.
    • (then in command of the South Pacific Area) against the central Solomons.
    • Three months later, airmen reported no signs of enemy activity in the Admiralty Islands and MacArthur ordered an amphibious landing there, commencing the Admiralty Islands campaign.
    • It took six weeks of fierce fighting before the 1st Cavalry Division captured the islands.

  • Exotic Species

    • Lakes and islands are particularly vulnerable to extinction threats from introduced species.
    • The accidental introduction of the brown tree snake via aircraft from the Solomon Islands to Guam in 1950 has led to the extinction of three species of birds and three to five species of reptiles endemic to the island .
    • Constant vigilance on the part of airport, military, and commercial aircraft personnel is required to prevent the snake from moving from Guam to other islands in the Pacific, especially Hawaii.
    • Islands do not make up a large area of land on the globe, but they do contain a disproportionate number of endemic species because of their isolation from mainland ancestors.
    • The brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis, is an exotic species that has caused numerous extinctions on the island of Guam since its accidental introduction in 1950.

  • Nimitz in the Central Pacific

    • As rapidly as ships, men, and material became available, Nimitz shifted to the offensive and defeated the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942), the pivotal Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), and in the Solomon Islands Campaign.
    • Nimitz calculated that the aircraft on his three carriers, plus those on Midway Island, gave the U.S. rough parity with Yamamoto's four carriers, mainly because American carrier air groups were larger than Japanese ones.
    • In the final phases in the war in the Pacific, Nimitz attacked the Mariana Islands, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944; a decisive naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions), and capturing Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
    • His fleet forces isolated enemy-held bastions of the Central and Eastern Caroline Islands and secured, in quick succession Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi.

  • Leapfrogging to Tokyo

    • Island hopping entailed taking over an island and establishing a military base there.
    • The base was in turn used as a launching point for the attack and takeover of another island.
    • The result of island hopping was a chain of established bases while the result of leapfrogging was subduing certain strategically important islands while destroying military bases on other islands and thus isolating them in the process.
    • Forces led by Admiral Chester Nimitz, with a smaller land force and larger fleet, would advance north towards the island and capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Marianas, going generally in the direction of the Bonin Islands.
    • The southern prong, led by General MacArthur and with larger land forces, would take the Solomons, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, advancing toward the Philippines.

  • Barrier Islands

  • Island Hopping