Editing Guadalcanal

{{Short description|Principal island of Solomon Islands}}
{{About|the island in Solomon Islands}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox islands
|name          = Guadalcanal
|image_name    = GuadalcanalCloseup.png
|image_caption = Guadalcanal Map
|map_image     = Solomon Islands - Guadalcanal.PNG
|map_caption   = 
|native_name   = Isatabu
|native_name_link = 
|location      = [[Pacific Ocean]]
|coordinates   = {{Coord|09|35|24|S|160|14|06|E|type:isle_scale:2500000_region:SB-GU|display=inline,title}}
|archipelago   = [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands]]
|total_islands = 
|major_islands = 
|area_km2      = 5302
|highest_mount = [[Mount Popomanaseu]]
|elevation_m   = 2335 
|country       = [[Solomon Islands]]
|country_admin_divisions_title = Province
|country_admin_divisions = [[Guadalcanal Province]]
|country_largest_city = [[Honiara]]
|country_largest_city_population = 92,344 (2021
|population    = 161,197
|population_as_of = 2021
|density_km2   = 30.4
|ethnic_groups = {{Plain list|
* [[Melanesia]]n 93%
* [[Polynesia]]n 4%
* [[Micronesia]]n 1.5%
* [[ethnic groups in Europe|European]] 0.8%
* [[overseas Chinese|Chinese]] 0.3%
* others 0.4%
}}
}}

'''Guadalcanal''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɡ|w|ɑː|d|əl|k|ə|ˈ|n|æ|l}}; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in [[Guadalcanal Province]] of [[Solomon Islands]], located in the southwestern [[Pacific Ocean]], northeast of [[Australia]]. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second-largest by population (after [[Malaita]]). The island is mainly covered in dense [[tropical rainforest]] and has a mountainous [[hinterland]].

[[File:Honiara View.jpg|thumb|Honiara is the largest city of Guadalcanal and the capital of [[Solomon Islands]].]] 
[[File:Guadalcanal2022OSM.png|thumb|Detailed map of Guadalcanal]]

Guadalcanal was first charted by Europeans during the Spanish expedition of [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira|Álvaro de Mendaña]] in 1568. The name comes from the village of [[Guadalcanal, Seville|Guadalcanal]], in the province of [[Sevilla (province)|Seville]], in [[Andalusia]], Spain, birthplace of Pedro de Ortega Valencia, a member of Mendaña's expedition.

During 1942 and 1943, it was the scene of the [[Guadalcanal campaign]] and saw bitter fighting between Japanese and U.S. troops. The Americans were ultimately victorious. At the end of [[World War II]], [[Honiara]], on the north coast of Guadalcanal, became the new capital of the [[British Solomon Islands|British Solomon Islands Protectorate]] and later the capital of the independent nation of Solomon Islands.

==Geography==

Guadalcanal is the largest island in [[Solomon Islands]], with a total land area of {{cvt|5,302|km2|abbr=on}}, and has a population of 155,605 people, making it the second-most populous island in the country after Malaita. [[Mount Popomanaseu]] is the island's highest point and the highest in Solomon Islands, with an elevation of {{cvt|7,661|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level. The Mbokokimbo River is the island's longest river, with a total length of {{cvt|98.7|km|abbr=on}}.

===Topography===
'''List of peaks in Guadalcanal by elevation'''

*[[Mount Popomanaseu]] – {{cvt|7,661|ft}}
*[[Mount Makarakomburu]] – {{cvt|7,580|ft}}
*Mount Tanareirei – {{cvt|6,736|ft}}
*Mount Namolava – {{cvt|6,427|ft}}
*Makaratanggoe – {{cvt|6,339|ft}}
*Mount Latinarau – {{cvt|6,296|ft}}
*Mount Kaichui – {{cvt|6,273|ft}}
*Mount Vatuchichi – {{cvt|6,217|ft}}
*Mount Tambunanguu – {{cvt|6,188|ft}}
*Mount Tohasa – {{cvt|5,719|ft}}
*Mount Pinau – {{cvt|5,669|ft}}
*Mount Nasuha – {{cvt|5,348|ft}}
*Mount Tatuve – {{cvt|5,056|ft}}
*Mount Ngalighombe – {{cvt|4,987|ft}}
*Mount Vatupochau – {{cvt|4,613|ft}}
*Mount Kemau – {{cvt|4,596|ft}}
*Mount Vatunjae – {{cvt|4,491|ft}}
*Mount Chaunapaho – {{cvt|4,449|ft}}
*Mount Tingge Tingge – {{cvt|4,432|ft}}
*Chupu Tambu – {{cvt|4,406|ft}}
*Mount Hanihanikaro – {{cvt|4,262|ft}}
*Mount Vatu Horoi – {{cvt|4,170|ft}}
*Lumulumuchichi – {{cvt|4,150|ft}}
*Mount Lambuhila – {{cvt|4,055|ft}}
*Mount Manuchuma – {{cvt|4,055|ft}}
*Mount Vatutora – {{cvt|4,052|ft}}
*Mount Rauramba – {{cvt|3,930|ft}}
*Mount Vausu – {{cvt|3,783|ft}}
*Mount Vuro – {{cvt|3,681|ft}}
*Mount Taluva – {{cvt|3,451|ft}}
*Mount Gallego – {{cvt|3,415|ft}}
*Mount Popori – {{cvt|3,153|ft}}
*Mount Valivalisi – {{cvt|3,100|ft}}
*Mount Na Vatu – {{cvt|2,953|ft}}
*Mount Tughuruloki – {{cvt|2,621|ft}}
*Mount Mbelapoke – {{cvt|2,421|ft}}
*Mount Vungana – {{cvt|2,349|ft}}
*Mount Esperance – {{cvt|2,008|ft}}

===River system===
'''List of longest rivers by length'''

*Mbokokimbo River – {{cvt|98.7|km|abbr=on}} 
*Lungga River – {{cvt|80.4|km|abbr=on}}
*Mbalisuna River – {{cvt|76.6|km|abbr=on}}
*Mberande River – {{cvt|75.5|km|abbr=on}}
*Mongga River – {{cvt|59.8|km|abbr=on}}
*Itina River – {{cvt|48.6|km|abbr=on}}
*Aola River – {{cvt|47.6|km|abbr=on}}
*Simiu River – {{cvt|46|km|abbr=on}}
*Rere River – {{cvt|43.2|km|abbr=on}}
*Kombito River – {{cvt|33.1|km|abbr=on}}
*[[Matanikau River]] – {{cvt|20.5|km|abbr=on}}
*Koloula River – {{cvt|17.2|km|abbr=on}}

== History ==

=== Early history ===
The island has been settled since at least 4500–2500 BC based on archaeological finds at Poha Cave and Vatuluma Posovi.<ref name="Review">{{cite web |last1=Walter |first1=Richard |last2=Sheppard |first2=Peter |title=A review of Solomon Island archaeology |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275213610 |website=Research Gate |date=February 2009| access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/662201 |title=Lapita Colonization across the Near/Remote Oceania Boundary |year=2011 |last1=Sheppard |first1=Peter J. |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=799–840 |s2cid=162365253}}</ref> During the period 1200-800 BC, Austronesian [[Lapita]] peoples settled the islands.<ref name="Review"/>

A [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] expedition from [[Peru]] in 1568 under the command of [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira]] were the first Europeans to see the island. Mendaña's subordinate, Pedro de Ortega Valencia, named the island after his home town [[Guadalcanal, Spain|Guadalcanal]] in Andalusia, Spain.<ref name=Guadalcanal>{{cite web |url=http://www.guadalcanal.com/ |title=Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands : A Tourism, Travel and Information Guide : Basecamp International |publisher=Guadalcanal.com |quote="The islands were named by a Spanish explorer, Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira, who, on finding alluvial gold on Guadalcanal in 1568, believed he had found the biblical King Solomon's source of gold." |access-date=2016-04-23 |archive-date=21 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621093240/http://www.guadalcanal.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the years that followed the discovery, the island was variously referred to as Guadarcana, Guarcana, Guadalcana, and Guadalcanar, which reflected different pronunciations of its name in Andalusian Spanish.

European settlers, whalers, and missionaries began to arrive in the 18th and 19th centuries. With these outsiders also arrived foreign institutions such as forced labour. Beginning during the 1860s, about 60,000 natives from many parts of the Solomon Islands were indentured and sent to Australia or Fiji by British authorities to work on plantations. This system continued into the 1890s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=International Dictionary of Historical Places, Volume 5: Asia and Oceania |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |year=1996 |isbn=1-884964-04-4|editor-last=Schellinger|editor-first=Paul |location=Chicago |pages=298, 299|editor-last2=Salkin|editor-first2=Robert}}</ref> In the 1880s, the Germans and the British vied for control of the Solomons. Germany established a protectorate over the northern Solomons in 1884, while in 1893, the [[British Solomon Islands Protectorate]] was proclaimed, which included the island of Guadalcanal.<ref name="Guadalcanal"/><ref name=":0"/> Germany eventually handed over most of their protectorate to Britain, though, in 1899. By the early 20th century, large agricultural plantations (specialising in [[copra]]), run mainly by Australians, were established in the region. Guadalcanal was not seriously affected by World War I.<ref name=":0"/> In 1932, the British confirmed the name Guadalcanal in line with the town in Andalusia, Spain.

=== Second World War ===
{{Main|Guadalcanal campaign}}
[[File:Deceased Japanese soldiers after Battle of the Tenaru, Guadalcanal, 1942.jpg|thumb|left|Japanese soldiers, killed while assaulting US Marine positions at the mouth of Alligator Creek]]

In the months following the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941, the Japanese drove the Americans out of the [[Philippines]], the British out of [[British Malaya]], and the Dutch out of the [[Dutch East Indies|East Indies]]. The Japanese then began to expand into the western Pacific, occupying many islands in an attempt to build a defensive ring around their conquests and threaten the lines of communication from the United States to Australia and New Zealand. The Japanese reached Guadalcanal in May 1942.

When an American reconnaissance mission spotted construction of a Japanese airfield at [[Lunga Point]] on the north coast of Guadalcanal, the situation became critical.<ref>[[Edwin P. Hoyt]], ''Japan's War'', p 305-6 {{ISBN|0-07-030612-5}}</ref> This new Japanese airfield represented a threat to Australia, so as a matter of urgency, despite not being adequately prepared, the United States conducted its first amphibious landing of the war on Guadalcanal. The initial landings of the [[1st Marine Division]] on 7 August 1942 secured the airfield with little difficulty, but holding the airfield for the next six months against combined Japanese ground assault, air attack and naval bombardment was one of the most hotly contested campaigns in the entire Pacific theater of war.

Immediately after landing on the island, U.S. Navy [[Seabee]]s began finishing the airfield begun by the Japanese. It was then named [[Henderson Field (Guadalcanal)|Henderson Field]] after a Marine aviator killed in combat during the [[Battle of Midway]]. Aircraft operating from Henderson Field during the campaign were a mix of U.S. Marine, Army, Navy, and other Allied aircraft that became known as the [[Cactus Air Force]]. They defended the airfield and threatened any Japanese ships that ventured too close to the island during daylight hours. At night, however, Japanese naval forces were frequently able to shell the airfield and deliver troops with supplies, retiring before daylight. The Japanese used fast ships, namely destroyers, to conduct this reinforcement and supply effort, which became known as the [[Tokyo Express]]. So many ships from both sides were sunk in the many naval engagements in and around the Solomon Island chain that the nearby waters came to be referred to as [[Ironbottom Sound]].
[[File:Guadalcanal American Memorial.jpg|thumb|Guadalcanal American Memorial]]
The naval [[Battle of Cape Esperance]] was fought on 11 October 1942 in the waters off the northwest coast of Guadalcanal. During the engagement, the [[United States Navy]] intercepted and defeated a Japanese formation of ships on their way down "[[New Georgia Sound|the Slot]]" to reinforce and resupply troops on the island, suffering losses of their own in the process. The multi-day [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]] in early November marked a critical turning point in the campaign. Allied naval forces engaged a large, experienced Japanese surface force at night and forced it to withdraw, sinking the [[Japanese battleship Kirishima|IJN battleship ''Kirishima'']] in the process. This was one of only two times in the Pacific theater of war that two battleships engaged each other in combat, with the next such engagement occurring in 1944 during the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]]. Some Japanese viewpoints consider these naval engagements, which showcased the improving capability of Allied warships to challenge the Imperial Japanese Navy's significant advantage in night-fighting techniques, to be just as significant as the Battle of Midway in turning the tide against them.

After six months of hard combat in and around Guadalcanal, the Japanese forces on the island were critically undersupplied and no longer combat effective, while Allied troops were steadily increasing in quantity and quality. Remaining Japanese forces on the island were evacuated at [[Cape Esperance]] on the northwest coast in February 1943.<ref>{{cite web |title=Naval History and Heritage "Guadalcanal Campaign, August 1942 – February 1943 |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/guadlcnl/guadlcnl.htm |website=www.history.navy.mil |access-date=14 March 2010 |archive-date=3 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203110003/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/guadlcnl/guadlcnl.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure on 9 February 1943. The Guadalcanal campaign was a major turning point in the war, as it stopped further Japanese expansion. 

Two U.S. Navy ships have been named for the campaign:
*[[USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60)|USS ''Guadalcanal'' (CVE-60)]] was a World War II escort carrier.
*[[USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7)|USS ''Guadalcanal'' (LPH-7)]] was an amphibious assault ship.

To date, the only [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guardsman]] recipient of the [[Medal of Honor]] is Signalman 1st Class [[Douglas Albert Munro]], awarded posthumously for his extraordinary heroism on 27 September 1942 at [[Point Cruz]]. Munro provided covering fire and helped evacuate 500 besieged Marines from a beach at Point Cruz; he was killed during the evacuation. During the [[Battle for Henderson Field]], the Medal of Honor was also awarded to [[John Basilone]], who was later killed in action during the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]] in 1945.

After the war, American and Japanese groups repeatedly visited Guadalcanal to search for the remains of missing soldiers. The bodies of some 7,000 Japanese troops remain missing on the island, and islanders still bring the Japanese groups bones that they say are those of unearthed Japanese soldiers.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/world/japanese-unearth-remains-and-their-nations-past-on-guadalcanal.html |title=Japanese Unearth Remains, and Their Nation's Past, on Guadalcanal |last=Fackler |first=Martin |date=2014-11-29 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |language=en |access-date=2019-07-13 |archive-date=5 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205211312/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/world/japanese-unearth-remains-and-their-nations-past-on-guadalcanal.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Postwar years===
Immediately after the Second World War, the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate was moved to Honiara on Guadalcanal from its previous location at [[Tulagi]] in the [[Nggela Islands|Florida Islands]]. In 1952, the [[high Commissioner for the Western Pacific|high commissioner for the Western Pacific]] moved from [[Fiji]] to Honiara, and the post was combined with that of the governor of the Solomon Islands. The airfield which was the cause of the fighting in 1942, and which became well known as Henderson Field, is now the [[Honiara International Airport|international airport]] for the Solomon Islands. It sits about five miles to the east of Honiara. The secondary airfield, known as "Fighter Two", is now the local golf course.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-the-cactus-air-force-fought-at-guadalcanal.htm |title=World War II: The Cactus Air Force Fought at Guadalcanal |date=12 June 2006 |website=HistoryNet |access-date=28 January 2020 |archive-date=28 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128042215/https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-the-cactus-air-force-fought-at-guadalcanal.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Civil war ===
{{See also|History of Solomon Islands#Civil war}}

In early 1999, long-simmering tensions between the local Guale people on Guadalcanal and more recent migrants from the neighbouring island of [[Malaita]] erupted into violence. The Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army, later called [[Isatabu Freedom Movement]], began terrorising Malaitans in the rural areas of the island in an effort to force them out of their homes. About 20,000 Malaitans fled to the capital, and others returned to their home island; Guale residents of Honiara fled. The city became a Malaitan [[Enclave and exclave|enclave]] and the [[Malaita Eagle Force]] took over government. The [[Royal Australian Navy]] and [[Royal New Zealand Navy]] deployed vessels to the area to protect the expatriate community resident mostly in Honiara. In 2003, the [[Pacific Islands Forum|Pacific Forum]] negotiated the intervention of [[Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands|RAMSI]] or Operation Helpem Fren involving Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific island nations.

==Vilu War Museum==
{{Main|Vilu Military Museum}}
[[File:Vilu War Museum 2.jpg|thumb|Memorials in Vilu War Museum]]
[[File:Vilu War Museum 4.jpg|thumb|Aircraft in Vilu War Museum]]
About 25&nbsp;km (15&nbsp;mi) from Honiara to the west, Vilu War Museum houses an outdoor collection of remains of various parts of military equipment and of several aircraft. Several memorials for the American, Australian, Fijian, New Zealand, and Japanese soldiers who died were erected, as well.<ref>Michael Brillat: ''Südsee'', p. 40. München 2011</ref>

==Fauna==
The island hosts a native [[marsupial]] known as the [[phalanger]] or grey cuscus, ''[[Phalanger orientalis]]''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=phalanger &#124; marsupial |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/phalanger |access-date=2016-04-23 |author=<!--staff writer--> |archive-date=20 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120105118/https://www.britannica.com/animal/phalanger |url-status=live }}</ref> The only other mammals are bats and rodents.

Many species of colourful parrots are found there, and [[saltwater crocodile|estuarine crocodiles]] inhabit the island's shores. In recent times, these crocodiles have been found only on the Weather Coast in the south of the island, but during World War II, they were found along the north coast in the vicinity of the airstrip where the fighting was taking place, as evidenced by names such as [[Battle of the Tenaru|Alligator Creek]].

Venomous snakes are rare on the island and are not considered to be a serious threat, but a kind of [[centipede]] there has a particularly nasty bite.<ref> [https://www.americanheritage.com/short-walk-guadalcanal A Short Walk On Guadalcanal]. American Heritage. May/June 1993. Volume 44, Issue 3 {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230207135926/https://www.americanheritage.com/short-walk-guadalcanal|date=February 7, 2023}}</ref>
The Guadalcanal Watersheds form a site that has been identified by [[BirdLife International]] as an [[Important Bird Area|important bird area]], because it supports populations of [[threatened]] or [[endemism|endemic]] bird species. At 376,146&nbsp;ha (1,452 sq mi), it covers some 70% of the island, extending along the southern coast inland to the central highlands, and contains riverine and lowland [[tropical rainforest]], as well as the greatest contiguous area of [[cloud forest]] in the Solomons. Although it also contains gardens and old village sites, most of it has never been permanently inhabited. Significant birds for which the site was identified include [[chestnut-bellied imperial pigeon]]s, [[Woodford's rail]]s, [[Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher]]s, [[Meek's lorikeet]]s, [[Guadalcanal honeyeater]]s, [[Guadalcanal thicketbird]]s, and [[Guadalcanal thrush]]es. Potential threats to the site include [[logging]] and [[invasive species]].<ref name=bli>{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/guadalcanal-watersheds-iba-solomon-islands |title=Guadalcanal Watersheds |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2010 |website=BirdLife Data Zone |publisher=BirdLife International |access-date=8 October 2020 |archive-date=7 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807004947/http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/guadalcanal-watersheds-iba-solomon-islands |url-status=live }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*[[Richard B. Frank|Frank, Richard B.]] ''Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle'', Penguin Books, 1990.
*Hadden, Robert Lee. 2007. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101206013426/http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA472656 "The Geology of Guadalcanal: a Selected Bibliography of the Geology, Natural History, and the History of Guadalcanal."] by Robert Lee Hadden. Alexandria, VA: Topographic Engineering Center. 
*{{cite book |last=Hakim |first=Joy |title=A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-509514-2}}
*''[[Guadalcanal Diary (book)|Guadalcanal Diary]]'', 1943 book by Richard Tregaskis
*''[[Guadalcanal Diary (film)|Guadalcanal Diary]]'', 1943 film based on the book
*[[James R. "Rube" Garrett]] ''A Marine Diary: My Experiences on Guadalcanal''

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La591Fm1kOg Guadalcanal Odyssey (1975) Leslie Nielsen Part 1]

{{Islands of the Solomon Islands}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Guadalcanal| ]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of the Solomon Islands]]
[[Category:Islands of the Solomon Islands]]
[[Category:World War II sites in the Solomon Islands]]