Temotu is the easternmost
provinceSolomon Islands is currently divided into 9 provinces. The national capital, Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, is separately governed as Capital Territory.-History:...
of the
Solomon IslandsSolomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
. The province was formerly known as
Santa Cruz IslandsThe Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain...
Province. It consists, essentially, of two chains of islands which run parallel to each other from the northwest to the southeast.
Islands
The islands or island groups which make up the province are:
- Anuta
Anuta is a small high island in the southeastern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu, the smallest permanently inhabited isolated Polynesian island.-Description:...
- Duff Islands
The Duff Islands are a small island group lying to the northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. They are also sometimes known as the Wilson Islands....
(including TaumakoTaumako is the largest of the Duff Islands. This 5.7 km long island has steep sides and rises to a height of 400 m above sea level. It is composed of basaltic lavas and pyroclastics like the other islands in the Duffs ....
)
- Fatutaka
Fatutaka, Fatu Taka or Patu Taka is a small high island in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. It is the easternmost landfall in that nation. The island, located at , is the remnant of an extinct volcano. It is a small rocky outcropping, rising to an elevation of . The total land area of the...
- Lomlom
Lomlom is an island in the Solomon Islands; it is located in Temotu Province....
- Malo
Malo is an island in the Solomon Islands; it is located in Temotu Province....
- Matema
Matema Island or Matema is of one of the Reef Islands, of the independent nation of the Solomon Islands; it is located in Temotu Province.The language spoken on Matema Island is Pileni, which is a member of the Polynesian language family...
- Reef Islands
The Reef Islands are a loose collection of 16 islands in the northwestern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. These islands have historically also been known by the names of Swallow Islands and Matema Islands....
(including FenualoaFenualoa is the second largest island in the Reef Islands, administratively located in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. At low tide, Fenualoa is connected to the neighboring island of Nifiloli to the north. The west side of the island is mainly sandy beaches facing the huge lagoon and the...
, MakalomMakalom is a small uninhabited island in the Reef Islands, in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu.-External links:*...
, Nalongo and NupaniNalongo and Nupani is a small atoll in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a coral reef totally encircling a lagoon.Nupani Island, also called Nimba, is inhabited, while Nalongo has no permanent habitation....
, NifiloliNifiloli is an island in the Reef Islands, in the of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. Despite its location in Melanesia, the population of the islands is Polynesian. The language spoken on Nifiloli is Pileni language-External links:* *...
, NukapuNukapu is one of the islands of the nation of Solomon Islands. It is in the Reef Islands group in Temotu Province; the easternmost province of the Solomons.The island contains a memorial to Bishop John Patteson who was murdered on Nukapu in 1871....
, Patteson ShoalPatteson Shoal is an outer reef in the Reef Islands, in the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. It is located about 50 km northeast of Nupani. The shoal is named for John Coleridge Patteson.-External links:*...
, Pigeon IslandPigeon Island is an island in the Solomon Islands; it is located in Temotu Province....
and PileniPileni is a culturally important island in the Reef Islands, in the northern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. Despite its location in Melanesia, the population of the islands is Polynesian.-Language:...
)
- Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain...
(including the large island NendöNendo is the largest and most important of the Santa Cruz Islands, located in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. The island is also known as Santa Cruz, Ndeni, Nitendi or Ndende...
)
- Tikopia
Tikopia is a small and high island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Covering an area of 5 km² , the island is the remnant of an extinct volcano. Its highest point, Mt. Reani, reaches an elevation of 380 m above sea level. Lake Te Roto covers an old volcanic crater which is 80 m...
- Tinakula
Tinakula is a conical stratovolcano which forms an island north of Nendo in Temotu Province, the Solomon Islands. It lies at the north end of the Santa Cruz Islands. It is about 3.5 km wide and rises 851 m above sea level, but rises three or four km above the sea floor. It erupts...
- Utupua
- Vanikoro
Vanikoro is an island from the Santa Cruz group, located 118 km to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It belongs administratively to the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands....
(including BanieBanie is the main island of the Vanikoro group, in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. The only other inhabited island of the group is the smaller island of Teanu ou Tevai.-Name:...
and TeanuTeanu is the second island in size of the Vanikoro group, in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. It is located northeast of the main island of the group, Banie.Teanu has currently only one inhabited village, Puma....
)
The provincial capital is
LataLata is the provincial capital of Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. As of 2007, it has 553 inhabitants. There are a few rest houses for over night stays. There is a Post office, Telecom office and numerous stores....
, located on Nendo, the largest and most important of the Santa Cruz islands.
Population
The population of 18,912 (1999) is quite diverse for the small land area encompassed. The Santa Cruz Islanders are predominantly Melanesian, although the inhabitants of Tikopia, Anuta, the Duff Islands and some of the Reef Islands are
PolynesiansThe Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
.
Languages
The province has given its name to the
Temotu languagesThe Temotu languages, named after Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands, are a branch of Oceanic languages proposed in Ross & Næss 2007 for the Reefs – Santa Cruz languages...
, a putative linguistic subgroup within the broader
Oceanic family of languages.
The languages spoken in the province include all nine
Temotu languages proper, plus two
Polynesian outlierPolynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian islands which lie in geographic or political Melanesia and Micronesia. Based on archaeological and linguistic analysis, these islands are believed to have been colonized by seafaring Polynesians, mostly from the area of Tonga, Samoa and...
languages: Vaeakau-Taumako and
TikopiaThe Tikopia language is a Polynesian Outlier language from the island of Tikopia in the Solomon Islands. It is closely related to the Anuta language of the neighboring island of Anuta. Tikopian is also spoken by the Polynesian minority on Vanikoro, who long ago migrated from Tikopia.-External...
.
See also
- Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
- Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
- Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
- Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
- Polynesian outlier
Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian islands which lie in geographic or political Melanesia and Micronesia. Based on archaeological and linguistic analysis, these islands are believed to have been colonized by seafaring Polynesians, mostly from the area of Tonga, Samoa and...
- Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain...
External links