GEOGRAPHY CONNECTIONS This year-long series is presented in collaboration

with the Connecticut Geographic Alliance.

NIE ACTIVITY

Welcome to Solomon Islands

CITY/COUNTRY VIEW
Take
LOCATION: Located in the Solomon
By Tess Mathieu William J. Johnston Middle School.
5
Sea, the Solomon Islands are east of Papua

T
he Solomon Islands are located southeast of Australia New Guinea and northern Australia.
and Papua New Guinea and north of Vanuatu and
PLACE: The lush, tropical environment is covered
Tuvalu. There are five main islands, although there are in palm trees and exotic plants such as orchids, ferns,
more than 1,000 islands altogether. The five main ones are mangrove trees, and pandanus trees.
Guadal canal, (where the capital, Honiara, is located) Malaita,
New Georgia, San Cristobal, and Santa Isabel. Together they HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION:
People there eat and sell plants such
all make up approximately 10,965 square miles. The natural
as: cassava, bananas, taro, yams,
resources are fish, forests, gold, bauxite (used to make
watercress, watermelon, pineapple,
aluminum), phosphates (like salt), lead, zinc, and nickel. cocoa-beans and many more
Instead of a president they have a prime minister. His name is Manassa Sogavare. He has been prime minister since wonderful fruits and vegetables.
2014. The Solomonian flag has the design of five white stars (for the main islands) in the top left corner of the flag.
Surrounding the stars is a diagonal layer of blue (for the ocean), cut off by a thin layer of yellow (for sunshine) and
MOVEMENT: Coconuts are the biggest crop on the
Solomon Islands. The major trading partners are China,
finished with a layer of green (for the land) on the bottom of the rectangular shape.
Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.

One place that The Solomon Islands are famous for is Skull Island. Skull Island is a small island where the Solomon REGION: The Solomons have a wet season from
people place the skulls of their enemies and civilians (after they are dead) to honor their memory and braveness. They November to April and a dry season from May to October.
Most famous animal is the Humpback Whale.
put the skulls under the cover of caves and cliff hang-overs so that the bone and
flesh (if it’s a newly dead person) does not rot in the rain.

Another interesting thing about the Solomons is that they have multiple active and Using the News
inactive volcanoes, including Coleman Seamount (inactive, erupted 10,000 years
ago). There is an underwater volcano called Kavachi (erupted in 2004), Savo Island On December 8th, 2016 The
(erupted in 1847), Simbo (erupted in 1910), and Tinakula (erupted in 2007). With its Solomons had a 7.8 earthquake that
natural beauty and interesting culture, wouldn’t it be great to visit these wonderful destroyed nearly 100 houses. Multiple
islands? tsunami warnings were sent out after
the quake in case the shake formed

DID YOU KNOW?

any massive waves. As it turned out,
there was nothing to be worried about and the highest
wave was actually only nine feet tall. The islands are still
• The island New Georgia has the largest saltwater lagoon in the world,
recovering from this earthquake even though they get
Marovo Lagoon.
these quite often, since they dwell in the Ring of Fire. What
• Most of the residents on The Solomon Islands keep pigs in their homes.
Some keep them as pets, while others keep them as food. are some other countries in the Pacific Ring of Fire that
• Did you know that 98% of the country speaks Melanesian, the other two percent have also been impacted by Earthquakes? What are the
speaks English; despite its close proximity to English speaking Australia social, economic and political impacts that earthquakes
• The Solomon Islands have the largest coral atoll in the world. have had on these places?

MAPPING ACTIVITY The Solomon Islands are a country made up of just islands.
Can you locate other countries in the world that are also
made up of an island chain or just a single island? Here Solomon
are some examples: 1.Indonesia: Region Oceania Islands
2. Australia: Region Oceania. 3.Japan: Region Asia

Can you find ten more countries

surrounded by water and name what
geographic region they are from?
Have fun!

• www.new-ag.info
• www.factsking.com
• www.infoplease.com
• www.googlemaps.com
• https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_map_of_Solomon_Islands.png#mw-jump-to-license
• https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tulagi,_Solomon_Islands._June_1995.jpg
Online Resources:
For students who are blind, learning disabled or
• www.geocurrents.info
• www.volcanodiscovory.com
• www.animalinfo.org
For• www.earthquake.usgs.gov
students who are blind, learning disabled or print challenged, visit CRIS Radio
print challenged, visit at
Common Core Curricular
http://www.chrisradio.org
• www.ruraldevolpment.info • www.cnn.com and click Kids On-Demand for a free
CRISaudio
Radioversion of Geography Connections.
at http://www.chrisradio.org Connections
• www.vsitsolomon.com.sb • http://abcnews.go.com and click Kids On-Demand CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. RI. 5.1-5.10
for a free audio version of Geography
Connections.
CCSS. ELA-LITERACY. RH.6-8.1-8.7