From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ontong Java redirects here. For the undersea plateau, see Ontong Java Plateau.

Ontong Java Atoll is the northernmost tract of land in the Solomon Islands, over 250 km north of Santa Isabel Island, and is an outlying part of Malaita Province. It is sometimes referred to as Lord Howe Atoll which is not to be confused with Lord Howe Island which is east of Australia. Other alternative names are Luangiua and Leuangiua. The entire size of the atoll is 1400 km², however only 12 km² is land spread out over 122 small islets. The islands are mostly low-lying coral formations, the highest elevation being 13 metres.

Approximately 2000 people live on the atoll; with 1200 on the island of Luaniua and 800 on Pelau. The islands were first inhabited by Polynesians approximately 2000 years ago. The first verifiable European sighting was by Abel Tasman in 1643 who named it Ontong Java; however, it wasn't until 1791 that Europeans set foot on the islands (an Englishman named John Hunter who named it Lord Howe Atoll). In 1893 the islands were annexed by Germany and later ceded to Great Britain in 1899.

Today the Polynesian-speaking inhabitants make a subsistence living by means of copra and taro (root) production, as well as fishing. Until a ban in 2005, the primary source of income was beche de mer and trochus shells, which were shipped to Hong Kong. It also has a prolific number of sea birds, including the black-naped tern, which uses Ontong Java Atoll as a breeding site.

The first serious research on Ontong Java's inhabitants was conducted by German ethnographers Ernst Sarfert and Hans Damm, during a German scientific expedition of the Southern Seas that took place in 1908-1910. Their work, "Luangiua und Nukumanu" was published in 1931. Sarfert and Damm claimed that both names of the atoll, Lord Howe and Ontong Java, were incorrect and called this atoll Luangiua in their works.

The dialects spoken in this atoll are Luangiua and Pelau.

Ontong Java was also visited by Sydney University anthropologist Herbert Ian Hogbin in 1927. Hogbin's study of Ontong Java was published in 1934.

• Hogbin, H. Ian. "The Social Organization of Ontong Java." London 1931
• Hogbin, H. Ian. "Transition Rites at Ontong Java." Oceania 1: 399-425. 1930
• Sarfert, Ernst, and Hans Damm. "Luangiua und Nukumanu." In Ergebnisse der Südsee Expedition, 1908-1910. Hamburg 1931

This Solomon Islands location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.