Salomon Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
For the islands in the South Pacific, see Solomon Islands.

The Salomon Islands is a small atoll of the British Indian Ocean Territory. It is located in the Northeast of the Chagos Archipelago, between Blenheim Reef and Peros Banhos. The main islands in the group are Ile Boddam, with the former settlement, and a land area of 1.08 km², and Ile Anglaise, only slightly smaller, both on the western rim of the reef. There were smaller settlements of Chagossians in Fouquet and Takamaka Islands. The total land area is about 5 km².

There is a passage into the lagoon, named Baie de Salomon, on the Northern side, between Ile Anglaise and Ile de la Passe. The Salomon Islands are one of the favorite anchoring spots for itinerant yachtsmen passing through the Chagos. Now uninhabited, the islands are overrun by low jungle between the coconut trees and it is hard to find the traces of the former settlements.

This atoll was settled in the last half of the 18th century by coconut plantation workers from Mauritius (then known as Ile de France). Little is known about the condition of the workers who were mostly from African origin and most probably living in conditions close to slavery. The company exploiting the plantation was called the Chagos Agalega Company.

The Salomon Islands were surveyed in 1837 by Commander Robert Moresby of the Indian Navy on the HMS Benares. Moresby's survey produced the first detailed map of this atoll. They were surveyed again in 1905 by Commander B.T. Sommerville on the HMS Sealark, who drew a more accurate map. Some of the Salomon Islands were inhabited by the Chagossians, but at the time that the British Government decided to empty the Chagos of local inhabitants only Ile Boddam was inhabited.

The inhabitants of the Salomon Islands, numbering about 400, were forcefully evicted and resettled in Mauritius. Ile Boddam had a jetty, shops, offices, a school, a church and a villa where the plantation manager lived. All these buildings are hidden by thick jungle now. The tanks still collect water which is used by yachtsmen to replenish their supplies. The chicken have run wild[citation needed].

The individual islets of the atoll are, starting in the North, clockwise:

  1. Ile de la Passe
  2. Ile Mapou
  3. Ile Takamaka
  4. Ile Fouquet
  5. Ile Sepulture
  6. Ile Jacobin
  7. Ile Charles
  8. Ile Poule
  9. Ile Boddam
  10. Ile Diable
  11. Ile Anglaise
  12. Ile Du Sel

Coordinates: 5°19′00″S, 72°15′36″E

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.