Sikaiana


Sikaiana is a small atoll NE of Malaita in Solomon Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is almost in length and its lagoon, known as Te Moana, is totally enclosed by the coral reef. Its total land surface is only. There is no safe anchorage close to this atoll, which makes it often inaccessible to outsiders.

Geography

Sikaiana is a remote tropical coral atoll located at Latitude: 8° 25' 0 South and Longitude: 162° 52' 0 East, over 200 kilometres from any other islands. The main island at Sikaiana atoll, located at the easternmost corner, is called Sikaiana. The three small islands in the west of the atoll are Tehaolei, Matuiloto and Matuavi. There are also two artificial islands on the reef, Te Palena and Hakatai'atata.

History

Administratively Sikaiana is governed as an outlying region of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Sikaiana's population is approximately 300 people of Polynesian descent—not of the Melanesian descent prevalent in the main Solomon Islands. It is considered by anthropologists to be a Polynesian outlier.
A 1998 GAO report stated:
In 1893, in order both to regulate a practice of labor recruitment or ‘blackbirding’ of Solomon Islanders to work on labor plantations in Queensland, Australia, and to further its own colonial interests, the United Kingdom established a protectorate over most of what is now the Solomon Islands. On 21 June 1897 the protectorate was extended to include Sikaiana, Rennell, and Bellona Islands.