| The Solomon Islands
were visited and named in 1568 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de
Mendaña de Neyra. The northernmost islands of the group were explored
in 1768 by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, for whom the island of Bougainville
is named. Germany established control over the northern Solomons in 1885,
but in 1900 they transferred these islands, except Bougainville and Buka,
to the British, who had declared a protectorate over the central and southern
Solomons in 1893. In 1914, at the start of World War I, Australia occupied
the remaining German Solomons, and in 1919 the League of Nations granted
the area to Australia as a mandate. Most of the Solomons were occupied by
Japan during World War II (1939-1945), and heavy fighting occurred in the
region, especially on and around Guadalcanal, before the Allies forced the
last Japanese to leave the island group in 1945. In 1975 the Australian-administered
Solomons became independent as part of Papua New Guinea. The British Solomons
gained independence as the Solomon Islands on July 7, 1978. The first prime
minister of the nation was Peter Kenilorea; he was succeeded in 1981 by
Solomon Mamaloni. In 1986 Ezekiel Alebua was elected prime minister, but
in 1989 Mamaloni regained the post. In 1993, Francis Billy Hilly was elected
prime minister. The government changed again in 1994 when Mamaloni was reelected
prime minister. |