The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of
Makira-Ulawa Province
Makira-Ulawa Province is one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands.
Geography
The main part of the province is Makira Island. It has a population of 40,419 (2009). The capital is Kirakira.
Makira-Ulawa Province includes Makira (San Cristobal ...
in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
. It is third most populous island after
Malaita
Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...
and
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
, with a population of 55,126 as of 2020. The island is located east of
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
and south of
Malaita
Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...
. The largest and capital city is
Kirakira
Kirakira is the provincial capital of the Makira-Ulawa Province in Solomon Islands. Kirakira is located on the north coast of Makira (formerly San Cristobal), the largest island of the province. It has roads running east to the ...
.
History
The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Makira was by the Spanish expedition of
Álvaro de Mendaña Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrior ...
in June 1568. More precisely the sighting and also landing in San Cristobal was due to a local voyage that set out from
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
in a small boat, in the accounts the
brigantine
A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts.
Older ...
''Santiago'', commanded by
Alférez
In medieval Iberia, an ''alférez'' (, ) or ''alferes'' (, ) was a high-ranking official in the household of a king or magnate. The term is derived from the Arabic ('' al-fāris''), meaning "horseman" or "cavalier", and it was commonly Latinised ...
Hernando Enriquez and having
Hernán Gallego Hernán is a Spanish masculine given name, originating from Germanic Hernan in the Visigoth culture in Spain. It is the Latinized version of the compound name ''Fard-nanth'', which seems to mean "gentle traveler" or "spiritual traveler". The House ...
as pilot. They charted it as ''San Cristóbal''.
[Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.133.]
Education
The
Stuyvenberg Rural Training Centre is a rural
boarding centre of
vocational education
Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...
by
the Society of Mary, located on the north coast of eastern Makira.
Environment
A 182,550 ha tract of largely forested land encompassing the eastern part of the island has been identified by
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
as an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) because it supports populations of several
threatened
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...
or
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
bird species. The site extends from the rocky cliffs of the coast to the island's central Bauro Highlands, including the catchments of the Warihito and Raro Rivers, reaching an altitude of 1,200 m, and consisting largely of
tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...
. The landscape is rugged, with steep-sided valleys, many streams and waterfalls, and small perched floodplains. Potential threats to the environment are
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
,
invasive species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
and human
population growth
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
.
[ ]
Birds
Significant birds include
Melanesian scrubfowl The Melanesian scrubfowl or Melanesian megapode (''Megapodius eremita'') is a megapode species that is endemic to islands within Melanesia. The Melanesian scrubfowl has a unique strategy of egg incubation in which it relies on environmental heat sou ...
,
yellow-legged pigeon
The yellow-legged pigeon (''Columba pallidiceps'') is a bird species in the family Columbidae. It is found in the Bismarck and Solomon archipelagos. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropi ...
s,
crested cuckoo-dove
The crested cuckoo-dove (''Reinwardtoena crassirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tr ...
s,
red-knobbed and
chestnut-bellied imperial pigeon
The chestnut-bellied imperial pigeon (''Ducula brenchleyi'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the southern Solomon Islands.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or ...
s,
white-headed fruit dove
The white-headed fruit dove (''Ptilinopus eugeniae'') is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae. It was described by the English ornithologist John Gould in 1856, and the specific name ''eugeniae'' honours the French empress Eugén ...
s,
Makira boobook
The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Islands. It is third most populous island after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 202 ...
s,
pied goshawk
The pied goshawk (''Accipiter albogularis'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is found on Bougainville Island and the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropi ...
s,
Sanford's sea eagle
Sanford's sea eagle (''Haliaeetus sanfordi''), also known as Sanford's fish eagle or the Solomon eagle, is a sea eagle endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago.
Taxonomy
Sanford's sea eagle was discovered by and named after Dr Leonard C. Sanf ...
s,
San Cristobal dwarf kingfishers,
Meek's and
duchess lorikeet
The duchess lorikeet (''Charmosynoides margarethae'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Charmosynoides''. It is found throughout the Solomon Islands archipelago. Its natural habitats ...
s,
yellow-bibbed lories,
green pygmy-parrots,
Makira honeyeaters,
sooty myzomelas,
long-tailed triller
The long-tailed triller (''Lalage leucopyga'') is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is found in New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The Norfolk Island subspecies of the long-tailed triller, the Norfolk triller, has becom ...
s,
dusky fantails,
Makira flycatchers,
white-collared and
Makira monarchs,
island leaf-warblers,
shade bush warblers,
grey-throated white-eyes,
Makira starlings,
Makira thrush
The Makira thrush (''Zoothera margaretae''), also known as the San Cristobal thrush, is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is t ...
es and
mottled flowerpecker
The mottled flowerpecker or white-mottled flowerpecker (''Dicaeum tristrami'') is a species of bird in the family Dicaeidae. It is endemic to Makira in the Solomon Islands. It inhabits primary forest and secondary growth, most commonly in the mou ...
s. The
Makira woodhen
The Makira woodhen (''Gallinula silvestris''), also known as the Makira moorhen, is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtr ...
, or moorhen, has not been seen since 1953; the
thick-billed ground dove has not been recorded since 1927 and is presumed extinct.
[
]
Other biota
Five species of restricted-range bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...
s have been recorded, as well as a possibly new species of giant rat (''Solomys
''Solomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae. These large rats, which are all seriously threatened (one already extinct), are native to the Solomon Islands.
It contains the following species:
* Poncelet's giant rat (''Solomys poncelet ...
''). There are two species of endemic fig (''Ficus
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending in ...
'').[
]
Notable people
* Doreen Kuper - former Honorary Consul to New Zealand.
Gallery
File:Kirakira Local Dwellings.JPG, Some of the local houses next to the beach at Kirakira
Kirakira is the provincial capital of the Makira-Ulawa Province in Solomon Islands. Kirakira is located on the north coast of Makira (formerly San Cristobal), the largest island of the province. It has roads running east to the ...
File:Kirakira Beach at Sunset.JPG, A kirakira beach at sunset
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Islands of the Solomon Islands
Important Bird Areas of the Solomon Islands