Malaulalo is an uninhabited
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
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 the central one of the
Olu Malau (Three Sisters) Islands located in
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 Cristo ...
. It has an area of 3.34 km
2.
The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Malaulalo was by the Spanish expedition of
Álvaro de Mendaña in May 1568. More precisely the sighting of Malaulalo 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 Énriquez and having Hernán Gallego as pilot. They charted the three Olu Malau islands as ''Las Tres Marias'' (
The Three Marys
The Three Marys (also spelled Maries) are women mentioned in the canonical gospels' narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, several of whom were, or have been considered by Christian tradition, to have been named Mary (the most co ...
in Spanish).
[Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.133.]
See also
*
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plane ...
References
Islands of the Solomon Islands
Uninhabited islands of the Solomon Islands
{{SolomonIslands-geo-stub