The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province 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

and south of

. The largest and capital city is Kirakira.

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

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 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 The Stuyvenberg Rural Training Centre (abbreviated "Stuyvenberg RTC") is a rural boarding centre of vocational education by the Society of Mary, located on the north coast of eastern Makira in Solomon Islands. It aims to provide skills to stand ...

is a rural

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

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 ...

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-doves, 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 ...

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 ...

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 2020. ...

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 ...

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-parrot Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combina ...

Makira honeyeater The Makira honeyeater (''Meliarchus sclateri''), also known as the San Cristobal honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Makira The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the ...

sooty myzomela The sooty myzomela (''Myzomela tristrami'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Makira The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the S ...

s, long-tailed trillers, dusky fantails,

Makira flycatcher The Makira flycatcher (''Myiagra cervinicauda'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habita ...

s, white-collared and Makira monarchs,

island leaf-warbler The island leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus poliocephalus'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. It is found in an area ranging from the Moluccas to the Solomon Islands. It has 16 subspecies. References island leaf war ...

s, shade bush warblers,

grey-throated white-eye The grey-throated white-eye (''Zosterops rendovae'') is a species of bird. Its family, the Zosteropidae, is probably not valid and belongs in the Timaliidae instead. It is also known as ''Zosterops ugiensis'' because ''Z. rendovae'' has often be ...

s, 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 The thick-billed ground dove (''Pampusana salamonis'') is an extinct dove species of the family Columbidae. Description This poorly known species is only known from two specimens from 1882 and 1927. The holotype from 1882 can be seen in the Aust ...

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 Doreen Kuper is an entrepreneur and cultural mediator from the Solomon Islands. She is a former Honorary Consul of Solomon Islands to New Zealand and a former Chair of the Festival of Pacific Arts. Biography Educated at the Melanesian Mission' ...

- former Honorary Consul to New Zealand.

Gallery

File:Kirakira Local Dwellings.JPG, Some of the local houses next to the beach at Kirakira 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