Sikaiana (formerly called the Stewart Islands) is a small

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

NE of Malaita in

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 ...

in the south

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. 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 In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

and longitude 8°25′0″S 162°52′0″E, over 200 kilometres (125 miles) 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 Tehaolei is an inhabited island of the Sikaiana atoll in the Malaita Province, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. Geography Tehaolei is one of four islands of Sikaiana, a remote tropical coral atoll. Tehaolei lies in the north-western end of t ...

(north),

Matuiloto Faore is an island of the Sikaiana atoll in the Malaita Province, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. The local name is Matuiloto. Geography Faore is one of four islands of Sikaiana, a remote tropical coral atoll Corals are marine invertebr ...

(west), and

Matuavi Matuavi (also Mutuavi) is an island of the Sikaiana atoll in the Malaita Province, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. Geography Matuavi is one of four islands of Sikaiana Sikaiana (formerly called the Stewart Islands) is a small atoll ...

(south). 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 Malaita Province is the most populous and one of the largest of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands. It is named after its largest island, Malaita (also known as "Big Malaita" or "Maramapaina"). Other islands include South Malaita Island (a ...

. Sikaiana's population is approximately 300 people of Polynesian descent—not of the

Melanesian Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to: * Melanesians * Melanesian mythology * Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...

descent prevalent in the main Solomon Islands. It is considered by

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

s to be a

Polynesian outlier Polynesian outliers are a number of culturally Polynesian societies that geographically lie outside the main region of Polynesian influence, known as the Polynesian Triangle; instead, Polynesian outliers are scattered in the two other Pacific s ...

. A 1998

GAO Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

report stated: In 1893, the United Kingdom established the

British Solomon Islands Protectorate The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of , declared the southern islands a British protectorate. Other islands were subsequently declared to form part o ...

over most of what is now Solomon Islands excluding Sikaiana. This was done to further British colonial interests in the region and to regulate the practice of ‘

blackbirding Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people in ...

’, the labour recruitment of Solomon Islanders to work on labour plantations in the then-colony of Queensland, later the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. On 21 June 1897 this protectorate was extended to include Sikaiana, Rennell, and Bellona Islands.National Archives Doc ref. DO 118/94 Description: BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS PROTECTORATE (STEWART ATOLL) Proclamation declaring a protectorate over Stewart Atoll Sikaiana In religious terms, Sikaiana is part of the

Anglican Church of Melanesia The Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACoM), also known as the Church of the Province of Melanesia and the Church of Melanesia (COM), is a church of the Anglican Communion and includes nine dioceses in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledoni ...

Diocese of Malaita The Diocese of Malaita is one of the nine current dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia. One of the four original ACOM dioceses, Malaita diocese was erected in January 1975; it is currently subdivided into six regions of 46 parishes. Malait ...

, and the majority of its inhabitants are Anglicans.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Sikaiana
1932 Anglican liturgical document in Sikaiana. *

External links