Guadalcanal (local name Isatabu) is a 2,510-square mile (6,500-km²) island in the Pacific Ocean and a province of the Solomon Islands. The World War II Guadalcanal Campaign took place on and around the island. It is mainly jungle, contains the national capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, and has a population of 109,382 (1999).
A Spanish expedition from Peru under Álvaro de Mendaña charted the island in 1568. It was named by Mendaña's subordi...
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Guadalcanal (local name Isatabu) is a 2,510-square mile (6,500-km²) island in the Pacific Ocean and a province of the Solomon Islands. The World War II Guadalcanal Campaign took place on and around the island. It is mainly jungle, contains the national capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, and has a population of 109,382 (1999).
A Spanish expedition from Peru under Álvaro de Mendaña charted the island in 1568. It was named by Mendaña's subordinate Pedro de Ortega after his home town in Andalusia, Guadalcanal. However, he did not spell the name consistently (using variously Guadarcana, Guarcana, and Guadalcana), and the island subsequently became known as Guadalcanar. Guadalcanal is one of the group of islands that became the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in the 1890's. In 1932, the British changed the spelling to Guadalcanal. 'Guadalcanal' is the Hispano-Arabic name of a town in Seville. The name comes from Arabic Wādî al-Khānāt, meaning "Valley of the Stalls", from...
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