In 1793 Bellona Island was named after a passing British ship, the Bellona. Rennell Island was named after Lord Rennell, president of the Royal Geographical Society in London. In 1799 according to a chart both islands were named Bellonas Island. In 1816 the islands were referred to as Rennell’s Isles. The names the islanders used for self-reference are Mungiki (Bellona) and Mugaba (Rennell). The meanings of those names are unknown. Younger people...
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In 1793 Bellona Island was named after a passing British ship, the Bellona. Rennell Island was named after Lord Rennell, president of the Royal Geographical Society in London. In 1799 according to a chart both islands were named Bellonas Island. In 1816 the islands were referred to as Rennell’s Isles. The names the islanders used for self-reference are Mungiki (Bellona) and Mugaba (Rennell). The meanings of those names are unknown. Younger people on both islands sometimes use the name Avaiki for both islands. According to oral traditions, the islands were originally inhabited by a people of another culture before the ancestors of present-day Polynesians arrived in canoes from their homeland, ‘Ubea ngango (probably West Uvea in the Loyalty Islands, Overseas French Territories). On their voyage, they arrived at ‘Ubea matangi (probably East Uvea Wallis Island, Overseas French Territories), and finally reached Bellona, where they found people, the Hiti, living in caves at the ocean sides...
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