The Melanesians have been living in the Solomon Islands for as early as 3,000 years ago. In the 16th century, Spanish navigators discovered the archipelago and named the archipelago after the captain. Later, Solomon was successively colonized and invaded by Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan, and its total land area was comparable to that of Beijing on the mainland.
1. The "lucky island" in the Pacific Ocean
Solomon Islands is located on the Pacific Rim seismic zone and has many volcanoes. However, compared with other island countries in the Pacific, Solomon has few natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, so it is densely populated and known as "the country favored by Lady Luck".
2. The region with the most rapid destruction of the natural environment in the world
Solomon Islands is rich in mineral resources, and nearly ninety percent of the country's land was once covered by forests. Due to its backing, timber exports have become the country's main source of economy.
With decades of overexploitation by the Solomon people, Solomon's forestry resources have been severely damaged. In 2017, international environmental groups rated it as one of the countries with the most damaged natural resources.
3. Strive to stir up infighting among neighboring countries
Due to territorial disputes with neighboring Papua New Guinea, Solomon has been gathering neighboring island countries for many years to "sanction" him. What is more, they directly take in the rebels in Papua New Guinea and openly support them.
4. Most of the factories are Australian enterprises
With a population of just 700,000, Solomon is one of the poorest countries in the world. The country's main economic pillar is Australian-founded timber mills, which are mostly engaged in the industry.
By 1989, there were more than 90 lumber mills, with more than 60 owners from Australia and seven from Guangdong, China.
5. Its coin exchange rate is comparable to that of RMB
Solomon's legal tender is the Solomon Islands dollar, one of the lowest legal tenders in the world, comparable to the mainland renminbi exchange rate, and their per capita monthly income is only about 1,000 yuan.
6. A scattered plate of Solomon Islands
Solomon, which is the size of the mainland city of Beijing, has more than 70 ethnic languages. As a result, their people are extremely disunited, their tribal consciousness is too strong, and there are perennial riots.
7. Strange folklore
In the western part of the Solomon Islands there is a small island called "Tupa", where men have a peculiar folklore that "it is forbidden to touch one's own phallus", otherwise his wife will be unfaithful to him; There is also a saying that touching it will make you short-lived.
8. The name of the country originated in the "Bible"
In the sixteenth century, Spanish navigators arrived here with a team, saw that most of the local natives were wearing gold ornaments, and thought that they had found the treasure of King Solomon in the "Bible", so they named it "Solomon Islands" and inherited it.
9. Africans in the Pacific
The people of the Solomon Islands are mostly dark and are basically Melanesian. It is said that their ancestors migrated from South Asia more than 5,000 years ago. To this day, many people still keep drilling wood for fire, and wear ornaments such as nose rings and collars.
10. 30,000 US troops were buried here
During World War II, Japanese forces occupied the Solomon Islands and killed their inhabitants. At the end of 1942, the U.S. Marines and the Japanese fought here, killing more than 50,000 people on both sides, the heaviest battle between the United States and Japan.
11. Solomon's pig culture
Solomon was a country with more women than men, women were mainly responsible for raising pigs, and pigs themselves were wealth, and many men recruited wives and concubines to raise pigs in order to improve their status.
12. One of the countries with the highest illiteracy rate
Solomon Islands is illiterate in 60 per cent of the population, and there are fewer than 50 schools at all levels in the country, making it one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. The people here have little culture, and many of them are still stuck in the age of finger marriage.