Malaita Island

Malaita

Malaita Island seen from space (false color)
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	9°01′03″S 160°57′14″E / 9.01750°S 160.95389°E / -9.01750; 160.95389Coordinates: 9°01′03″S 160°57′14″E / 9.01750°S 160.95389°E / -9.01750; 160.95389
Archipelago	Solomon Islands
Area	4,307 km2 (1,663 sq mi)
Highest elevation	1,435 m (4,708 ft)
Highest point	Mount Kalourat
Administration
Solomon Islands
Province	Malaita
Largest settlement	Auki
Demographics
Population	137,596
Pop. density	32.5 /km2 (84.2 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	See text

Malaita is the largest island of the Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. South Malaita Island, also known as Small Malaita and Maramasike for Areare speakers and Malamweimwei known to more than 80% of the islanders, is the island at the southern tip of the larger island of Malaita. A tropical and mountainous island, Malaita's pristine river systems and tropical forests have not been exploited. Malaita is the second most populous island ( after Guadalcanal ) of the Solomon Islands, with 140,000 people or more than a third of the entire national population. The largest city and provincial capital is Auki, on the northwest coast and is on the northern shore of the Langa Langa Lagoon. The people of the Langa Langa Lagoon and the Lau Lagoon on the northeast coast of Malaita call themselves wane i asi ‘salt-water people’ as distinct from wane i tolo ‘bush people’ who live in the interior of the island.

Most local names for the island are Mala, or its dialect variants Mara or Mwala. The name Malaita or Malayta appears in the logbook of the Spanish explorers who in the 16th century visited the islands, and claimed that to be the actual name. They first saw the island from Santa Isabel, where it is called Mala. One theory is that "ita" was added on, as the Bughotu word for up or east, or in this context "there." Bishop George Augustus Selwyn referred to it as Malanta in 1850. Mala was the name used under British control; now Malaita is used for official purposes. The name Big Malaita is also used to distinguish it from the smaller South Malaita Island.

Malaita is a thin island, about 102 miles (164 km) long and 23 miles (37 km) wide at its widest point. Its length is in a north-northwest-to-south-southeast direction, but local custom and official use generally rotate it to straight north-south orientation, and generally refer to the "east coast" or "northern end," when northeast or northwest would be more accurate. To the southwest is the Indispensable Strait, which separates it from Guadalcanal and the Florida Islands. To the northeast and east is open Pacific Ocean, except for the small Sikaiana, part of the province 212 km northeast. To the northwest of the island is Santa Isabel Island. To the immediate southwest is South Malaita Island (also called Small Malaita or Maramasike), separated by the narrow Maramasike Passage. Beyond that is Makira, the southernmost large island in the Solomon archipelago.