Honiara - History

History

The name Honiara derives from nagho ni ara which roughly translates as "place of the east wind" or "facing the southeast wind" in one of the Guadalcanal languages. The town has not been extensively documented and little detailed material exists on the town.

What is now Honiara was close to the site of the Guadalcanal Campaign in World War II. The Battle of Henderson Field was held in what is now the airport area in 1942. The battle was the last of the three major land offensives conducted by the Japanese during the Guadalcanal campaign. In the battle, U.S. Marine and Army forces, under the overall command of Major General Alexander Vandegrift, repulsed an attack by the Japanese 17th Army, under the command of Japanese Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake. The U.S. forces were defending the Lunga River perimeter, which guarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, that had been captured from the Japanese by the Allies in landings on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. Hyakutake's force was sent to Guadalcanal in response to the Allied landings with the mission of recapturing the airfield and driving the Allied forces off of the island. The Japanese initially landed with 3,500 troops but it soon grew to over 20,000 personnel in total, roughly equal with America's 23,000; both sides had about 13,000 troops.

From the top of the Mount Austin at 410 m elevation panoramic views of the north coastal plains and also Savo and Florida islands, and the battle fields of WWII can be seen. Japanese had held this hill top in the second half of 1942 and showered artillery fire on American troops at the Henderson airport located below the hill. Eventually the hill was captured but the Japanese held on to the ridges like the Gifu, Sea Horse, and Galloping horse for about a month. Most of the Japanese died out of starvation, banzai assaults or direct killing.

Hyakutake's soldiers conducted numerous assaults over three days at various locations around the Lunga perimeter. Along the Matanikau River, the principal river flowing through what is now central Honiara, tanks attacked in pairs across the sandbar at the mouth of the river behind a barrage of artillery. Marine 37 mm (1.46 in) anti-tank guns and artillery quickly destroyed all nine tanks. At the same time, four battalions of Marine artillery, totaling 40 howitzers, fired over 6,000 rounds into the area between Point Cruz and the Matanikau, causing heavy casualties in Nomasu Nakaguma's infantry battalions as they tried to approach the Marine lines. Both sides incurred heavy losses during the events of the overall battle, especially the Japanese attackers. After an attempt to deliver further reinforcements failed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942, Japan conceded defeat in the struggle for the island and evacuated many of its remaining forces by the first week of February 1943. The Quanset house built by the Americans can still be seen in the back lanes of the town and numerous memorials give testament to the war, today.

Honiara officially became the capital of the British Protectorate of the Solomon Islands in 1952. The infrastructure had been fairly well developed by the US during the war which dictated the decision of the British Government to shift the capital to Honiara. Government buildings opened in Honiara from early January in 1952. Sir Robert Stanley was based at Honiara during his time as High Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands, the Condominium of New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. Macu Salato arrived in Honiara in early August 1954 and was based in the town, conducting surveys all across the islands and investigating leprosy. He departed and returned to Fiji in late March 1955.

The town grew significantly after Honiara became the capital city, receiving 2/3 of the investment into economic development in the country in the 1960s and 1970s which developed the infrastructure of Honiara. However, population growth was very slow and only about 5% of Solomon Islanders were living in the city. However, the Bellonese population significantly increased; they established permanent and semi-permanent houses in the Honiara vicinity, typically along the banks of the White River. The town was affected by creolization. In the 1960s, Pijin became the principal language of the city, and the mother tongue of a generation of young urban adults and children. Through Honiara the language spread and has since become the main language spoken in the islands.

Rhys Richards, a New Zealand historian and former New Zealand High Commissioner of the Solomon Islands spent many years in Honiara. In 1979 Honiara was still a relatively small town in terms of population, especially for a capital city, with 18,346 people, of which 10,870 were men, and 7,476 were women. In July 1978, Honiara became the new capital of the independent Solomon Islands.)

The International Express Mail Agreement and regulations were signed between the United States and Solomon Islands governments in Honiara and Washington, D.C. on 19 and 27 April June 1991, which came into effect on 1 August 1991. On 6 November 1998, a peace agreement was signed in Honiara between the United States and Solomon Islands governments. However, since the late 1990s, Honiara has been the center of ethnic violence and political unrest in the country. Tension has resulted in numerous outbursts of violence and crime in and around the capital of Honiara. A coup attempt occurred in June 2000 which resulted in violent rebellions and fighting between the ethnic Malaitans of the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) and the Guadalcanal natives of the Istabu Freedom Movement (IFM). Violence was prevalent in the streets of Honiara, and although a peace agreement was made in October 2000, violence ensued in March 2002 when two diplomats from New Zealand and numerous others were murdered. Conditions became so bad in Honiara that in July 2003 Australian military and police units moved in the country to suppress the shenanigans and increase security and rebuild the damaged city and its shattered economic, political and legal institutions. The area around the Honiara was the battle ground of rival factions during the unrest that prevailed between 1988 and 2003, because of the dominance of more aggressive Malaitans who were outsiders and the local mild Guadalcanal islanders; in fact the island nation had become bankrupt and Australia intervened to save the situation with 16 Pacific Forum Countries support.

In 2006, riots broke out following the election of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister, destroying part of Chinatown and displacing more than 1000 Chinese residents; the large Pacific Casino Hotel was also totally gutted. The commercial heart of Honiara was virtually reduced to rubble and ashes, devastating the town. Three National Parliament members, Charles Dausabea, Nelson Ne'e, and Patrick Vahoe, were arrested during or as a result of the riots. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)( the16-country Pacific Islands Forum initiative set up in 2003 with assistance from Australia), intervened additional police and army, and brought the situation under control. A vote of no confidence was passed against the Prime minister and after his resignation a five-party Grand Coalition for Change Government was formed in May 2006 with Manasseh Sogavare as Prime Minister to quell the riots and run the government. Following this, the army part of RAMSI was removed and rebuilding took shape.