Salomon Islands - History

History

This atoll was settled in the last half of the 18th century by coconut plantation workers from Isle de France (now Mauritius). Little is known about the condition of the workers who were mostly of African origin. Most probably they lived in conditions close to slavery. The company exploiting the plantation was called the Chagos Agalega Company.

The Salomon Islands were surveyed in 1837 by Commander Robert Moresby of the Indian Navy on the HMS Benares. Moresby's survey produced the first detailed map of this atoll. The atoll was surveyed again in 1905 by Commander B.T. Sommerville on the HMS Sealark, who drew a more accurate map. Some of the Salomon Islands were inhabited by the Chagossians, but at the time that the British Government decided to empty the Chagos of local inhabitants only Île Boddam was inhabited.

The inhabitants of the Salomon Islands, numbering about 400, were forcefully evicted by the British and resettled in Mauritius. Île Boddam had a jetty, shops, offices, a school, a church and a villa where the plantation manager lived. All these buildings are now hidden by thick jungle. There are wells in Boddam and Takamaka islands. It is possible to collect water by yachtsmen in order to replenish their supplies.