Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands constitute an independent country in the South Pacific north of Australia and east of Papua New Guinea. Most of the indigenous Melanesian people living there profess Anglican or Roman Catholic Christianity. Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to set foot on the Solomon Islands. In November 1567, Alavaro de Mendaña departed from Callao, Peru, to search for the storied land of Solomon's gold. What Mendaña found instead were countless islands throughout the South Pacific. He landed on a cluster of islands in February of 1568, naming them Las Islas de Solomon, and taking formal possession of the archipelago in the name of Spain. The Spanish theologian José de Acosta commented on the inhabitants of the Solomon Islands in his 1588 missionary manual titled De Procuranda Indorum Salute. Although the comment was brief, Acosta hinted that the conversion of the indigenous peoples of the islands would occur quickly given their [Page 1195]inherent docility. Acosta essentially believed that the indigenous people of the Solomon Islands had no religion that would act as a hindrance to the establishment of Catholicism.

Mendaña attempted to establish a colony in 1595 to 1596. It quickly collapsed. The Spaniards discovered that the natives practiced head hunting, cannibalism, and ritual warfare. The people of the Solomon Islands practiced ancestor worship, believed in numerous deities, and maintained small statues depicting deceased loved ones, deities, and protector spirits. There was another attempt at colonization in the early 1600s, but it failed as well. There were no large-scale missionary attempts to convert the indigenous populations to Catholicism. The Catholic priests who arrived with the colony were tasked with serving Spanish colonists. In contrast to what Acosta believed, the indigenous people of the Solomon Islands were not docile. The natives eventually repelled the invaders from their islands.

During the period of Spain's domination of the Pacific, there was talk of colonizing the Solomon Islands and systematically converting the indigenous population. However, the lack of funds, constant warfare in Europe, and a scarcity of missionary personnel limited Spanish goals in the region. The Solomon Islands would not be desired by another European kingdom until 1767. After the decline of Spanish power in the Pacific in the 19th century, British Protestant missionaries became the dominant religious forces.

The British took official possession of the islands in the 1890s, though Germany would lay claim to some. Western missionaries, most of whom belonged to the Anglican and Catholic churches, converted most of the indigenous population to Christianity. This was interrupted, however, during the Japanese occupation in World War II. The Japanese Catholic Church made no attempts to evangelize the Solomon Islands. In 1978, the Solomon Islands gained independence. Today, more than 90% of the population are Christian: Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, and Methodist.