Choiseul Province for the island are Choiseul and Lauru. San Marcos is not commonly used at this present day. Choiseul Province was initially not part of the British Solomon Islands. Like Buka, Bougainville (both now part of Papua New Guinea's North Solomons Province), Santa Isabel, and the Ontong Islands, it was part of the German Solomon Islands in 1884. Fifteen years later, in 1899, Germany ceded Choiseul, Isabel and Ontong Java to the British to become part of the British Solomon Islands. In 1900, Charles Woodford, the Resident Commissioner for the Solomon Islands sailed to Choiseul via Isabel on a ship named
Malaita that vivax malaria is endemic. Malaitans once believed in anthropoid apes that lived in the center of the island, which are said to be tall and come in troops to raid banana plantations. According to Malaitian oral history, a Polynesian woman named Barafaifu introduced dolphin drive hunting from Ontong Java Atoll; she settled in Fanalei village in South Malaita as it was the place for hunting. Dolphin hunting ceased in the mid-19th century, possibly because of the influence of Christian missionaries. However, in 1948 it was revived at settlements on several islands, including Fanalei, Walande (10 km to the north),