North Solomon Islands between Bougainville (an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea) and the sovereign state of Solomon Islands, which is the successor state to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate renamed in 1975 prior to achieving independence in 1976. On 17 February 1568, the archipelago was discovered by Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendaña y Neyra, who named its "Islas de Salomon". In April 1885 a German protectorate ("Schutzgebiet") was declared over the northern Solomon Islands: Bougainville, Buka, Choiseul, Santa Isabel and Ontong Java. In 1893 the British declared a protectorate over the southern Solomon Islands of New Georgia, Guadalcanal, Malaita and San Cristobal,
Malaita 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.