Guadalcanal Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (indigenous name: "Isatabu") is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of the nation of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. The island is mainly covered in dense tropical rainforest and has a mountainous interior. Guadalcanal's discovery by westerners was under the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña in 1568. The name comes from the village of Guadalcanal, in the province of Seville, in Andalusia, Spain, birthplace of Pedro de Ortega Valencia, a member of Mendaña's expedition. During 1942–43, it was the scene of the Guadalcanal Campaign and saw bitter fighting between Japanese and US
Malaita for the morning. Tropical cyclones are the only violent weather, but they can be destructive. Like the other islands in the archipelago, Malaita is near the Andesite line and thus forms part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Earthquakes are common on the island, but there is little evidence of current volcanic activity. The main structural feature of Malaita is the central ridge which runs along the length of the island, with flanking ridges and a few outlying hills. There is a central hilly country, between Auki and the Kwai Harbor, which separates the central ridge into northern and southern