Guadalcanal in Andalusia. In the years that followed the discovery, the island was variously referred to as Guadarcana, Guarcana, Guadalcana, and Guadalcanar, which reflected different pronunciations of its name in Andalusian Spanish. European settlers and missionaries began to arrive in the 18th and 19th centuries, and in the year 1893, the British Solomon Islands Protectorate was proclaimed which included the island of Guadalcanal. In 1932, the British confirmed the name Guadalcanal in line with the town in Andalusia, Spain. In the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese drove the Americans out of the Philippines, the
Malaita 23 miles (37 km) wide at its widest point. Its length is in a north-northwest-to-south-southeast direction, but local custom and official use generally rotate it to straight north-south orientation, and generally refer to the "east coast" or "northern end," when northeast or northwest would be more accurate. To the southwest is the Indispensable Strait, which separates it from Guadalcanal and the Florida Islands. To the northeast and east is open Pacific Ocean, except for the small Sikaiana, part of the province 212 km northeast. To the northwest of the island is Santa Isabel Island. To the immediate southwest is South