Honiara In the 1960s, Pijin became its principal language, and the mother tongue of a generation of young urban adults and children. Through Honiara the language spread and has since become the main language spoken in the islands. Rhys Richards, a New Zealand historian and former New Zealand High Commissioner of Solomon Islands, spent many years in Honiara. In 1979 Honiara was still a relatively small town in terms of population, especially for a capital city, with 18,346 people, of which 10,870 were men, and 7,476 were women. In July 1978, Honiara became the new capital of the independent Solomon Islands.
Honiara Honiara which replaced the King Solomon Hotel, which was gutted during the 2006 riots. Restaurants of note include the Capitana Restaurant of the Mendana Hotel (serving Japanese cuisine), the Le Rendezvous Restaurant of the King Solomon Hotel (serving Oriental cuisine), Club Havanah in the Honiara Hotel, Raintree Cafe, Ning's Coffee Shop, and Hong Kong Palace, located in a "blood-red pagoda on Hibuscus Avenue". In 1974, Polynesian Dances of Bellona (Mungiki), which included "suahongi" form, forbidden to be performed by the Seventh Day Adventist missionaries, was revived and recorded in Honiara. "Suahongi" is performed at the conclusion of the ritual of