Guadalcanal

On Nov. 12, 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. The Americans eventually won a major victory over the Japanese.
瓜達康納爾島（英語：Guadalcanal），簡稱瓜島，位於西南太平洋，是太平洋西部一系列火山島嶼之一，也是索羅門群島中最大的一個島，該國首都荷尼阿拉即位於本島北部海岸。經濟上主要倚賴漁業和農業，1990年起開始有金礦的開採。瓜達康納爾島面積5,302平方公里（2,047平方哩），人口109,382（1999年數據）。該島於1788年被發現，1893年成為英國保護領地，在第二次世界大戰期間曾被日軍佔領。1942年8月美軍進攻該島，經過激烈的叢林戰之後，盟軍於1943年2月佔領該島。

Guadalcanal (Isatabu) is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568. The name comes from Guadalcanal, a village 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 bitter fighting between Japanese and Americans in which the latter were victorious.

At the end of the war, Honiara, on the north coast of Guadalcanal, became the new capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Guadalcanal is mainly covered in tropical rainforest and jungle, and it has a mountainous interior with an active volcano, Mount Popomanaseu. The population in 1998 was around 85,000.^[2]

Guadalcanal's position (inset) and main towns. Geography