guadalcanal

[Tjalfdyed]

a battle in World War II in the Pacific (1942-1943); the island was occupied by the Japanese and later recaptured by American forces

[Renato]

Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: Isatabu) is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the second by population (after Malaita). The island is mainly covered in dense tropical rainforest and has a mountainous hinterland.

Guadalcanals first charting 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 Mendañas expedition.
During 1942–43, it was the scene of the Guadalcanal Campaign and saw bitter fighting between Japanese and US troops. The Americans were ultimately victorious. At the end of World War II, Honiara, on the north coast of Guadalcanal, became the new capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.

[MichaellaHaw]

a mountainous island; the largest of the Solomon Islands in the independent state that is a member of the British Commonwealth

[Quadirdith 0]

a volcanic island in the Pacific, part of the Solomon Islands