Map of Santa Isabel, neighboring islands, and towns and villages |
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| Geography | |
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| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Archipelago | Solomon Islands |
| Area | 2,999 km2 (1,157.9 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 1,220 m (4,000 ft) [1] |
| Highest point | Mount Sasari |
| Country | |
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Solomon Islands
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| Province | Isabel Province |
| Largest city | Buala |
Santa Isabel Island is the longest in the Solomon Islands, South Pacific, and the largest in the group of islands in Isabel Province.
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Choiseul lies to the west, Malaita to the east. The Pacific Ocean lies to the north, and Guadalcanal (Isatabu) to the south.
The highest point in Santa Isabel is Mount Sasari, 1220 meters (3675 ft). River Marutho runs down that mountain into the ocean at Hofi. Almost all the rivers or streams run down that center point except for those at the other tip of the Island, Katova side.
The administrative centre is Buala, where the airport is as well. See List of airports in the Solomon Islands Another important village on the island is Samasodu.
The first European contact to the Solomon Islands was made here, by the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1568 where a settlement was established and a boat built to survey and chart the surrounding sea and islands. Very soon however the Spanish aroused the enmity of the islanders.
Having found no gold and little food, and beset by attacks and sickness, the Spanish colonists shifted their colony to the site of today's Honiara on Guadalcanal. Their colony, however, would die out.
Santa Isabel islanders suffered attacks from raiding headhunters in the nineteenth century. They embraced Christianity around the turn of the 20th century.
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