The Shortland Islands
are group of islands belonging to the Western Province
of the Solomon Islands. They lie in the extreme northwest
of the country's territory, close to the island of Bougainville,
Papua New Guinea. Germany claimed the islands until
1900. The Solomon Islands are believed to have been
inhabited by Melanesian people for thousands of years.
The islands' ocean-equatorial
climate is extremely humid throughout the year, with
a mean temperature of 27 °C (80 °F) and few
extremes of temperature or weather. June through August
is the cooler period. Though seasons are not pronounced,
the northwesterly winds of November through April bring
more frequent rainfall and occasional squalls or cyclones.
The annual rainfall is about 3050 mm (120 in).
The Solomon Islands archipelago
is part of two distinct terrestrial ecoregions. Most
of the islands are part of the Solomon Islands rain
forests ecoregion, which also includes the islands of
Bougainville and Buka, which are part of Papua New Guinea,
these forests have come under pressure from forestry
activities. The Santa Cruz Islands are part of the Vanuatu
rain forests ecoregion, together with the neighboring
archipelago of Vanuatu. Soil quality ranges from extremely
rich volcanic (there are volcanoes with varying degrees
of activity on some of the larger islands) to relatively
infertile limestone. More than 230 varieties of orchids
and other tropical flowers brighten the landscape.
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Related
links:
http://whc.unesco.org/
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