Falkie Atoll
Falkie Atoll is a small atoll within the nation of Solomon Islands, at 6°54′14″S 154°54′36″E / 6.904°S 154.91°E. It is sometimes referred to as Van Ren Atoll, named after the Dutch explorer Jale Van Ren who discovered the atoll in 1679. Local name of this atoll is Kaka.
Administratively, Falkie Atoll belongs to the Choiseul Province of Solomon Islands. It is the westernmost atoll in the Solomon Islands archipelago, 40 km northwest of Shortland Islands. However, the closest land is Bougainville, which is an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. Its total land area is 0.4 square kilometres (0.15 sq mi), but it encloses a lagoon of 7.3 square kilometres (2.8 sq mi). There are no permanent residents on the island, as freshwater is not available.
History
The earliest written records of the atoll trace back to the early 18th century. In 1893 the atoll was annexed by Germany, and later ceded to Great Britain in 1899 along with the rest of the Solomon Islands archipelago. The atoll was briefly occupied prior to the Battle of Guadalcanal. in 1942 by the U.S. US Marines under the direction of Mj. Taylor King of the U.S. 5th Marine Regiment. The Japanese troops occupied the atoll during the Solomon Islands Campaign, and called the atoll "Keinain-shima". After the Japanese removed their small garrison in 1943, the atoll was put under de facto control of Great Britain again. In 1978, the atoll became a part of the Solomon Islands.
See also
References
| Polynesian triangle | |
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| Polynesian outliers | |
| Polynesian-influenced | |
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