1A country consisting of a group of islands in the south-western Pacific, to the east of New Guinea; population 584,000 (estimated 2015); languages, English (official), Pidgin, local Austronesian and Papuan languages; capital, Honiara.

The islands were divided between Britain and Germany in the late 19th century; the southern islands became a British protectorate in 1893 while the north remained German until mandated to Australia in 1920. With the exception of the northern part of the chain (now part of Papua New Guinea), the Solomons became self-governing in 1976 and fully independent within the Commonwealth two years later

2A large archipelago in the south-western Pacific comprising a double chain of islands, of which those in the north-west form part of Papua New Guinea, the rest constituting the country of the Solomon Islands.