Ghizo Island


Ghizo Island, home to Gizo, the capital of the Western Province, Solomon Islands. The island is named after an infamous local head-hunter. It is located west of New Georgia and Kolombangara.
Ghizo is relatively small when compared to the surrounding islands, the island is long and wide, with a summit elevation of .
The Bilua language is spoken on Ghizo Island.

History

Ghizo is home to a substantial number of people of I-Kiribati descent. These people were relocated there by the British administration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in the 1950s. They had previously spent 20 years on the islands of Orona and Nikumaroro, having been resettled on these previously uninhabited islands in the Phoenix Group from various islands in the Gilberts archipelago in the 1930s. The original resettlement in the 1930s was on alleged grounds of overcrowding, particularly on drought prone islands in the southern Gilberts. The second resettlement was on alleged grounds of the islands in the Phoenix group having harsh living conditions and also prone to drought, although remoteness and costs falling on the colonial administration also played parts.