The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Islands. It is third most populous island after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 2020. The island is located east of Guadalcanal and south of Malaita. The largest and capital city is Kirakira.

Makira

Makira and nearby islands
Location of Makira in Solomon Islands
Geography
Location	Solomon Islands
Coordinates	10°33′04″S 161°49′41″E
Area	3,190 km2 (1,230 sq mi)
Highest elevation	4,101 ft (1250 m)
Highest point	Unnamed Point
Administration
Solomon Islands
Province	Makira-Ulawa Province
Largest settlement	Kirakira
Demographics
Population	55,126 (2020)

History

The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Makira was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña in June 1568. More precisely the sighting and also landing in San Cristobal was due to a local voyage that set out from Guadalcanal in a small boat, in the accounts the brigantine Santiago, commanded by Alférez Hernando Enriquez and having Hernán Gallego as pilot. They charted it as San Cristóbal.[1][2]

Education

The Stuyvenberg Rural Training Centre is a rural boarding centre of vocational education by the Society of Mary, located on the north coast of eastern Makira.[3]

Environment

A 182,550 ha tract of largely forested land encompassing the eastern part of the island has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports populations of several threatened or endemic bird species. The site extends from the rocky cliffs of the coast to the island's central Bauro Highlands, including the catchments of the Warihito and Raro Rivers, reaching an altitude of 1,200 m, and consisting largely of tropical rainforest. The landscape is rugged, with steep-sided valleys, many streams and waterfalls, and small perched floodplains. Potential threats to the environment are logging, invasive species and human population growth.[4]

Birds

Significant birds include Melanesian scrubfowl, yellow-legged pigeons, crested cuckoo-doves, red-knobbed and chestnut-bellied imperial pigeons, white-headed fruit doves, Makira boobooks, pied goshawks, Sanford's sea eagles, San Cristobal dwarf kingfishers, Meek's and duchess lorikeets, yellow-bibbed lories, green pygmy-parrots, Makira honeyeaters, sooty myzomelas, long-tailed trillers, dusky fantails, Makira flycatchers, white-collared and Makira monarchs, island leaf-warblers, shade bush warblers, grey-throated white-eyes, Makira starlings, Makira thrushes and mottled flowerpeckers. The Makira woodhen, or moorhen, has not been seen since 1953; the thick-billed ground dove has not been recorded since 1927 and is presumed extinct.[4]

Other biota

Five species of restricted-range bats have been recorded, as well as a possibly new species of giant rat (Solomys). There are two species of endemic fig (Ficus).[4]

Notable people

• Doreen Kuper - former Honorary Consul to New Zealand.

Gallery

• 
  Some of the local houses next to the beach at Kirakira
• 
  A kirakira beach at sunset

References

External links

• Media related to Makira at Wikimedia Commons

На других языках

[de] Makira

[es] Makira

[fr] San Cristobal Island

[it] Makira

[ru] Сан-Кристобаль (остров, Соломоновы Острова)