The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain. The Santa Cruz Islands lie just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu, and are considered part of the Vanuatu rain forests ecoregion. Temotu Province is one of the provinces of the Solomon Islands. ... The Vanuatu rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion that includes the islands of Vanuatu, as well as the Santa Cruz Islands group of the neighboring Solomon Islands. ...

The largest island in the group is Nendo (505.5 km², highest point 549 m, population over 5000), followed by Vanikolo Island (173.2 km², population 800, which is actually two islands, Banie and its small neighbor Tevai) and Utupua (69.0 km², highest point 380 m, population 300). Lata, located on Nendo, is the largest town, and the capital of Temotu province. Map of Nendo (modified from a screenshot of a map from MSMappoint) Nendo is the largest, and most important of the Santa Cruz Islands, located in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. ... Vanikolo Islands (also known as Vanikoro Islands) is an island group in the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands. ... Lata is the provincial capital of Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. ... Temotu is the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands. ...

The Santa Cruz Islands are less than five million years old, and were pushed upward by the tectonic subduction of the northward-moving Indo-Australian Plate under the Pacific Plate. The islands are mostly composed of limestone and volcanic ash over limestone. The highest point in the Santa Cruz Islands is on Vanikoro, 924 m. The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... The Juan de Fuca plate sinks below the North America plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. ...  The Indo-Australian plate, shown in dull orange The Indo-Australian Plate is an overarching name for two tectonic plates that include the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean extending northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters. ...  The Pacific plate, shown in pale yellow The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean. ... For other uses, see Limestone (disambiguation). ...

The term Santa Cruz Islands is sometimes used to encompass all of the islands of the present-day Solomon Islands province of Temotu. Temotu is the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands. ...

The islands were visited by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira on his second Pacific expedition in 1595. Mendaña died on the island of Nendo, which he had named Santa Cruz, in 1596. Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira. ... Map of Nendo (modified from a screenshot of a map from MSMappoint) Nendo is the largest, and most important of the Santa Cruz Islands, located in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. ...

During World War II, the Islands were considered uninhabitable. Engineers sent to survey sites for air strips were nearly wiped out by cerebral malaria.^{[citation needed]} Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Celebral malaria (plasmodium falciparum) is a disease which may be contracted after being bitten by the only other host for malaria, the female of a specific species of mosquito. ...

Bibliography

• Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands, by W.C. O'Ferrall—1908 account with many illustrations by missionary in Santa Cruz from 1897-1904.

See also

American Caesar Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964, by William Manchester p.320

• Melanesia
• Oceania
• Papuan languages
• Pacific Islands

Coordinates: 11°00′S, 166°15′E Map showing Melanesia. ... For other uses, see Oceania (disambiguation). ... The term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. ... →this is tuff i mean kyle carters tuff Tuamotu, French Polynesia The Pacific Ocean contains an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 islands; the exact number has not been precisely determined. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...