Who named the Solomon islands?

Answer 1

According to the book by Colin Jack Hilton: 'The Search for the Solomon Islands 1567-1838' (Clarendon press 1969), The title Solomon Islands became popular after the first Imperial Spanish mission which 'discovered' a number of the islands in 1568. On setting out, the ships captain, Alvaro De Mendana, believed that this area of the South pacific 'contained a vast Austral Continent, the Ophir of King Solomon' as reported by Marco Polo; the islands were also thought to have been known to the Inca's (pg. xv introduction). Scholars had long pondered the whereabouts of the Ophir of Solomon- the place from which the Biblical King is said to have imported the gold to build his temple in Jerusalem. The only clue to its whereabouts was a passage from the Third Book of Kings, quoted- in full- on page 13 of Hilton's text: 'And King Solomon made a Navy of ships....on the shore of the red sea ...and Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.' Hilton goes on: ' It was perhaps almost inevitable that Ophir, an unknown and uncertain place, should have become identifed in men's minds with Kyryse, Argyre and the Golden Khersonese of Ptolemy, the lands described by Marco Polo and the antipodean continent, for so extreme does their concept of the wealth of Ophir seem to have been, that, as geographical knowledge extended eastwards and westwards without Ophir being recognized, its supposed position moved with that knowledge, always a little ahead of the latest discovery.' (13) It goes without saying that the Spaniards did search for gold during their exploration of islands upon this first mission but somewhat fruitlessly! It is worth noting that the Solomon Islands then remained 'undiscovered' and somewhat mythical, for another two hundred years before traders and colonialists returned.

Answer 2

According to Samoan legend, Saleavao the God of the rocks observed motion in the MOA or centre of the Earth a child was born and named MOA. Salevao then provided water for washing the child and made it SA or sacred to MOA hence the rocks and the earth were called "Sa ia Moa" or as we call it now, Samoa.

Answer 3

A spanish explorer