Kolombangara (sometimes spelled Kulambangara) is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the nation state of Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is "Water Lord" with approximately 80 rivers and streams running down its flanks.
Geography
Almost perfectly round in shape and about 30 km (19 miles) across, the island is a stratovolcano that reaches an elevation of 1,770 metres (5,807 ft) at Mount Veve. The island forms part of the southern boundary of the New Georgia Sound; to the northwest the Vella Gulf separates it from Vella Lavella and Gizo, while to the southeast New Georgia lies across the Kula Gulf. West-southwest of Kolombangara is Ghizo Island, upon which the Western provincial capital Gizo is located. The island is heavily forested, with few inhabitants. There are two notable settlements, Ringgi and Mongga, the former being the larger. The most significant industry on the island is logging, principally based at Poitete.
Led by Roger Green and Douglas Yen, the Southeast Solomon Islands Cultural History Programme (1970-1972) delved into archipelagic agricultural systems. In 1971, Yen and team explored Kolombangara, revealing promising irrigation remnants.
Over 30 days, collaborating with locals unveiled Ndughore Valley's cultural landscape during early European contact. Limited 1971 knowledge hindered Kolombangara research dissemination. Despite this, the expanded Western Solomons' archaeological record enriches understanding, contributing to New Georgia's early European contact insights. Logging since 1971 likely caused significant archaeological site destruction.
The Ingoana of the Ndughore Valley
Kolombangara, a circular extinct stratovolcano 15 km in diameter and 1770 m high at Mt. Veve, lies northwest of New Georgia Island. The Ndughore Valley, carved into the island's southwestern flank, stretches 6 km inland, with Ghatere village at its mouth.
The Ndughore Valley choice for study was influenced by extensive remains of former Ghatere agricultural systems, known as Ingoana. Pahu, Ghatere's oldest resident and main informant, traced his genealogy four generations back to Valaka, the Ingoana's founding ancestor. Descendants of the Ndughore 'tribe,' once among seven tribes on Kolombangara, the Ingoana traditionally occupied land from north of Hunda to beyond Iriri. During the visit, Ingoana of Iriri and Ghatere were separated by Vavanga and Papele villages. Kolombangara inhabitants spoke Nduke, a single Austronesian language.
Pahu's cosmogonic account places the Kolombangara people's origin in the central caldera. Pre-colonial pacification saw them in small interior hamlets. European arrival and firearms led to hamlet modification for defence and shelter creation.
Early European contact introduced disease, causing social disruption and depopulation. Simultaneously, subsistence changes saw men adopting migration as a way of life. Shifting cultivation on interior ridges vanished, and stone-faced pond field irrigation ceased by the late 1930s. Economic shifts from taro-dominated to yam-sweet potato agriculture by 1971 reflect agricultural technology regression or 'disintensification.'
Irrigation and Agriculture in the Ndughore Valley
Bayliss-Smith et al. (2003) examined rainforest composition and human disturbance history in the western Solomon Islands, describing an agroforestry system in the Marovo Lagoon region of New Georgia Island around 1800. This system included irrigated taro pond fields, mixed bush-fallow swiddens producing dryland taro and yams, and fallow secondary forest enriched with Canarium nut trees.
The same three components constituted the traditional agricultural regime on Kolombangara, based on discussions with Ghatere elders and observations in the Ndughore valley. The swidden component left little trace, but the tree component, including Canarium nut trees, breadfruit, sago, and betel nut trees, was evident. Canarium or nali nut held cultural importance, featuring in feasts and preparation areas at archaeological sites.
The most noticeable traces of the former three-tier agricultural system were linked to irrigated pond fields. Ghatere people guided researchers to formerly irrigated complexes in the Ndughore valley. Archaeological remains of irrigation are now described, with sites numbered using Roger Green's system. Notably:
Daratovu (sites SN-4-10 and -11): Two small ovulologha irrigation systems were located on steep side channels of the upper Ndughore River at Daratovu. Both had stone terraces running across narrow, steep stream channels, forming 'barrage' terracing.
Aghara (site SN-4-1): Aghara irrigation complex, recorded by A. M. Hocart in 1908, featured terraces dammed with stones. Mapped in 1971, it included 43 stone-faced pond fields organized into subsystems. Radiocarbon dating suggested the system's age range from AD 1504-1590 to AD 1616-modern.
Agegelai (site SN-4-4): The most extensive irrigation system recorded, Agegelai, was located upstream of Aghara on the north bank of the Ndughore River. Mapped in 1971, it had 91 individual pond fields, well-constructed stone retaining walls, and a hydrologically complex design utilizing water from the Ndughore River and a small tributary.
Ridgetop Settlements and Fortifications
Seven sites on the northwestern side of the Ndughore Valley were surveyed, with triangulated locations indicated in Figure 1 using compass bearings in the pre-GPS era. Two main clusters emerged: sites SN-4-2, -6, and -9 on the ridge above the Aghara and Agegelai irrigation complexes, and SN-4-12, -13, and -5 on a higher ridge further inland.
Site SN-4-7: On the ridge to Patusugha, an earth oven and a flat stone with indentations for cracking nali (canarium) nuts were noted. Marked for further investigation as Site SN-4-7, no further exploration occurred.
Patusugha (site SN-4-2): Spanning the western ridge overlooking the Ndughore valley, Patusugha, at an elevation of approximately 200 m, was where cultivators of the Aghara irrigation system once lived. Accessible by climbing a steep ridge from Aghara, the site covered about 70 m of ridge, with scattered house foundations, stone outbuildings, or earth terraces. Excavations provided insights into the site's historical and cultural aspects.
Heriana (site SN-4-6): A small settlement on the same ridge as Patusugha, but at a higher elevation, Heriana had no fortification features. Cleared, mapped, and excavated, the site, described by informant Pahu, revealed four distinct features, including house foundations and earth ovens, shedding light on its structure and occupation period.
Vavalondu (site SN-4-9): Further inland on the same ridge as Heriana, Vavalondu occupied a gently sloping area on the ridge crest, featuring an ancestral shrine, house foundations, and anvil stones for processing nali nuts. Insights into ritual practices and daily activities were gleaned from this site.
Hena (site SN-4-12): Characterized as a small site of special function on a flat-topped mound, Hena contained an ancestral shrine supported by a stone-faced terrace. Two rectangular platforms flanked the terrace with anthropomorphic facial motifs. While the exact nature of activities at Hena remained unclear, the presence of ritual elements was evident.
Domana (site SN-4-13): Identified as a small ritual site, Domana consisted of a prominent upright volcanic slab flanked by fallen volcanic slabs. Referred to as a "devil's place" by informants, no additional information on its function or purpose was provided.
Ivivu (site SN-4-5): The highest and most inland site, Ivivu, was a fortified hamlet modified for musket attacks. Situated on a steep ridge, Ivivu featured level terraces and platforms, defensive fosses, and a protective stone wall. An ancestral shrine at the site contained human remains, shell valuables, and pottery sherds, highlighting defensive modifications and potential historical disturbances.
In summary, the survey of these northwestern Ndughore Valley sites revealed diverse features, including irrigation complexes, settlement sites, and ritual and defensive structures, providing valuable insights into their historical, cultural, and functional aspects.
The Ndughore Settlement Landscape in Broader New Georgia Islands Context
Decades after the 1971 fieldwork on Kolombangara, renewed archaeological research in the New Georgia Group has established a regional cultural sequence for the Ndughore settlement landscape in the wider New Georgia Islands context. The 'Munda tradition,' defined by Walter and Sheppard based on Roviana lagoon research, spans the Bao period (1200 to 400 BC) and the Roviana period (400 BC to European contact). The latter witnessed new architectural forms, settlement patterns, and material culture, including coral-rubble skull shrines, fortification sites, and shell rings like hokata arm rings and bakiha rings of tridacna shell.
This distinctive New Georgia cultural system, predating European contact, intensified in the nineteenth century due to increased trade. Andrew Cheyne's 1844 trading post on Simbo Island linked iron axe heads to ritualised headhunting, especially with the introduction of muskets. Headhunting and the turtle shell trade intertwined in the late nineteenth century, contributing to ongoing feuds and retaliatory raids that depopulated many parts of the archipelago.
Insights into this nineteenth-century cultural system come from the archaeological landscape of Kolombangara's Ndughore Valley. The economic base of the Ingoana people included swidden cultivation, arboriculture centred on canarium (nali nuts), and pond irrigation of taro. The Agegelai terraced system in the Ndughore Valley, with its complexity and well-designed canal network, constitutes a sophisticated irrigation system. Pig rearing, not extensively discussed in the New Georgia region, is documented in the Ndughore Valley sites, with surplus from irrigated taro fields likely supporting pig herds, contributing to ritualised feasting and status competition.
Settlement patterns emphasised defence and fortification during increased inter-island raiding and headhunting. Residential sites like Patusugha, Heriana, and Vavalondu were on defensible hilltops, resembling small hamlets. Ivivu, modified in response to firearms, deviated from this pattern. Specialised ritual sites, such as Hena and Domana, were also part of the settlement pattern.
Ancestral shrines in the Ndughore valley align with the broader pattern for New Georgia, conferring power in headhunting raids and participating in the regional shell exchange network. While the archaeology of Kolombangara Island remains little known, the study of Ndughore Valley sites sheds light on settlement patterns, economic production systems, and external exchange relationships during the early European contact period.
World War II
During World War II the island and the waters around it were the scene of much fighting. The Imperial Japanese Army used an airstrip on some flat ground at Vila on the south shore of the island, and in May 1943 based several military units with over ten thousand troops garrisoned on the southeast side of the island under the command of Major General Minoru Sasaki, in an attempt to establish a defence line through the Central Solomons. Naval battles nearby included the Battle of Kula Gulf and Battle of Kolombangara.
The most famous and bloody battle was the mission to intercept the "Tokyo Express" supply convoy which resulted in the ramming and explosion of U.S. torpedo boat PT-109, manned by John F. Kennedy and his crew. Australian coastwatcher, Sub LieutenantArthur Reginald Evans, who manned a secret observation post at the top of the island's Mount Veve volcano, spotted the explosion. After decoding news that the explosion he had witnessed was probably from the lost PT-109 he dispatched Solomon IslandersBiuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in a dugout canoe to look for possible survivors. Their efforts led to the subsequent discovery and rescue of John F. Kennedy and the surviving crew.
After destroyers succeeded in sinking the supply ships three nights later and isolating the garrison of 12,400 there, US forces were able to "leapfrog" Kolombangara to land on Vella Lavella to the west. The Japanese evacuated Kolombangara between September 23 and October 4, 1943.
In January 1944 a detachment of 1 officer and 6 enlisted men from the 350th Engineer General Service Regiment stationed at Munda, established a vegetable farm on the abandoned Japanese airstrip at Vila. The British government furnished 16 male natives to help with the project. With seeds acquired through the International Red Cross, many vegetables were sent back to the base hospital to supplement the dehydrated meals served the recuperating veterans. The main item was watermelons.
Post-World War II
Since 1978, the island has been part of the independent state of Solomon Islands.
Beginning in 2019, the Chinese state-owned China Forestry Group Corporation expressed interest in purchasing the hardwood forestry plantation that makes up much of the island, including a port and former airstrip that could be used as a base for Chinese military assets.[3]
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