Tulagi
{{Short description|Small island in Solomon Islands, north of Guadalcanal}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2008}}
{{Infobox islands
| name = Tulagi
| image_name = NggelaSolomons.png
| image_caption = The Nggela islands group, with Tulagi off the south coast of Nggela Sule
| image_size =
| map = Solomon Islands
| map_caption = Location in Solomon Islands
| native_name =
| native_name_link =
| nickname =
| location = South Pacific
| coordinates = {{Coord|9|06|05|S|160|08|48|E|type:isle_region:SB-GU|display=inline,title}}
| archipelago = Nggela Islands
| total_islands =
| major_islands =
| area_km2 = 2.08
| length_km = 2.8
| width_km =0.8
| highest_mount =
| elevation_m = 100
| country = {{SOL}}
| country_admin_divisions_title = Province
| country_admin_divisions = Central
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 =
| country_admin_divisions_1 =
| country_admin_divisions_title_2 =
| country_admin_divisions_2 =
| country_largest_city =
| country_largest_city_population =
| population = 1,251
| population_as_of = 2009
| density_km2 =
| ethnic_groups =
| additional_info =
}}
Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 to 1942 and is today the capital of the Central Province. The capital of what is now the state of Solomon Islands moved to Honiara, Guadalcanal, after World War II.
The island was originally chosen by the United Kingdom as a comparatively isolated and healthier alternative to the disease-ridden larger islands of the Solomon Islands archipelago.
In October 2019, the government of Central Province signed a deal to grant the 75-year lease of the entire island of Tulagi to a Chinese company China Sam Enterprise Group.{{cite web |title=Chinese Lease of Entire Island Is Deemed Illegal in Solomons |work=The New York Times |date=24 October 2019 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/world/australia/china-tulagi-solomon-islands-pacific.html}} However, this was declared unconstitutional by the Solomon Islands parliament after a week and, consequently, the deal was cancelled.
Climate
{{Weather box
|location = Tulagi
|single line = Yes
|metric first = Yes
|Jan high F = 88
|Feb high F = 88
|Mar high F = 88
|Apr high F = 88
|May high F = 87
|Jun high F = 86
|Jul high F = 86
|Aug high F =86
|Sep high F = 86
|Oct high F = 87
|Nov high F =88
|Dec high F = 89
|year high F = 87
|Jan low F = 76
|Feb low F = 76
|Mar low F = 76
|Apr low F = 76
|May low F = 76
|Jun low F = 75
|Jul low F = 75
|Aug low F = 74
|Sep low F = 76
|Oct low F = 76
|Nov low F = 76
|Dec low F = 76
|year low F = 76
|Jan precipitation inch = 14.3
|Feb precipitation inch =15.8
|Mar precipitation inch = 2.5
|Apr precipitation inch = 2
|May precipitation inch = 8.1
|Jun precipitation inch = 6.8
|Jul precipitation inch = 7.6
|Aug precipitation inch = 8.7
|Sep precipitation inch = 8
|Oct precipitation inch = 8.7
|Nov precipitation inch = 10
|Dec precipitation inch = 10.4
|year precipitation inch = 100.9
{{cite web
|url =http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=181519&refer=wikipedia |title =Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Tulagi, Solomon Islands
|publisher=Weatherbase
|year=2011
}}
Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
|date=November 2011
}}
History
The first recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña on 16 April 1568. More precisely the sighting was due to a local voyage done by a small boat, in the accounts the brigantine Santiago, commanded by Maestre de Campo Pedro Ortega Valencia and having Hernán Gallego as pilot.Sharp, Andrew (1960). The discovery of the Pacific Islands. Oxford. p. 45.Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.133.
=World War II=
The Japanese occupied Tulagi on May 3, 1942, with the intention of establishing a seaplane base nearby (see Japanese Tulagi landing). The ships in Tulagi harbor were raided by planes from {{USS|Yorktown|CV-5|6}} the following day in a prelude to the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Allied forces, primarily the 1st Marine Raiders, landed on August 7 and captured Tulagi as part of Operation Watchtower after a day of hard fighting.
After its capture by United States Navy and Marine Corps forces, the island hosted a squadron of PT boats for a year, which included LTJG John F. Kennedy's PT-109 as well as other ancillary facilities. A small 20-bed dispensary was operated on Tulagi until its closure in 1946. The island also formed part of Purvis Bay, which hosted many US Navy ships during 1942 and 1943.
=Postwar=
The present-day Tulagi has a fishing fleet.
Scuba diving
Tulagi offers numerous scuba diving locations. The wrecks of USS Aaron Ward, USS Kanawha, and HMNZS Moa are close by, and the wrecks of Ironbottom Sound are not much further off, to the south and west. These three ships were all sunk in the same Japanese naval air raid, part of the Operation "I" on April 7, 1943. The Ward lies upright and intact, its deck replete with artifacts, on a sandy bottom at {{convert|70|m|ft|abbr=off}}.
Tulagi is developing a tourism industry based on scuba.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Islands of the Solomon Islands}}
{{PT-109}}
{{Recreational dive sites|wrereg}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Former national capitals
Category:Islands of the Solomon Islands
Category:Populated places in Central Province (Solomon Islands)