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Bellona Island

Island in Solomon Islands

Bellona

Bellona is the small island on the left side; the northern end of Rennell Island can be seen on the right of the picture.
Bellona Island is to the north of Rennell Island
Bellona Location of Bellona Island in Solomon Islands
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	11°18′S 159°48′E / 11.30°S 159.80°E / -11.30; 159.80
Archipelago	Solomon Islands
Area	17 km2 (6.6 sq mi)
Length	10 km (6 mi)
Width	2.5 km (1.55 mi)
Administration
Solomon Islands
Province	Rennell and Bellona

Bellona Island is an island of the Rennell and Bellona Province, in Solomon Islands. Its length is about 10 km (6.2 mi) and its average width 2.5 km (1.6 mi). Its area is about 17 km² (6.6 sq mi). It is almost entirely surrounded by 30–70 m (100–230 ft) high cliffs, consisting primarily of raised coral limestone.

Bellona Island is densely populated and its interior is lush and fertile. There are three districts namely Matangi, Ghongau and Ngango. Each district has manaha (tribes) except for Ghongau district, which has two sub-districts; Nguutuanga Bangitakungu and Ngutuanga Bangika'ango. There are many villages on Bellona Island:

• Matahenua/Matamoana (west)
• Honga'ubea
• Tongomainge
• Saukapoi
• Ngotokanaba
• Pauta
• Ngongona
• Gongau
• Ahenoa
• Matangi
• NukuTonga (East)

Bellona Island is, like Rennell Island, a Polynesian-inhabited island within the Solomons, where most of the islands are primarily Melanesian with a few Micronesian island provinces. It is thus counted among the Polynesian outliers. The nearby Bellona Shoals were the site of several shipwrecks.^[1] On the western end of the island there were sacred stone-gods, at a place called Ngabenga- west Bellona. The stone-gods were destroyed by Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in 1938. This island was named at the beginning of the 19th century after Capt. Lord Rennell's ship Bellona. However, its original name is Mungiki.

• Polynesian outliers
• British Solomon Islands

• Subsistence on Bellona Island (Mungiki): A Study of the Cultural Ecology of a Polynesian Outlier in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate by Sofus Christiansen. Publisher: Aarhus University Press, Pub. Date: January 1975, ISBN 978-87-480-0090-2

• pictures
• Cultural Ecology
• Beliefs and Rites of Pre-Christian Bellona
• Map of Bellona Island
• Bellona Travel Guide

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