Portal:Oceania/Selected article/November, 2011
Rennell Island, locally known as Mungava, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of 660 square kilometres (250 sq mi) that is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and 14 kilometres (8.7 mi)wide. It is the second largest raised coral atoll in the world with the largest lake in the insular Pacific (Lake Tegano) that is listed as a World Heritage Site.
Rennell Island has a population of about 3000 persons of Polynesian descent who primarily speak Renbelian, Pigin and some English. Rennell and Bellona Islands are the only islands in the Melanesian Solomon Island archipelago classified Polynesian. It is located 236 kilometres (147 mi) South of Honiara. The capital of the Province, Tigoa, is located at the Western end of the island.
The population of Renbel dates before 1400 AD when clansmen left Uvea (now Wallis Island) and crossed the Pacific ocean to settle on the islands. Captain Butler of HMS Walpole discovered the islands in 1801. During the Pacific campaign of World War II Japanese Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe floatplanes operated from Lake Tegano until American PBY Catalinas used the lake as a base after 1943. The Battle of Rennell Island was the last major naval battle of the Guadacanal Campaign which occurred between 29 January 1943 and 30 January 1943.