The New Georgia Islands are part of the Western Province

Western Province (Solomon Islands)

Western Province is the largest of the provinces of the Solomon Islands. The area is renowned for its beautiful tropical islands, excellent diving and snorkelling, coral reefs and WWII wrecks, ecotourism lodges, and head-hunting shrines...

 of the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

. They are located to the northwest of Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

. The larger islands are mountainous and covered in rain forest. The main islands are New Georgia

New Georgia

New Georgia is the largest island of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.-Geography:This island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most of the other larger islands in the province...

, Vella Lavella

Vella Lavella

Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Group...

, Kolombangara

Kolombangara

Kolombangara is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean...

 (a dormant volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

), Ghizo

Ghizo Island

Ghizo Island, home to Gizo the capital of the Western Province, Solomon Islands. The island is named after an infamous local head-hunter. It is located west of New Georgia and Kolombangara....

, Vangunu

Vangunu

Vangunu Island is an island, part of the New Georgia Islands in the Solomon Islands. It is located between New Georgia and Nggatokae Island, at , between the islands of New Georgia and Nggatokae. In the north of the island is Lake Marovo, the largest salt water in the world....

, Rendova and Tetepare. They are surrounded by coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

s and includes the largest salt water lagoon

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

 in the world: Marovo lagoon

Marovo Lagoon

Marovo Lagoon is the largest saltwater lagoon in the world. It is located in the New Georgia Islands, north of Vangunu Island, at .There are many islands in the lagoon, some of which are inhabited. The people live mainly by subsistence agriculture and fishing and speak the Marovo language. The...

.

Another famous location is Kennedy Island

Kennedy Island

Kennedy Island is an island in the Solomon Islands that was named after John F. Kennedy. The island is remembered to be the area Lt. John F. Kennedy had aided his injured crew after his boat, the PT-109, was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in World War II...

 where United States President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 spent three days stranded during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Several of the islands were scenes of fighting in the war.

The main towns are Gizo

Gizo

Gizo is the capital of the Western Province in the Solomon Islands. With a population of 6,154 , it is the second largest town in the country. It is situated on Ghizo Island approximately 380 kilometers west-northwest of the capital, Honiara, and is just southwest of the larger island of Kolombangara...

, Munda

Munda (Solomon Islands)

Munda is the largest settlement on the island of New Georgia in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, and consists of a number of villages...

 and Noro

Noro

Noro is a town in the Solomon Islands, in the Western Province. It has about 5000 inhabitants. It has a cannery, which was owned by Taiyo Fisheries until 2001 and is now run by the Solomon Islands government....

.
The main industries are forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

 and fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

.

One of the smaller New Georgia islands, Ranongga

Ranongga

Ranongga is an island located in the New Georgia Islands group of Western Province, Solomon Islands.-History:Ranongga was sighted in 1787 by sailors Read and Dale....

, was lifted three meters (10 ft.) out of the Pacific Ocean by the 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake

2007 Solomon Islands earthquake

The 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake took place on 2 April 2007, near the provincial capital of Gizo on Ghizo Island, in the Solomon Islands. Its magnitude was calculated by the United States Geological Survey as being at 8.1 on the moment magnitude scale...

, causing an expansion of its shoreline by up to 70 meters all around. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070407/sc_afp/solomonsquakeisland;_ylt=AmWxTgtJeBcLwaF8np6Dex0DW7oF

The New Georgia languages

New Georgia languages

The ten New Georgia languages are a group of the Northwest Solomonic languages spoken on or near New Georgia Island in the Western Province of Solomon Islands.-Languages:...

are spoken on the island of New Georgia.