Nendö (island)

The name Santa Cruz was given to the island in 1595 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña, who started a colony there.

At that point some soldiers deliberately murdered villagers in order to provoke hostilities and so force the abandonment of the colony, and seditious petitions were signed.

When the three ships departed on 18 November 1595, forty-seven people had died in the space of one month, and the first European colony in the South Seas was ended.

After an initially friendly encounter, the Master gave the inhabitants "just cause of offence" leading to a violent exchange of arrows and muskets, and the deaths of several British and many natives.

Two days later, after minor repairs, Carteret sent men to collect more water, and the ensuing confrontation led to him firing the ship's guns on the inhabitants, who had attacked the voyagers in retaliation or in an attempt to drive them away.

Due to hostilities, Carteret was unable to trade for much-needed food, and with widespread illness among his crew, had not the strength to take supplies by force from the organised and well-armed defenders.

In 1966–67 Gerd Koch, a German anthropologist, carried out field studies on the culture of Nendö and other Santa Cruz Islands.

[9] Koch brought back to the Ethnological Museum of Berlin the last still complete Tepukei (ocean-going outrigger canoe) from the Santa Cruz Islands.