As an outlying part of Malaita Province, it forms the northernmost tract of land of this state, over 250 km (160 mi) north of Santa Isabel Island.

There are two main villages where the population is concentrated with 1,386 on the island of Luaniua in the eastern end and 689 on Pelau in the northeast.

Today the atoll's inhabitants make a subsistence living by means of coconut and taro (root) cultivation, as well as fishing.

Until a ban in 2005, the primary source of income was beche de mer and trochus shells, which were shipped to Hong Kong.

It also has a prolific number of sea birds, including the black-naped tern, which uses Ontong Java Atoll as a breeding site.

This expedition visited both Ontong Java and neighboring Nukumanu Atoll, where they also carried out their research.

But the men who compile the Sailing Directions have never heard of the change that was worked in the hearts of the inhabitants, who, not many years ago, cut off a big bark and killed all hands with the exception of the second mate.

The villages were burned, the canoes smashed, the chickens and pigs killed, and the precious cocoanut trees chopped down.

For a month this continued, when the schooner sailed away; but the fear of the white man had been seared into the souls of the islanders and never again were they rash enough to harm one.

In religious terms, Ontong Java is part of the Anglican Church of Melanesia Diocese of Malaita.