The black-sand beaches along the southwest coast of Rendova are important nesting grounds for the critically endangered leatherback turtle.

The island was occupied by the Empire of Japan in the early stages of World War II.

On June 30, 1943, Allied forces carried out the landings on Rendova which quickly overcame the 300-man Japanese garrison as part of a strategy to ultimately recapture Munda and its airfield on the island of New Georgia.

Solomon Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana paddled their dugout canoe 35 miles (60 km) to reach the base and deliver a message inscribed on a coconut from then-Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy after his PT boat, PT 109, was run down by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and he and his crew were stranded on one of the local islands.

[2][3] Since 1978, the island has been part of the independent state of the Solomon Islands Rendova is the setting for the 2002 humorous book Solomon Time by Will Randall, about a British school teacher who moves to a village on Rendova to help organise a community project.