How many Solomon Islanders were recruited for plantation labor between 1870 and 1910?

Between 1870 and 1910, approximately 30,000 Solomon Islanders were recruited for plantation labor in places such as Fiji and Queensland, Australia.12

It is important to clarify that while some sources describe this as recruitment, the practice—known as blackbirding—frequently involved the enslavement of islanders. This exploitative system was characterized by significant abuses, which eventually contributed to the declaration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in 1893 as a means to regulate these contacts.12