Vanuatu
Vanuatu is a 'Y' shaped archipelago of 83 islands. It is located
about 1,750 kilometers east of Australia. Fiji lies to the east, New
Caledonia to the south, and the Solomon Islands to the northwest,
all within the area of the South Pacific called Melanesia.
The two largest islands, Espiritu Santo (or Santo) and Malakula,
account for nearly one-half of the total land area. They are
volcanic, with sharp mountain peaks, plateaus, and lowlands. The
larger islands of the remaining half also are volcanic but are
overlaid with limestone formations; the smaller ones are coral and
limestone. Volcanic activity is common with an ever-present danger
of a major eruption, the last of which occurred in 1945. Rainfall
averages about 2,360 millimeters (94 in.) per year but can be as
high as 4,000 millimeters (160 in.) in the northern islands.
The population of Vanuatu is 94% indigenous Melanesian. About 33,700
live in the capital, Port Vila. Another 10,700 live in Luganville
(or Santo Town) on Espiritu Santo. The remainder live in rural
areas. Approximately 2,000 ni-Vanuatu live and work in New
Caledonia. Although local pidgin, called Bislama, is the national
language, English and French also are official languages. Indigenous
Melanesians speak 105 local languages.
Christianity has had a profound influence on ni-Vanuatu society, and
an estimated 90% of the population is affiliated with one of the
Christian denominations. The largest denominations are Presbyterian,
Roman Catholic, and Anglican. John Frum, a syncretic sect, also is
important on Tanna Island. |
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The prehistory of Vanuatu is obscure; archaeological evidence
supports the commonly held theory that peoples speaking Austronesian
languages first came to the islands some 4,000 years ago. Pottery
fragments have been found dating back to 1300-1100 B.C.
The first island in the Vanuatu group discovered by Europeans was
Espiritu Santo, when in 1606 the Portuguese explorer, Pedro
Fernandez De Quiros, spied what he thought was a southern continent.
Europeans did not return until 1768, when Louis Antoine de
Bougainville rediscovered the islands. In 1774, Captain Cook named
the islands the New Hebrides, a name that lasted until independence.
In 1825, trader Peter Dillon's discovery of sandalwood on the island
of Erromango began a rush that ended in 1830 after a clash between
immigrant Polynesian workers and indigenous Melanesians. During the
1860s, planters in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Samoa
Islands, in need of laborers, encouraged a long-term indentured
labor trade called "blackbirding." At the height of the labor trade,
more than one-half the adult male population of several of the
Islands worked abroad. Fragmentary evidence indicates that the
current population of Vanuatu is greatly reduced compared to
pre-contact times.
It was at this time that missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant,
arrived on the islands. Settlers also came, looking for land on
which to establish cotton plantations. When international cotton
prices collapsed, they switched to coffee, cocoa, bananas, and, most
successfully, coconuts. Initially, British subjects from Australia
made up the majority, but the establishment of the Caledonian
Company of the New Hebrides in 1882 soon tipped the balance in favor
of French subjects. By the turn of the century, the French
outnumbered the British two to one.
The jumbling of French and British interests in the islands brought
petitions for one or another of the two powers to annex the
territory. In 1906, however, France and the United Kingdom agreed to
administer the islands jointly. Called the British-French
Condominium, it was a unique form of government, with separate
governmental systems that came together only in a joint court.
Melanesians were barred from acquiring the citizenship of either
power.
Challenges to this form of government began in the early 1940s. The
arrival of Americans during World War II, with their informal
demeanor and relative wealth, was instrumental in the rise of
nationalism in the islands. The belief in a mythical messianic
figure named John Frum was the basis for an indigenous cargo cult (a
movement attempting to obtain industrial goods through magic)
promising Melanesian deliverance. Today, John Frum is both a
religion and a political party with a member in Parliament.
The first political party was established in the early 1970s and
originally was called the New Hebrides National Party. One of the
founders was Father Walter Lini, who later became Prime Minister.
Renamed the Vanua'aku Pati in 1974, the party pushed for
independence; in 1980, the Republic of Vanuatu was created. |
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