'Vanuatu' (
IPA: ), officially the 'Republic of Vanuatu' (
French: ''République de Vanuatu''), is an
island nation located in the South
Pacific Ocean. The
archipelago is located some 1,750
km (1,090
mi) east of northern
Australia, 500 km (310 mi) north-east of
New Caledonia, west of
Fiji and south of the
Solomon Islands.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. Europeans began to settle in the area in the late 18th century and in 1906
Britain and
France officially claimed the country, jointly managing it through a British-French
Condominium as the
New Hebrides. An independence movement was established in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.
History
Main articles: History of Vanuatu
Many of the islands of Vanuatu have been inhabited for thousands of years with the oldest archaeological evidence dating back to
1300 BCE.
[1]
Europeans on the scene
In 1606 a Spanish expedition led by
explorers Luis Váez de Torres and
Pedro Fernández de Quirós became the first from Europe to reach the islands which they believed to be part of
Terra Australis. Europeans began
settling the islands in the late 18th century after the
British explorer
James Cook visited the islands on his
second voyage and gave them the name New Hebrides.
In 1887 the islands came under the administration of a joint
French–
British naval commission. In 1906 the French and British agreed to an Anglo-French Condominium of the
New Hebrides. Vanuatu suffered from the practice of
blackbirding wherein half of the adult male population of some of the islands became indentured workers in Australia.
Due to diseases introduced by the new European populations, the native population fell to a mere 45,000 in 1935.
During
World War II the islands of
Efate and
Espiritu Santo were used as allied military bases. In the 1960s the
ni-Vanuatu people started to press for
self-governance and, later,
independence. Full
sovereignty was finally granted by both European nations on
July 30,
1980 and Vanuatu became a republic with the
Commonwealth of Nations. Subsequently, Vanuatu joined the
UN in 1981 and the
Non-Aligned Movement in 1983.
During the 1990s Vanuatu experienced political instability which eventually resulted in a more decentralised government. The Vanuatu Mobile Force, a paramilitary group, attempted a coup in 1996 because of a pay dispute. There were allegations of corruption in the government of
Maxime Carlot Korman. New elections have been called for, several times since 1997, most recently in 2004.
Politics
Map of Vanuatu
Vanuatu has a
parliamentary democracy political system which is currently headed by a
President who has, primarily, ceremonial powers and who is elected for 5-year terms by a two-thirds majority in an electoral college. This electoral college consists of members of Parliament and the presidents of Regional Councils. The President may be removed by the electoral college for gross misconduct or incapacity. The
Prime Minister, who is the
head of government, is elected by a majority vote of a three-fourths
quorum of the Parliament. The prime minister, in turn, appoints the Council of Ministers, whose number may not exceed one-fourth of the number of parliamentary representatives. The prime minister and the Council of Ministers constitute the executive government.
The
Parliament of Vanuatu is
unicameral and has 52 members who are elected by
popular vote every four years, unless earlier dissolved by a majority vote of a three-fourths quorum or by a directive from the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. The national Council of Chiefs, called the ''
Malvatu Mauri'' and elected by district councils of chiefs, advises the government on all matters concerning ni-Vanuatu culture and language.
Government and society in Vanuatu tend to divide along linguistic French and English lines. Forming
coalition governments, however, has proved problematic at times due to differences between
English and
French speakers.
The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and up to three other judges. Two or more members of this court may constitute a Court of Appeal. Magistrate courts handle most routine legal matters. The legal system is based on
British common law. The constitution also provides for the establishment of village or island courts presided over by chiefs to deal with questions of
customary law.
Foreign relations and military
Main articles: Foreign relations of Vanuatu
Vanuatu has joined the
Asian Development Bank, the
World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, the
Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique, la
Francophonie and the
Commonwealth of Nations.
Since 1980 Australia, the
European Union, the
United Kingdom, France and
New Zealand have provided the bulk of Vanuatu's development aid. Direct aid from the British to Vanuatu has ceased since 2005 following the decision by the British to no longer focus on the Pacific. However, more recently new donors such as the
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and the
Chinese have been providing increased amounts of aid funding. In 2005 the MCA announced that Vanuatu was one of the first 15 countries in the world selected to receive support—an amount of
US$65 million was given for the provision and upgrading of key pieces of public infrastructure.
Vanuatu retains strong economic and cultural ties to Australia, the European Union (in particular France) and New Zealand. Australia now provides the bulk of external assistance, including to the police force, which has a paramilitary wing.
Vanuatu's military consist of a small, mobile, corps of 300 volunteers. The Vanuatu Police Force (VPF) includes the paramilitary Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF). Total military expenditures are not available.
Geography
Physical geography
Main articles: Geography of Vanuatu
Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83
islands, of which two—
Matthew and Hunter—are also claimed by the French overseas department of
New Caledonia. Of the 83 islands, 14 have surface areas of more than 100 square kilometres. From largest to smallest:
Espiritu Santo (3956 km²/1527 mi²),
Malakula (2041 km²/788 mi²),
Efate (900 km²/350 mi²),
Erromango (888 km²/343 mi²),
Ambrym (678 km²/262 mi²),
Tanna (555 km²/214 mi²),
Pentecost (491 km²/190 mi²),
Epi (445 km²/172 mi²),
Ambae or Aoba (402 km²/155 mi²),
Vanua Lava (334 km²/129 mi²),
Gaua (328 km²/127 mi²),
Maewo (304 km²/117 mi²),
Malo (180 km²/70 mi²), and
Anatom or Aneityum (159 km²/65 mi²).
Most of the islands are mountainous, of
volcanic origin and have a
tropical or
sub-tropical climate. The nation's largest towns are the capital
Port Vila, situated on Efate, and
Luganville on Espiritu Santo.
[2] The highest point in Vanuatu is
Mount Tabwemasana, at 1879 m (6158 ft), on the island of Espiritu Santo. There are several active volcanoes in Vanuatu, including
Lopevi, as well as several underwater ones. Volcanic activity is common with an ever-present danger of a major eruption, the last occurred in 1945. Rainfall averages about 2,360 millimetres (94 inches) per year but can be as high as 4,000 millimetres (160 inches) in the northern islands.
Vanuatu is recognised as a distinct
terrestrial ecoregion, known as the
Vanuatu rain forests. It is part of the
Australasia ecozone, which includes
New Caledonia, the
Solomon Islands,
Australia,
New Guinea, and
New Zealand.
Administrative divisions
Provinces of Vanuatu
Since 1994, Vanuatu has been divided into six
provinces:
★
Malampa
★
Penama
★
Sanma
★
Shefa
★
Tafea
★
Torba
Economy and demographics
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Vanuatu
Road side market
The economy is based, primarily, on
subsistence or small-scale
agriculture, which provides a living for 65% of the population.
Fishing, offshore
financial services and
tourism (with about 50,000 visitors in 1997) are other mainstays of the economy.
Mineral deposits are negligible. The country has no known
petroleum deposits. A small light-industry sector caters to the local market.
Tax revenues come mainly from import duties and a 12.5 percent
VAT on goods and services. Economic development is hindered by dependence on relatively few commodity exports, vulnerability to
natural disasters, long distances between constituent islands and from main markets.
A severe
earthquake in November 1999, followed by a
tsunami, caused extensive damage to the northern island of
Pentecote, leaving thousands homeless. Another powerful earthquake in January 2002 caused extensive damage in the capital, Port Vila, and surrounding areas, and was also followed by a tsunami. Another earthquake of 7.2 struck on
August 2,
2007.
[3]
GDP rose less than 3%, on average, in the 1990s. In response to foreign concerns the government has promised to tighten regulation of its offshore financial centre. In mid-2002, the government stepped up efforts to boost tourism.
Australia and
New Zealand are the main suppliers of Vanuatu's
foreign aid.
Vanuatu is a
tax haven that does not release account information to other governments and law enforcement agencies. Pressure is, however, being brought to bear on the Vanuatu government to adhere to international norms to improve transparency in this respect. In Vanuatu, there is no
income tax, no
withholding tax, no
capital gains tax, no
inheritance taxes, and no exchange controls. A disproportionally large number of ship management companies choose to flag their ships under the Vanautu flag because of the tax benefits and favorable labor laws. Several file-sharing groups, such as the providers of the
KaZaA network of
Sharman Networks and the developers of
WinMX, have chosen to incorporate in Vanuatu to avoid regulation and legal challenges.
The ninth season of the reality TV series ''
Survivor'' was filmed on Vanuatu, entitled ''—Islands of Fire''. Two years later, Australia's ''
Celebrity Survivor'' was filmed at the same location used by the U.S. version.
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Vanuatu
Vanuatu had a population of 221,506.
2 Most is rural, though
Port Vila and
Luganville have populations in the tens of thousands. The inhabitants of Vanuatu, or ''
Ni-Vanuatu'', are in the majority (98.5%) of
Melanesian descent, with the remainder made up of a mix of Europeans, Asians and other Pacific islanders. Three islands were historically colonized by
Polynesians. About 2,000 Ni-Vanuatu live and work in
New Caledonia. In 2006 the
New Economics Foundation and
Friends of the Earth environmentalist group rated Vanuatu as the happiest place to live out of 178 nations all over the world using the
Happy Planet Index.
[4]
Culture, language, music, and religion
Culture
Vanuatu culture retains a strong diversity through local regional variations and through foreign influence. Vanuatu may be divided into three major cultural regions:
★ In the north, wealth is established by how much one can give away. Pigs, particularly those with rounded
tusks, are considered a symbol of wealth throughout Vanuatu.
★ In the centre, more traditional
Melanesian cultural systems dominate.
★ In the south, a system involving grants of title with associated privileges has developed.
[5]
Young men undergo various coming-of-age ceremonies and rituals to initiate them into manhood, usually including
circumcision.
Music
Traditional music in Vanuatu was limited to the human voice with rhythmic accompaniment from slit drums. (The remarkable, large, vertical slit gongs which symbolize Vanuatu, and are to be seen in ethnological institutions around the world, were used only for communication.) Europeans introduced musical instruments, the use of which may be increasingly heard in village dances and ceremonies.
The most popular contemporary musical genre in Vanuatu, both rural and urban, is known as ''
string band'' music; it combines
guitars,
ukulele, and popular songs.
More recently the
music of Vanuatu, as an industry, grew rapidly in the 1990s and several bands have forged a distinctive ni-Vanuatu identity. Popular genres of modern commercial music, which are currently being played in town include
zouk music and
Reggaeton. Reggaeton, a variation of hip-hop rapped in Spanish, played alongside its own distinctive beat, is especially played in the local nightclubs of Vanuatu with, mostly, an audience of Westerners and tourists.
Languages
There are three official languages:
English,
French, and
Bislama. Bislama is a
pidgin language—and now a
creole in urban areas—which essentially combines a typically Melanesian grammar with a mostly English vocabulary. It is the only language that can be understood and spoken by the whole population of Vanuatu as a
second language.
In addition 113 indigenous
languages are still actively spoken in Vanuatu.
5 The density of languages, per capita, is the highest of any nation in the world with an average of only 2000 speakers per language. All of these vernacular languages belong to the
Oceanic branch of the
Austronesian family.
Religion
Christianity is the predominant religion in Vanuatu, consisting of several denominations. The
Presbyterian Church, adhered to by about one third of the population, is the largest of them.
Roman Catholic and
Anglican are other common denominations, each claiming about 15% of the population. Others are the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, the
Church of Christ,
Neil Thomas Ministries (NTM), as well as many other religious sects and denominations.
Because of the modernities that the military in
World War II brought with them when they came to the islands, several
cargo cults developed. Many died out, but the
John Frum cult on
Tanna is still large, and has adherents in the parliament.
A clutch of villages on
Tanna are also known to worship Great Britain's
Prince Philip.
[6] Villagers of the
Yaohnanen tribe believed in an ancient story about the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit venturing across the seas to look for a powerful woman to marry. Prince Philip, having visited the island with his new wife Queen Elizabeth, fitted the description exactly and is therefore revered and even held as a god around the isle of Tanna.
Islam in Vanuatu is made up of about 100–200 converts.
[7]
Education
In
Port Vila, and two other centres, are locations of the
University of the South Pacific, an educational institution co-owned by twelve Pacific countries. The Vanuatu campus is the only law school in the university.
Miscellaneous topics
★
Communications in Vanuatu
★
Transportation in Vanuatu
★
John Frum Movement
References
1. Vanuatu (History)
2. Background Note: Vanuatu
3. Magnitude 7.2 - Vanuatu
4. Happiness doesn't cost the Earth
5. Culture of Vanuatu
6. FIFTY FACTS ABOUT THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH 25 January 2002
7. Green Moon Rising: Islam Is Spreading In Melanesia
External links
★
Interactive maps of Vanuatu
★
Republic of Vanuatu government
★
Volcanoes of Vanuatu
★
Vanuatu National Tourism Office
★
In pictures: Vanuatu volcano
★
The Happy Planet Index website
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