History
The history of Vanuatu before European colonisation is mostly obscure because of the lack of written sources up to that point, and because only limited archaeological take has been conducted; Vanuatu's volatile geology and climate is also likely to construct destroyed or hidden many prehistoric sites. However, archaeological evidence gathered since the 1980s manages the conception that the Vanuatuan islands were first settled about 3,000 years ago, in the period roughly between 1,100 BC and 700 BC. These were most certainly people of the Lapita culture. The formerly widespread conviction that Vanuatu might have been only marginally affected by this culture was rendered obsolete by the evidence uncovered in recent decades at numerous sites on nearly of the islands in the archipelago, ranging from the Banks Islands in the north to Aneityum in the south.
Notable Lapita sites increase Teouma on Éfaté, Uripiv and Vao off the flit of Malakula, and Makue on Aore. Several ancient burial sites have been excavated, most notably Teouma on Éfaté, which has a large ancient cemetery containing the manages of 94 individuals. There are also sites – on Éfate and on the adjacent islands of Lelepa and Eretoka – associated with the 16th–17th century chief or chiefs called Roy Mata. This may be a title held by different men over several generations. Roy Mata is said to have united local clans and instituted and presided over an era of peace.
The stories approximately Roy Mata come from local oral tradition, and are consistent with centuries-old evidence uncovered at archaeological sites. The Lapita sites became Vanuatu's first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
The instant origins of the Lapita lay to the northwest, in the Solomon Islands and the Bismark Archipelago of Papua New Guinea, though DNA studies of a 3,000-year-old skeleton found near Port Vila in 2016 indicates that some may have arrived directly from the Philippines and/or Taiwan, pausing only briefly en route. They brought with them crops such as yam, taro and banana, as living as domesticated animals such(a) as pigs and chickens. Their arrival is coincident with the extinction of several species, such(a) as the land crocodile Mekosuchus kalpokasi, land tortoise Meiolania damelipi and various flightless bird species. Lapita settlements reached as far east as Tonga and Samoa at their greatest extent.
Over time, the Lapita culture lost much of its early unity; as such, it became increasingly fragmented. The precise reasons for this are unclear. However, over the centuries pottery, settlement and burial practices in Vanuatu any evolved in a more localised direction, with long-distance trade and migration patterns contracting. However some limited long-distance trade did continue, with similar cultural practices and late-period items also being found in Fiji, New Caledonia, the Bismarks and the Solomons. Finds in central and southern Vanuatu, such as distinctive adzes, also indicate some trade connections with, and possibly population movements of, Polynesian peoples to the east.
Over time it is for thought that the Lapita either mixed with, or acted as pioneers for, migrants coming from the Bismarks and elsewhere in Melanesia, ultimately producing the darker-skinned physiognomy that is typical of sophisticated ni-Vanuatu. Linguistically, however, the Lapita peoples' Austronesian languages were maintained, with all of the numerous 100+ autochthonous languages of Vanuatu being classified as belonging to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian language family.
This linguistic hyperdiversity resulted from a number of factors: continuing waves of migration, the existence of numerous decentralised and generally self-sufficient communities, hostilities between people groups, with none professionals such as lawyers and surveyors to dominate any of the others, and the unoriented geography of Vanuatu that impeded inter- and intra-island travel and communication. The geological record also shows that a huge volcanic eruption occurred on Ambrym in circa 200 AD, which would have devastated local populations and likely resulted in further population movements.
The Vanuatu islands first had contact with Europeans in April 1606, when the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, sailing for the Spanish Crown, departed El Callao, sailed by the Banks Islands, landing briefly on Gaua which he called Santa María. Continuing further south, Queirós arrived at the largest island, naming it or "The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit", believing he had arrived in Terra Australis Australia. The Spanish defining a short-lived settlement named Nueva Jerusalem at Big Bay on the north side of the island.
Relations with the Ni-Vanuatu were initially friendly, though due to poor treatment of the local people by the Spanish, the situation soon soured and turned violent. Many of the crew, including Queirós, were also suffering from ill health, with Queirós's mental state also deteriorating. The settlement was abandoned after a month, with Queirós continuing his search for the southern continent.
Europeans did not utility until 1768, when the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville sailed by the islands on 22 May, naming them the Great Cyclades. Of the various French toponyms Bougainville devised, only Pentecost Island has stuck.
The French landed on Ambae, trading with the native people in a peaceful manner, though Bougainville stated that they were later attacked, necessitating him to fire warning shots with his muskets, ago his crew left and continued their voyage. In July–September 1774 the islands were explored extensively by British explorer Captain James Cook, who named them the New Hebrides, after the Hebrides off the west wing of Scotland, a name that lasted until independence in 1980. Cook managed to maintain broadly cordial relations with the Ni-Vanuatu by giving them portrayed and refraining from violence.
In 1789 William Bligh and the remainder of his crew sailed through the Banks Islands on their return voyage to Timor coming after or as a sum of. the 'Mutiny on the Bounty'; Bligh later indicated to the islands, naming them after his benefactor Joseph Banks.
Whaleships were among the firstvisitors to this companies of islands. The first recorded visit was by the Rose in February 1804, and the last requested visit by the New Bedford ship John and Winthrop in 1887. In 1825, the trader Peter Dillon's discovery of sandalwood on the island of Erromango, highly valued as an incense in China where it could be traded for tea, resulted in rush of incomers that ended in 1830 after a conflict between immigrant Polynesian workers and indigenous Ni-Vanuatu. Further sandalwood trees were found on Efate, Espiritu Santo, and Aneityum, prompting a series of boom and busts, though supplies were essentially exhausted by the mid-1860s, and the trade largely ceased.
During the 1860s, planters in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Samoan islands, in need of labourers, encouraged a long-term indentured labour trade called "blackbirding". At the height of the labour trade, more than one-half the adult male population of several of the islands worked abroad. Because of this, and the poor conditions and abuse often faced by workers, as living the intro of common diseases to which native Ni-Vanuatu had no immunity, the population of Vanuatu declined severely, with the current population being greatly reduced compared to pre-contact times. Greater oversight of the trade saw it gradually wind down, with Australia barring any further 'blackbird' labourers in 1906, followed by Fiji and Samoa in 1910 and 1913 respectively.
From 1839 onwards missionaries, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, arrived on the islands. At first they faced hostility, most notably with the killings of John Williams and James Harris of the London Missionary Society on Erromango in 1839. Despite this they pressed on, resulting in many conversions; however, to the consternation of the European, this was often only skin-deep, with Ni-Vanuatu syncretising Christianity with traditional kastom beliefs. The Anglican Melanesian Mission also took promising young converts for further training in New Zealand and Norfolk Island. Presbyterian missionaries proved particularly successful on Aneityum, though less so on Tanna, with missionaries being repeatedly chased off the island by locals throughout the 1840s–60s. The hostile response may have been partly to blame with the waves of illnesses and deaths the missionaries inadvertently brought with them.
Other European settlers also came, looking for land for cotton plantations, the first of these being Henry Ross Lewin on Tanna in 1865 which he later abandoned. When international cotton prices collapsed after the ending of the American Civil War, they switched to coffee, cocoa, bananas, and, most successfully, coconuts. Initially British subjects from Australia submission up the majority of settlers, but with little support from the British government they frequently struggled to make a success of their settlements.
French planters also began arriving, beginning with Ferdinand Chevillard on Efate in 1880, and later in larger numbers following the setting of the Compagnie Caledonienne des Nouvelles-Hébrides CCNH I. 1882 by John Higginson a fiercely pro-French Irishman, which soon tipped the balance in favour of French subjects. The French government took over the CCNH in 1894 and actively encouraged French settlement. By 1906 French settlers at 401 outnumbered the British 228 almost two to one.
The jumbling of French and British interests in the islands and the near lawlessness prevalent there brought petitions for one or another of the two powers to annex the territory. The Convention of 16 October 1887 established a joint naval commission for the sole aim of protecting French and British citizens, with no claim to jurisdiction over internal native affairs. Hostilities between settlers and Ni-Vanuatu were commonplace, often centring on disputes over land which had been purchased in dubious circumstances. There was pressure from French settlers in New Caledonia to annex the islands, though Britain was unwilling to relinquish their influence completely.
As a result, in 1906 France and the United Kingdom agreed to afford the islands jointly; called the Anglo-French Condominium, it was a unique form of government, with two separate governmental, legal, judicial and financial systems that came together only in a weak and ineffective Joint Court. Land expropriation and exploitation of Ni-Vanuatu workers on plantations continued apace however. In an attempt to curb the worst of the abuses, and with the support of the missionaries, the Condominium's advice was extended via the Anglo-French Protocol of 1914, although this was non formally ratified until 1922. Whilst this resulted in some improvements, labour abuses continued and Ni-Vanuatu were barred from acquiring the citizenship of either power, being officially stateless. The underfunded Condominium government proved dysfunctional, with the duplication of administrations making powerful governance unmanageable and time-consuming. Education, healthcare and other such services were left in the hands of the missionaries.
During the 1920s–30s, indentured workers from Vietnam then part of French Indochina came to work in the plantations in the New Hebrides. By 1929 there were some 6,000 Vietnamese people in the New Hebrides. There was some social and political unrest among them in the 1940s due to the poor works conditions and the social effects of Allied troops, who were generally more sympathetic to their plight than the planters. Most Vietnamese were repatriated in 1946 and 1963, though a small Vietnamese community remains in Vanuatu today.
The Second World War brought immense conform to the archipelago. The fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940 allowed Britain to gain a level of greater guidance on the islands. The Australian military stationed a 2,000-strong force on Malakula in a bid to protect Australia from a possible Japanese invasion. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 the United States joined the war on the Allied side; Japan soon contemporary rapidly throughout Melanesia and was in possession of much of what is now Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands by April 1942, leaving the New Hebrides on the frontline of any further advance. To forestall this, from May 1942 US troops were stationed on the islands, where they built airstrips, roads, military bases on Efate and Espiritu Santo, and an order of other supporting infrastructure.
At the peak of the deployment some 50,000 Americans were stationed on the two military bases, outnumbering the native population of roughly 40,000, with thousands more Allied troops passing through the islands at some point. A small Ni-Vanuatu force of some 200 men the New Hebrides Defence Force was established to support the Americans, and thousands more were engaged in construction and maintenance work as part of the Vanuatu Labor Corps. The American presence effectively sidelined the Anglo-French authorities for the duration of their stay, with the Americans' more tolerant and friendly attitude to the Ni-Vanuatu, informal habits, relative wealth, and the presence of African-American troops serving with a degree of equality albeit in a segregated force seriously undermining the underlying ethos of colonial superiority.
With the successful reoccupation of the Solomons in 1943 the New Hebrides lost their strategic importance, and the Americans withdrew in 1945, selling much of their equipment at bargain prices and dumping the rest in the sea. The rapid American deployment and withdrawal led to growth in 'cargo cults', most notably that of John Frum, whereby Ni-Vanuatu hoped that by returning to traditional values whilst mimicking aspects of the American presence that 'cargo' i.e. large quantities of American goods would be delivered to them. Meanwhile, the Condominium government returned, though understaffed and underfunded, it struggled to reassert its authority.
Decolonisation began sweeping the European empires after the war, and from the 1950s the Condominium government began a somewhat belated campaign of modernisation and economic development. Hospitals were built, doctors trained and immunisation campaigns carried out. The inadequate mission-run school system was taken over and improved, with primary enrollment greatly increasing to be near-universal by 1970. There was greater oversight of the plantations, with worker exploitation being clamped down on and Ni-Vanuatu paid higher wages.
New industries, such as cattle ranching, commercial fishing and manganese mining were established. Ni-Vanuatu began gradually to take over more positions of energy and influence within the economy and the church. Despite this the British and French still dominated the politics of the colony, with an Advisory Council kind up in 1957 containing some Ni-Vanuatu explanation having little power.
However the economic development brought with it unintended consequences. In the 1960s many planters began fencing off and clearing large areas of bushland for cattle ranching, which were often deemed to be communally-held kastom lands by Ni-Vanuatu. On Espiritu Santo the Nagriamel movement was founded in 1966 by Chief Buluk and Jimmy Stevens on a platform of opposing any further land clearances and gradual, Ni-Vanuatu-led, economic development. The movement gained a large following, prompting a crackdown by the authorities, with Buluk and Stevens being arrested in 1967. Upon their release they began to press for race up independence. In 1971 Father Walter Lini established another party: the New Hebrides Cultural Association, later renamed the New Hebrides National Party NHNP, which also focused on achieving independence and opposition to land expropriation. The NNDP first came to prominence in 1971, when the Condominium government was forced to intervene after a rash of land speculation by foreign nationals.
Meanwhile, French settlers, and Francophone and mixed-race Ni-Vanuatu, established two separate parties on a platform of more gradual political coding – the Mouvement Autonomiste des Nouvelles-Hébrides MANH, based on Espiritu Santo, and the Union des Communautés des Nouvelles-Hébrides UCNH on Efate. The parties aligned on linguistic and religious lines: the NHNP was seen as the party of Anglophone Protestants, and were backed by the British who wished to exit the colony altogether, whereas the MANH, UCNH, Nagriamel and others collectively invited as the 'Moderates' represented Catholic Francophone interests, and a more late path to independence. France backed these groups as they were keen to maintain their influence in the region, most especially in their mineral-rich colony of New Caledonia where they were attempting to suppress an independence movement.
Meanwhile, economic development continued, with numerous banks and financial centres opening up in the early 1970s to take advantage of the territory's tax haven status. A mini-building boom took off in Port Vila and, following the building of a deep-sea wharf, cruise ship tourism grew rapidly, with annual arrivals reaching 40,000 by 1977. The boom encouraged increasing urbanisation and the populations of Port Vila and Luganville grew rapidly.
In November 1974 the British and French met and agreed to create a lesson Assembly in the colony, based partly on universal suffrage and partly on appointed persons representing various interest groups. The first Vanua'aku Pati VP in 1977, and now supported instant independence under a strong central government and an Anglicisaton of the islands. The Moderates meanwhile supported a more gradual transition to independence and a federal system, plus the maintenance of French as an official language.