History of Vanuatu: First People, Britain and France, Independence | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

NAMES AND IDENTITY OF VANUATU

Official Name: Republic of Vanuatu, (French: République de Vanuatu); conventional short form: Vanuatu; local long form (Bislama): Ripablik blong Vanuatu; local short form: Vanuatu; Former name: New Hebrides. Source of the Name: derived from the words "vanua" (home or land) and "tu" (stand) that occur in several of the Austonesian languages spoken on the islands and which provide a meaning of "the land remains" but which also convey a sense of "independence" or "our land". [Source: CIA World Factbook 2023]

Name of the People and Culture: noun: Ni-Vanuatu (singular and plural); adjective: Ni-Vanuatu.

The name "Vanuatu" is an important aspect of national identity. Leaders of the Vanua'aku Party, which led the first independent government, invented the term in 1980 to replace the colonial name New Hebrides. Vanua means "land" in many of Vanuatu's one hundred five languages, and translations of the new name include "Our Land" and "Abiding Land." [Source: Lamont Lindstrom, “Countries and Their Cultures”, 2000]

Politicians who forged the independence of Vanuatu emphasized shared culture (kastom) and shared Christianity to create a national identity and iconography. Objects selected to represent the nation come mostly came mostly from the central and northern areas and include circle pig tusks, palm leaves, and carved slit gongs. The name of the national currency, the vatu ("stone") derives from central northern languages, as does the name "Vanuatu."

First People in Vanuatu

Vanuatu was first settled around 2000 B.C. by Austronesian speakers from Solomon Islands. There are some indications it visited earlier than that. Japanese fishermen appear to have ventured to Vanuatu, which abput 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles south of Japan), as far back as 3000 B.C. Archeologists found Japanese-style pottery fragments on the island and speculate they probably came from a Japanese fishermen mistakenly carried south by an ocean current.

Austronesians were a coastal people originating from Taiwan and south coastal China that spread slowly through the Philippines and other islands off Southeast Asia. They were joined by successive waves of Melanesians, who speak a language that has affinities with Malay but whose precise origin has not been determined.

The prehistory of Vanuatu is obscure. Archaeological evidence includes pottery fragments dating back to 1300-1100 B.C. Margaret Jolly wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Although the archaeological record has yet to be fully explored, it is thought that oceangoing Melanesians first landed on Tanna about 3,500 years ago. The island has also experienced considerable Polynesian influence. In fact, Tanna's two nearest neighbors, Aniwa and Futuna, are Polynesian outliers. [Source: Margaret Jolly, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996 |~|]

According to Archaeology Magazine: Analysis of seven 3,000-year-old skulls from the oldest cemetery in the South Pacific, on Efate, an island in Vanuatu, is helping explain how the region was settled. The people of this island nation today resemble Melanesians — natives of Australia and New Guinea — more than Polynesians, such as natives of New Zealand and Hawaii. Osteological data are showing that a people called the Lapita, who first colonized the Pacific, looked more like Polynesians. Melanesians apparently came later and the groups intermarried. In places such as Vanuatu and Fiji, Melanesian traits won out, while Polynesian ancestry dominated elsewhere, as people island-hopped to the east. [Source: Samir S. Patel, Archaeology magazine, March-April 2016]

Lapita Culture in Vanuatu

Among the first settlers of Vanuatu were "Lapita" people, named after distinct pottery first discovered in New Caledonia and believed to have originated in New Britain in Papua New Guinea and transferred to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and the Marquesas Island near Tahiti.

Samir S. Patel wrote in Archaeology magazine, Most of what is known about the Lapita comes from pots. Human remains are rare. Researchers have conducted isotopic studies on remains from the largest known Lapita cemetery — 68 burials — for insight into their diet. They found that it was some time before crops were established as a significant part of the menu. The earliest colonists relied instead on a forager’s diet of fish, turtles, fruit bats, and free-range but domesticated pigs and chickens. [Source: Samir S. Patel, Archaeology magazine, July-August 2014]

Oceania was the last region on Earth colonized by humans. When the first settlers from the Lapita Culture arrived in Vanuatu 3,000 years ago, they transported certain plants with them that aided their ability to survive, including the banana. Analysis of microparticles trapped in the dental plaque of individuals buried on Efate Island has indicated the presence of the nonnative species at this early date. Banana plants would not only have provided sustenance, but could also have been used for building material, textiles, cordage, and medicine. [Source: Archaeology magazine, May-June 2020]

By around A.D. 1000, localized chieftain systems began to develop on the islands. In the mid-1400s, the Kuwae Volcano erupted, causing frequent conflict and internal strife amid declining food availability, especially on Efate Island. Around 1600, Chief Roi Mata united Efate under his rule. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

First Europeans in Vanuatu

In 1606, Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queiros was the first European to see the Banks Islands and Espiritu Santo, the largest island in the Vanuatu group, and claimed the islands for Spain. He spied what he thought was a southern continent and founded a short-lived, unsuccessful settlement on Espiritu Santo.

The next European explorers arrived in the 1760s. In 1768, French navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited the islands. In 1774, British navigator James Cook named the islands the New Hebrides, a name that lasted until independence. He discovered, named, and charted most of the southern islands in 1774.

Between 1768 and 1789, various European explorers — mostly British and French — visited islands and introduced metal tools and weapons and new trade goods. But there was an initial reluctance by local sto trade with European navigators.

Early European Settlers, Traders and Whalers in Vanuatu

In 1825 the sandalwood trade started in Vanuatu. It accelerated trade even though sandalwood resources were exhausted quickly. 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.

According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “The first contacts between ni-Vanuatu and Europeans took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but there was initial reluctance to trade with European navigators. From the early nineteenth century, Europeans sought whales, sandalwood, and bêche-de-mer in the islands with more success. [Source: Margaret Jolly, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996 |~|]

In the 19th century, whalers and British and French missionaries, planters, and traders arrived in Vanuatu. Conflicts with whalers and disputes over the harvesting of sandalwood trees caused friction between Europeans and local Ni-Vanuatu. For for many years islanders suffered from the of ships recruiting labor (See Blackbirding Below) and from other lawless acts by Europeans in the region.

Missionaries in Vanuatu

The first Christian missionaries landed in Vanuatu in 1839. Catholic and Protestant missionaries arrived greater numbers in the 1840s but faced difficulties converting the locals. Progress in conversion is slow, and some areas resist Christianity even today. [Source: Wardlow Friesen, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, Gale, 2002]

Members of the London Missionary Society were the first to arrive. Later Presbyterians, set up missions in the southern islands and were followed by Anglicans, Marists, and, in the twentieth century, Seventh-Day Adventists and the Church of Christ. [Source: Margaret Jolly, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996 |~|]

In missionary records, Tanna was known for its resistance to Christianity, but by 1910 missionaries had successfully converted about two-thirds of the population. This achievement coincided with the implementation of joint British and French colonial governance of the archipelago in 1906.

Blackbirding in Vanuatu

In the 1860s, European planters in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Samoa needed labor and kidnapped almost half the adult males of the islands of Vanuatu and forced them to work as indentured servants. Labor “recruitment” from 1864 to 1911 for plantations in Fiji and Queensland is sometimes called "blackbirding." [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

Terence E. Hays wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “From the middle of the 1840s to the beginning of the First World War, newcomers began systematically to strip Oceania of its resources, both natural and human. In 1847 the first laborers were 'recruited" from the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Loyalty Islands ( New Caledonia), and soon blackbirders were scouring the Pacific, offering trinkets and often-false promises of good pay and prompt repatriation after a term of service on Australian sugar plantations, in the guano mines of Peru, or wherever cheap labor was needed. [Source:“Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1991 |~|]

From 1857 thousands of men and some women were recruited as laborers to work on plantations in New Caledonia, Queensland, Fiji, and islands in Vanuatu. From the 1860s through 1900, labor recruiters removed more than 5,000 Tannese men to work on plantations in Queensland and Fiji. Between 1863 and 1904, about 60,000 Pacific islanders from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands were brought to Queensland, Australia to work on sugar plantations. After the introduction of the "white Australia policy" most were deported. About 20,000 of their descendants remain in northern Queensland. [Source: “Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009"]

Planters in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Samoa Islands were all involved in the “blackbirding” trade. At its height, more than one-half the adult male population of several of the Islands worked abroad. Fragmentary evidence suggests that the present-day population of Vanuatu is significantly lower than it was prior to contact..

Colonization of Vanuatu

With growing and overlapping interests in the islands, France and Britain agreed that the New Hebrides would be neutral. Under it became independent in 1980, Vanuatu was known as the New Hebrides and was jointly ruled by Britain and France. It was named after the Hebrides islands off the northern coast of Scotland by Captain Cook and was largely colonized by enterprising Scotsmen.

In accordance with the Anglo-French Convention of 1887, a joint naval commission was established over the New Hebrides, presided over by a resident commissioner whose stated job was to protect the lives and interests of the islanders. The mishmash of French and British interests in the islands brought petitions for one or another of the two powers to annex the territory. In 1906 following a London conference, the Anglo-French Condominium was established, largely to settle land claims and to end difficulties caused by lack of clear local jurisdiction. Melanesians were barred from acquiring the citizenship of either country. [Source: Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations, Thomson Gale, 2007, Encyclopedia.com]

The New Hebrides was a unique in being "condominium" colony ruled jointly by Great Britain and France. Although they instituted a joint court and a few other combined services, each ran separate and parallel administrative bureaucracies, health systems, police forces, and school systems with separate laws and currencies. The condominium arrangement was dysfunctional and the UK used France’s defeat to Germany in World War II to assert greater control over the islands. [Source: Lamont Lindstrom, “Countries and Their Cultures”, 2000]

Colonization Period in Vanuatu

During the colonial period from 1906 to 1980, Vanuatu was known as the New Hebrides. The "condominium" arrangement described above has sometimes been termed "pandemonium" since there were two systems of administration running parallel to each other. In addition to the two colonial languages of English and French, inhabitants spoke one or more of about 100 indigenous languages. For most ni-Vanuatu (people of Vanuatu) the only effective language of communication was, and is, Bislama (a kind of Pidgin which has strong elements of English vocabulary and Melanesian grammar). [Source: Wardlow Friesen, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, Gale, 2002]

Settlers arrived in the New Hebrides seeking land to cultivate cotton. When global cotton prices plummeted, they shifted to other crops such as coffee, cocoa, and bananas. Their most profitable venture was growing coconuts. In the beginning, the majority were British citizens from Australia. However, with the establishment of the Caledonian Company of the New Hebrides in 1882, French citizens gained the upper hand. By the beginning of the 20th century, the French outnumbered the British by a ratio of two to one. Indigenous cash cropping of copra started in the late 1920s. [Source: “Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009"]

During World War II, The New Hebrides was largely spared from fighting but the island of Santo was a major staging base for American forces. In the early 1940s, New Hebrides joined the Free French. Later Vila and Santo become American bases. As Japan pushed into Melanesia, the U.S. stationed up to 50,000 soldiers in Vanuatu to prevent further advances. In 1945, US troops withdrew and sold their equipment, leading to the rise of political and religious cargo cults, such as the John Frum movement. The Jon Frum movement began proposing that Americans could deliver followers from missionaries and other Europeans (See Below). [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

Political Activity in Vanuatu After World War II

The France-UK condominium was reestablished after World War II. The UK was interested in moving the condominium toward independence in the 1960s, but France was hesitant and political parties agitating independence began to form, largely divided along linguistic lines.

Serious challenges to the Anglo-French Condominium began with the arrival of Americans during World War II. Their informal style and relative wealth, contributed to the rise of nationalism in the islands. The belief in a mythical messianic figure, John Frum, served as the basis for an indigenous cargo cult that promised Melanesian deliverance through magic. Currently, John Frum is both a religion and a political party with a member in Parliament. [Source: “Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2009"]

Indigenous political activity emerged following World War II as natives became more worried about land alienation and European dominance. In 1971, a tax haven was established in the New Hebrides. In 1975, a representative assembly took the place of the nominated advisory council that previously governed the New Hebrides. The assembly consisted of 29 elected members who held universal suffrage, nine members representing economic interests, and four members representing traditional chiefs.[Source: Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations, Thomson Gale, 2007, Encyclopedia.com]

Beginning in the late 1960s anticolonial and nationalist sentiments solidified with the formation of Nagriamel (Vemarana, the Nagriamel Customs Union or Nagriamel Movement), the first political party, which demanded independence and the return of some land. The New Hebrides National Party was established in the early 1970s. One of the founders was Father Walter Lini, who later became Prime Minister. Renamed the Vanuaaku Pati in 1974, the party pushed for independence;

Road to an Independent Vanuatu

Lamont Lindstrom, “Countries and Their Cultures”Competition and conflict between Anglophones and Francophones culminated in the 1970s, when both groups backed different political parties in the run-up to independence. The French had greatly expanded their educational system, leaving a legacy of Francophones who commonly find themselves opposed politically to their Anglophone compatriots. [Source: Lamont Lindstrom, “Countries and Their Cultures”, 2000]

France eventually relented and elections, which were held in 1974. The main parties in favor of independence in the 1970s were British-supported and Anglophone, drawing on English and Protestant roots more than on French and Roman Catholic. Still, all the citizens distinguish themselves from European colonialists as they assume their national identity.

In 1977 the National Party (Vanuaaku Pati), which held 21 of 42 assembly seats, demanded independence and staged a boycott of the legislature; in response, at a conference in Paris, self-government was agreed on for 1978, to be followed by a 1980 referendum on independence. After considerable difficulty, a constitutional conference in 1979 finally agreed on an independence constitution. In the November 1979 elections for a newly constituted, fully elective assembly, the National Party, led by Father Walter Lini, obtained 26 of the 39 seats.

Independent Vanuatu

Vanuatu achieved independence on July 30, 1980 under English-speaking Prime Minister Walter Lini. Before independence, the Nagriamel Movement, with support from French-speaking landowners, declared Espiritu Santo independent, but the short-lived state was dissolved 12 weeks later.

In May 1980. a dissident francophone group, based on Espiritu Santo, attempted to break away and declared an independent government of Vemarana on the islands of Espiritu Santo and Tanna under Jimmy Stevens and the Nagriamal Party and Jon Frum movements. Attempts made during June to resolve the differences between the new central government and the rebels failed. British and French troops were sent to Luganville on July 24 but Britain and France refused to take military action. No shots were fired, but the soldiers remained until Vanuatu's formal declaration of independence in July 1980. They were then replaced at the new government's request by forces from Papua New Guinea, The troops from Papua New Guinea. who were assisted by the local police, put down the rebellion and secured the country for first prime minister, Walter Lini, leader of the Vanua'aku Party.

Since independence, the French have provided aid in periods when the country has been ruled by Francophone political parties. Australia and New Zealand have largely replaced British assistance and influence. Linguistic divisions have lessened over time but highly fractious political parties have led to weak coalition governments that require support from both Anglophone and Francophone parties. Since 2008, prime ministers have been ousted through no-confidence motions or temporary procedural issues 10 times. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

Image Sources:

Text Sources: CIA World Factbook, 2023; “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1991, Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated September 2023