Vanuatu Totally Explained

Vanuatu, 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 the United Kingdom 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

Many of the islands of Vanuatu have been inhabited for thousands of years with the oldest archaeological evidence dating back to 1300 BC.

Europeans

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.
For a few years following 1879, the island of Efate was an independent republic known as Franceville. It was the first self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage without distinction of sex or race, although only whites were permitted to hold office. 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 United Nations 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

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

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 (UK), France and New Zealand have provided the bulk of Vanuatu's development aid. Direct aid from the UK to Vanuatu has ceased since 2005 following the decision by the UK to no longer focus on the Pacific. However, more recently new donors such as the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and the People's Republic of China 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

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. 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

Since 1994, Vanuatu has been divided into six provinces:

Economy and demographics

Economy

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. 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 doesn't 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's 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 Vanuatu flag because of the tax benefits and favorable labour 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

Vanuatu has a population of 221,506.

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.
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 majority of Vanuatu's population as a second language. In addition 113 indigenous languages are still actively spoken in Vanuatu. 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.

Education

In Port Vila, and three other centres, are locations of the University of the South Pacific, an educational institution co-owned by twelve Pacific countries. The campus in Port Vila, known as the Emalus Campus, houses the University's law school.

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