Brief History

The islands of Vanuatu began their formation around 22 million years ago by seismic activities on the ocean floor which forced underwater mountains to the surface. This event created the islands of Santo, Malakula, and the Torres group. Similar geological events occurred between 5 and 11 million years ago, which created the islands of Maewo and Pentecost.

It is the general belief amongst historians that the first site of settlement in Vanuatu was at Malo Island . Archaeological evidence shows the first settlement was about 1400BC. These original inhabitants were the people of the Lapita culture which is known for its distinctive pinhole-incised pottery. The Lapita people brought with them yams, taro, and domesticated animals.

Over time, other Melanesian peoples began to settle on the archipelago and began to intermarry with those already there.

The island communities were separated by sea and land. These peoples lived on small claims of land, which had been occupied, since the arrival of their ancestors. In these small communities there grew beliefs in the supernatural and sorcery. There also grew a deep suspicion of all peoples not members of one's clan. This suspicion in turn gave way to hostility in many events and caused much inter clan warfare. Generally warfare consisted of ambushes and minor skirmishes but there were on occasion large-scale raids. Conflicts also began as a result of theft of crops, suspected witchcraft or sorcery and trespassing onto the clan's land.

The first European contact with Vanuatu was by the Spanish explorer Pedro Fernandez de Quiros who sighted the mountain Mere Lava on the 25 April 1606 . Mere Lava is a mountain on one of the islands in the Banks Group. Quiros briefly landed on the nearby island of Gaua and was well received by the members of the local village. Continuing, Quiros set sail and on the 3rd of May 1606 entered the Big Bay at Santo. Quiros mistakenly believed he had found the great southern continent and promptly named it 'Terra Australis del Espirito Santo'. He then claimed Santo and all lands south to be under Spain 's rule. Quiros attempted to make a colony at Santo but this only lasted for 54 days and ended as result of a crew mutiny.

Further European explorers included Louis Antoine de Bougainville who proved that Santo was not the great Southern Continent by sailing between Malakula and Santo. Captain James Cook on his second Pacific expedition in 1774 on the HMS Resolution sailed through and named many of the islands of the archipelago. He also coined the name of the ' New Hebrides ' by which Vanuatu was known before independence in 1980. William Bligh in 1789 traveled through Vanuatu just after the mutiny on 'The Bounty'. Whilst attempting to sail back to Timor in the East Indies he sighted several unrecorded islands in the northern Banks group which he later sailed back to and reconfirmed these discoveries.
European contact increased as the traders discovered local resources of Sandalwood, a sweet smelling tree burnt as incense, which was in huge demand by the Chinese. With what were no more than token payments the traders purchased significant quantities of the wood. As supply reduced the islanders began to demand payment in the forms of weapons, tobacco, rival villages men and assistance in inter-clan warfare against hostile villages.

With the exhaustion of the native sandalwood supplies, traders began to find profits in labor recruiting which was also known as 'blackbirding'. This cheap labor was in huge demand for the sugar cane, nickel mining and coconut plantation industries in the Pacific region. The blackbirders would often abduct the islanders in an attempt to get the labor. The conditions for a blackbirded islander were harsh with overcrowding and unhygienic ships. On arrival to their destinations they were often lined up and sold to the highest bidder. After realizing the Blackbirders' evil nature many former laborers attacked and killed the crews of the Blackbirding ships. Blackbirding ceased in the early 20th century.

The vessels of the sandalwood traders and blackbirders inadvertently caused another critical problem for the islanders. This was the influx of European diseases and germs for which the islanders had no biological resistance. Diseases such as cholera, measles, smallpox, influenza, pneumonia, scarlet fever, whooping cough, mumps, chicken pox and dysentery exacted a harsh toll on the local population at times wiping out entire villages. The village’s reliance on custom medicines had no effect in stopping these epidemics. An estimate of Vanuatu ’s population prior to European involvement was over 1 million people in the early 1800's. This reduced to about 650000 in the 1870s, 100000 by the late 1890's and in 1935 was recorded at 41000 people.

In the early 1900's the archipelago moved towards joint British and French rule, which culminated with the establishment of the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides in 1906. This was done partly to resist German expansionism in the South Pacific. The condominium authority was over the 65000 islanders, 1000 British and 2000 French, which inhabited the islands. Authority was extended by the Anglo-French protocol of 1914. These agreements established the archipelago as an area of equal influence for the two colonial powers, with neither having exclusive sovereignty over it. The British and French nationals had equal rights, and still retained the citizenship of their native country. The Ni-Vanuatu islanders were left officially stateless.
The Condominium was locally known as the "Pandemonium" as a result of the dual administration systems that were set up. The Condominium's chief organ of government was the Joint Court , which arbitrated disputes between the French, British, other Europeans and Ni-Vanuatu. There were also separate courts for disputes within the English and French nationals and a tribal court for the islanders. Similarly there were 2 police forces, 2 health systems, 2 education systems, 2 prison systems and 2 currencies. Few government services were consolidated. Overseas visitors who were from neither Commonwealth nor Union countries had to choose which jurisdiction they wished to be dealt under.

In WWII Japan's expansion through the Pacific, which eventually reached the Solomon's Islands in 1942, resulted in the belief that Vanuatu would be the next Allied territory to fall. In May 1942 the US Naval fleet arrived and hurriedly began construction of bases on Efate and Santo. The population of Vanuatu tripled with the influx of 100000 US servicemen. In time over 500000 Allied soldiers passed through the area. With the cessation of hostilities the military forces left as quickly as they had arrived. The dumping of surplus military equipment created the tourist location of 'million dollar point' in Santo and influenced the evolution of cargo cults, most notably of which is the Jon Frum cult of Tanna.

Vanuatu became a point of contention with the colonial authorities with the public discussion of the question of independence. The United Kingdom accepted the loss of the colony to independence fairly early on but the French did not share this opinion. In an attempt to retain colonial stake in the region it was found to be backing some of the later secessionist attempts of the islands such as Santo in early 1980's.
Since Independence on 30th July 1980 the Vanuatu government has been proactive in the international relations arena. The government has established diplomatic ties with over 70 countries and has participated in many international agreements and organizations including the ACCT, ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), IOC, ITU, NAM, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO.