Vanuatu

The République of Vanuatu is a State of Mélanésie located in the south-west of the Pacific Ocean, in Mer of Coral. The archipelago is located at 1.750 kilometers in the east of the Australia, in the North-East of the New Caledonia, the west of the islands Fiji and in the south of the the Solomon Islands.

History

See also: History of the Vanuatu

5000 years ago (3000 av. J. - C.), of the inhabitants of the littoral of the China of the South, farmers of millet and of rice, start to cross the strait to settle with Taiwan: they constitute the origin of the big family austronésienne. Austronésiens are undoubtedly the first navigators of the history of humanity. Towards 2000 av. J. - C., migrations take place of Taiwan towards the Filipino and the Indonesia. Towards 1500 av. J. - C., another movement carries out Filipino in New Guinea and beyond that, the islands of the Pacifique: this expansion is that of civilization Lapita. The archipelago of the Vanuatu east thus inhabited since thousands of years; the oldest vestiges which were found date from III

See also: Settlement of Oceania

The first European explorer to reach the archipelago was the Portuguese Pedro Fernández de Quirós in 1606.

James Cook visited these islands towards the end of the 18th century, and the name of New Hebrides gave them. During all the 19th century, the archipelago constituted a particular ground of conquest for the Protestant and catholic missionaries, like for the whalers or the santaliers.

In 1906, the French and the British founded together a Franco-British Condominium, the condominium of the New Hebrides.

During the Years 1960, the Inhabitants of the New Hebrides sought to obtain more autonomy, and independence was finally granted to them by the two colonizing nations, the July 30th 1980.

During the Years 1990, Vanuatu tested a certain political instability, which was calmed in the Années 2000.

Policy

See also: Political of the Vanuatu

The Vanuatu is a parliamentary République. The right to vote is granted to all the citizens of more than 18 years.

The President is the Head of the State. He is elected for a 5 years mandate. The Prime Minister is the chief of the government. The role of the president is enough tiny room compared to that of the Prime Minister.

The legal system is based on the British and French right.

The legislative power is exerted by only one renewed room of 52 seats every 4 years.

Kalkot Matas Kelekele is the president of the Vanuatu since the August 16th 2004. Ham Lini is the Prime Minister since the December 11th 2004.

Subdivisions

See also: Provinces of the Vanuatu

The Vanuatu is divided into 6 provinces: Malampa, Penama, Sanma, Shefa, Tafea, Torba.

Geography

See also: Geography of the Vanuatu, List of the islands Vanuatu

The Vanuatu is composed of 83 islands, from which two - the island Matthew and the island Hunter - are also claimed by the French territory of overseas of New Caledonia. The majority of the islands are mountainous and of volcanic origin. They have a tropical or subtropical climate.

The two single cities of the country are Port-Villa, the capital, located on the island Efate; and Luganville, located on the island of Espiritu Santo.

Certain volcanic islands are still in activity, as islands of Tanna with the Yasur volcano, of Ambrym with the volcanos Marum and Benbow and Aoba (Ambae) and Lopevi with the volcanos éponymes. Other volcanos are deadened like the Garet Mount on the island of Gaua, or Karua, underwater volcano located in will caldera of Kuwae cave the islands of Ear and Tongoa. This will caldera, now underwater, was formed at the time of a cataclysmic eruption in the year 1452 which deeply modified the morphology of the islands.

In November 1999, a low register Earthquake followed by a Tsunami devastated the island of Pentecost and left thousands of people without hearth. In January 2002, another powerful earthquake, also followed by a tsunami, damaged the capital, Port-Villa, and its surroundings. In August 2006 and August 2007, two other seisms were made feel without however causing major damage or of tsunami because too deep.

Economy

See also: Economy of the Vanuatu

For 65  % of the population which lives in the rural areas of the archipelago, the economy is based mainly on an agriculture and a fishing of subsistence on a small village scale. The fishing, the finance departments offshore oil rig, and tourism, with approximately 50.000 visitors in 1997, are other important economic sectors. The deposits of Minerai are negligible; the country does not have any known layer of Pétrole. Industry is developed little: only a small light industry supplies the local market. The revenues from taxes come mainly from customs duties. Economic development is obstructed by the weakness of exports, the vulnerability with the natural disasters and by the long distances between the islands and the two cities of the country.

The growth of GDP was of less than 3% on average during the Années 1990. Towards the mid- 2002, the government intensified its efforts in order to increase tourism.

In the Vanuatu, there are no income tax, no reserve of tax to the source, any capital gains tax, any death tax and any exchange control. The Australia and the New Zealand are the leading vendors of foreign aid. The Vanuatu is a Tax shelter which does not provide to other governments or agencies of application of law, information on the financial accounts. In answer to the concerns coming from abroad, the government promised to improve the regulation of its offshore oil rig financial center. The Vanuatu is also a Flag of convenience.

In 2006, the Vanuatu was classified like the happiest country in the world by Happy Planet Index.


Demography

See also: Demography of Vanuatu

The 200.000 inhabitants of Vanuatu, or nor-Vanuatu , are in majority (95  %) of the populations autochthones, Mélanésiens and Polynésiens arrived at date ancienne.
The remainder of the Nor-Vanuatu population is composed of other islanders of the Pacific, Europeans and Asian.

Culture

See also: Culture of the Vanuatu

  • On the island of Pentecost is held a spectacular usual demonstration: the Jump of Gol. After having built a tower of branches of a score of meters (see Gol), men and children of male sex jump into space with, for only fastener, a liana rolled up around ankle.

  • On the island Mallicolo (Malekula), the men dance while relating to the head of the made ground masks kneaded around a reinforcement of roots of tree ferns. With the noise of their small bells manufactured from nut and that they attach to their ankles, they celebrate the principal usual events: births, circumcisions, passages of ranks and rites funerary.

Languages

The Vanuatu has three official languages: the English, the French and the Bislama. This last is a Pidgin in the process of Créolisation, primarily containing English (with some lexical elements coming from French and the languages mélanésiennes of Vanuatu north).

But the great richness of the Vanuatu lies in its impressive linguistic density, strongest of planet. For a population of approximately 200.000 inhabitants, one does not count less than 110 different languages, without counting the dialects. All these languages belong to the branch océanienne of the family austronésienne.

Religions

The Christianisme is the dominant Religion in the Vanuatu, but is burst in many different Churches. The Église presbytérienne, to which approximately a third of the population adheres, is most important of them. Many sects, the majority Protestant women, are established among the population of the Vanuatu.

National festivals

Codes

The Vanuatu has as codes:

See too

External bonds

  • Official site of the government of the tourist Vanuatu
  • Official site of the Vanuatu
  • Masterpiece of the oral and immaterial inheritance of humanity: drawings on sand of the Vanuatu
  • Information on the Vanuatu
  • topicality of the Vanuatu
  • Prehistory of the Vanuatu

Reference

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