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- <text>
- <title>
- Vanuatu: History
- </title>
- <article>
- <hdr>
- Background Notes: Vanuatu
- History
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>The prehistory of Vanuatu is obscure; archaeological
- evidence supports the commonly held theory that peoples
- speaking Austronesian languages first came to the islands some
- 4,000 years ago. Potshards have been found dating back to
- 1300-1100 B.C.
- </p>
- <p> The first island in the Vanuatu group discovered by
- Europeans was Espiritu Santo, when in 1606 the Portuguese
- explorer, Pedro Fernandez De Quiros, spied what he thought was
- a southern continent. Europeans did not return until 1768, when
- Louis Antoine de Bougainville rediscovered the islands. In
- 1774, Captain Cook named the islands the New Hebrides, a name
- lasting until independence.
- </p>
- <p> In 1825, trader Peter Dillon's discovery of sandalwood on
- the island of Erromango began an eventual rush that ended in
- 1830 after a clash between immigrant Polynesian workers and
- indigenous Melanesians. Sandalwood trade resumed in 1839 and
- spread to the other islands, finally centering on Espiritu Santo
- in the 1860s.
- </p>
- <p> During the l860s, planters in Australia, Fiji, New
- Caledonia, and the Samoa Islands, in need of laborers,
- encouraged a form of long-term indentured labor called
- "blackbirding." At the height of the labor trade, more than
- one-half of the adult male population of several of the islands
- worked abroad.
- </p>
- <p> During this time, missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant
- arrived on the islands. Settlers also came, looking for land on
- which to establish cotton plantations. When international
- cotton prices collapsed, they switched to coffee, cocoa,
- bananas, and, most successfully, coconuts. Initially, British
- subjects from Australia made up the majority, but the
- establishment of the Caledonian Company of the New Hebrides in
- 1882 soon tipped the balance in the favor of French subjects.
- By the turn of the century, the French outnumbered the British
- two to one.
- </p>
- <p> The jumbling of French and British interests in the islands
- brought petitions for one of the two powers to annex the
- territory. In 1906, however, they agreed to jointly administer
- the islands. Called the British-French Condominium, it was a
- unique form of government, with separate governmental systems,
- coming together only in a joint court. Melanesians were barred
- from acquiring the citizenship of either power.
- </p>
- <p> This form of government was challenged beginning in the
- early 1940s. The arrival of Americans during World War II--their demeanor and apparent wealth was instrumental in the rise
- of nationalism on the islands. An indigenous cargo cult (a
- movement attempting to obtain industrial goods through magic)
- promising Melanesian deliverance was led by a mythical messianic
- figure named John Frum.
- </p>
- <p> The first political party was established in the early 1970s
- and originally was called the New Hebrides National Party. One
- of the founders was Father Walter Lini, who later became prime
- minister. Renamed the Vanua'aku Pati in 1974, the party had
- pushed for independence until 1980, when the Republic of
- Vanuatu was created.
- </p>
- <p>Current Political Conditions
- </p>
- <p> On the eve of independence in 1980, Jimmy Stephens'
- Nagriamel, in alliance with French interests, declared Espiritu
- Santo independent of the new government. After negotiations
- failed, the government requested troops from Papua New Guinea
- and Australia to help arrest the secessionists. Since 1980, the
- Vanua'aku Pati (VP) has controlled the Vanuatu Government.
- </p>
- <p> In 1988, Barak Sope, the VP's secretary-general, attempted
- to remove Father Lini as prime minister. In May 1988, Sope was
- fired from the cabinet following violent antigovernment protests
- in Port Vila for which he was blamed. Subsequently, Sope and
- four other VP members of parliament resigned de facto from the
- party and were dismissed from parliament. Later, 18 Union of
- Moderate Parties (UMP) members also were expelled from
- parliament under constitutional provisions forbidding members
- to boycott parliamentary sittings. Sope and his supporters were
- later reinstated by the courts, but he subsequently resigned
- when the court upheld the expulsion of the 18 boycotting UMP
- members.
- </p>
- <p> Following this, President Ati George Sokomanu dissolved
- parliament and announced the establishment of an interim
- government headed by Sope. The Lini government challenged
- Sokomanu's authority to dissolve the government without the
- advice of the cabinet, and this position was upheld by the
- courts. Sokomanu, Sope, and four other members of Sokomanu's
- purported "interim government" were arrested and tried on
- charges involving sedition and conspiracy to overthrow the
- government. Four were convicted but ultimately released on
- appeal. Throughout this period, the Vanuatu courts have
- continued to function, and their authority has been upheld. In
- 1989, Sope founded the Melanesian Progressive Party as an
- alternative to the VP and UMP.
- </p>
- <p>Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs,
- May 1990.
- </p>
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-