{"id":9189,"date":"2022-06-08T04:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9189"},"modified":"2022-06-08T07:39:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T14:39:03","slug":"vanuatu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/vanuatu\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanuatu"},"content":{"rendered":"
Vanuatu, officially the\u00a0Republic of Vanuatu, is an\u00a0island country<\/a>\u00a0located in the South Pacific Ocean. The\u00a0archipelago<\/a>, which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 kilometers (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 kilometers (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia<\/a>, east of\u00a0New Guinea<\/a>, southeast of the\u00a0Solomon Islands<\/a>, and west of\u00a0Fiji<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vanuatu was first inhabited by\u00a0Melanesian<\/a>\u00a0people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator\u00a0Fernandes de Queir\u00f3s<\/a>, who arrived on the largest island,\u00a0Esp\u00edritu Santo<\/a>, in 1606. Queir\u00f3s claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial\u00a0Spanish East Indies<\/a>, and named it\u00a0La Austrialia del Esp\u00edritu Santo<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n In the 1880s, France and the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0claimed parts of the archipelago, and in 1906, they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the\u00a0New Hebrides<\/a>\u00a0through an Anglo-French\u00a0condominium<\/a>.<\/p>\n An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was founded in 1980. Since independence, the country has become a member of the United Nations,\u00a0Commonwealth of Nations<\/a>,\u00a0Organisation internationale de la Francophonie<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Pacific Islands Forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n The history of Vanuatu before European colonization is mostly obscure because of the lack of written sources up to that point, and because only limited archaeological work has been conducted; Vanuatu’s volatile geology and climate is also likely to have destroyed or hidden many prehistoric sites.<\/sup> However, archaeological evidence gathered since the 1980s supports the theory that the Vanuatuan islands were first settled about 3,000 years ago, in the period roughly between 1,100 BC and 700 BC.\u00a0These were almost certainly people of the\u00a0Lapita culture<\/a>. The formerly widespread idea that Vanuatu might have been only marginally affected by this culture was rendered obsolete by the evidence uncovered in recent decades at numerous sites on most of the islands in the archipelago, ranging from the\u00a0Banks Islands<\/a>\u00a0in the north to\u00a0Aneityum<\/a> in the south.<\/p>\n Notable Lapita sites include\u00a0Teouma<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0\u00c9fat\u00e9<\/a>,\u00a0Uripiv<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vao<\/a>\u00a0off the coast of\u00a0Malakula<\/a>, and Makue on\u00a0Aore<\/a>. Several ancient burial sites have been excavated, most notably Teouma on \u00c9fat\u00e9, which has a large ancient cemetery containing the remains of 94 individuals.<\/sup>\u00a0There are also sites \u2013 on \u00c9fate and on the adjacent islands of\u00a0Lelepa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Eretoka<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 associated with the 16th\u201317th century chief or chiefs called\u00a0Roy Mata<\/a>. (This may be a title held by different men over several generations.) Roy Mata is said to have united local clans and instituted and presided over an era of peace.<\/sup><\/p>\n The stories about Roy Mata come from local oral tradition, and are consistent with centuries-old evidence uncovered at archaeological sites.<\/sup>\u00a0The Lapita sites became Vanuatu’s first UNESCO\u00a0World Heritage Site<\/a> in 2008.<\/sup><\/p>\nHistory:<\/h2>\n
Prehistory:<\/span><\/h3>\n