History of Vanuatu

The history of Vanuatu spans over 3,000 years.

Vanuatu was discovered by Austronesians of the Lapita culture 3,000 years ago. Vanuatu first had contact with Europeans in 1606, when Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Portuguese explorer sailing for the Spanish crown, came to the island. The Spanish established a short-lived settlement at Big Bay. In 1768, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French explorer and military officer visited the island. Later, Captain Cook visited the islands and gave it the name New Hebrides, a name that lasted until independence.

During the 19th century, the islands were used to obtain indentured labors in the practice called Blackbirding. This caused Vanuatu to lose half of its male population at the time. Missionaries came to the islands to convert the population to Christians while settlers established plantations of cotton and other plants on the island.

Vanuatu (then New Hebrides) came under a British-French condominium in 1887. The condominium had two separate governing systems that only had a joint court. Starting in 1921, the French let Annamese workers (that is, those from Central Vietnam) to the islands in five-year contracts. During the Second World War, approximately 10,000 Ni-Vanuatu men served in the Vanuatu Labor Corps, a labor battalion of the United States Armed Forces at Espiritu Santo Naval Base. They provided logistical support to the Allied war effort during the Guadalcanal campaign.

The first political party of Vanuatu was established in the early 1970s and was called the New Hebrides National Party (now called “Vanua'aku Pati”), founded by Walter Lini. The party pushed for the independence of Vanuatu. In 1979, foreign owners were dispossessed of their land and compensated, and a date for independence was also set. Significant rebellions occurred on Tanna as plans by the French to make Espiritu Santo become a separate colony were revealed.

Beginning in June 1980, Jimmy Stevens, head of the Nagriamel movement, led an uprising against the local colonial officials, which lasted about twelve weeks. The uprising declared the independence of the island of Espiritu Santo as the State of Vemerana. Stevens was supported by Francophone landowners and the Phoenix Foundation. On 8 June 1980, the New Hebrides government asked Britain and France to send troops to suppress the rebellion in Espiritu Santo. However, France refused to allow the UK to deploy troops there, and French troops stationed there took no actions. Walter Lini asked Papua New Guinea to intervene in Vanuatu. As Papua New Guinea sent troops to Espiritu Santo, the foreign press began referring to the conflict as the Coconut War. However, it was brief and ended as a vehicle carrying Steven's son burst through a Papua New Guinean roadblock causing the soldiers to shoot fire on the vehicle, killing Stevens' son. Shortly afterwards, Jimmy Stevens surrendered.

On 30 July 1980, amidst the brief Coconut War, the Republic of Vanuatu was created. During the 1990s, Vanuatu briefly experienced political instability. The Vanuatu Mobile Force, a paramilitary force, attempted a coup in 1996. New elections have been held since 1997, most recently in 2022.