Introduction

Vanuatu is only 2.5 hours flying time North East of Brisbane and 3.5 hours from Sydney, Australia. It's a little over 2 hours from Auckland, New Zealand.

There are twice weekly flights from New Zealand and Honiara, nine time flights weekly from Australia, four flights weekly from Noumea and three flights weekly from Fiji.

Geography and Climate

Vanuatu is a "Y" shaped archipelago of volcanic islands and submarine volcanoes in the South Pacific Ocean, stretching from 13.2' to 20.5' South to 166.2' to 170' East. The total number of islands exceeds eighty, though many are no more than small islets or rocky outcrops. Of these, there are thirteen major islands, nine home active volcanoes. Vanuatu is 2,172 kilometers (1,303 miles) northeast of Sydney and 5,750 kilometers (3,450 miles) southwest of Honolulu. Fiji lies to the east, New Caledonia to the south, and the Solomon Islands to the northwest, all within the area of the South Pacific called Melanesia.

The northernmost island is Hiu and lies just a few miles south of the Solomon's southernmost islands of Santa Cruz. Officially, Vanuatu's southern most island is Aneityum, however it also claims Mathew and Hunter Islands further to the south (disputed by New Caledonia).

These two islands are nothing more than a rocky outcrop and smoking volcano, but 'ownership' of them would extent the Maritime economic zone considerably, as Vanuatu claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles. (Territorial sea: 12 nm).

The total land mass of the island group is just over 14,760 square kilometers (5,697 square miles) with the two largest islands, Espiritu Santo and Malekula taking up nearly one-half of the total land area. Total coastline is 2,528 kilometres, about the same as French Polynesia.

The capital, Port Vila is located Longitude 168.18E and Latitude 17.45S.

The climate of Vanuatu is tropical, moderated by southeast trade winds from around May to September each year. Rainfall averages about 2,360 millimeters (94 in.) per year but can be as high as 4,000 millimeters (160 in.) in the northern islands.

Tropical cyclones (typhoons or hurricanes) threaten the islands from December through March, with the occasional early cyclone in mid November. Generally, cyclones later in the season are stronger. Other natural hazards include volcanic eruptions, mudslides from these and heavy rainfalls and frequent, generally minor earthquakes.

Geologically, Vanuatu lies along the area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. The oldest islands, Espiritu Santo and Malekula are on the left side of the Y shape of the archipelago. Though these two islands have no volcanoes, they are made of Miocene (5-24 million years old) andesitic volcanic rocks resulting from the northeast ward directed subduction of the Australian Plate beneath the edge of the Pacific Plate.

The entire island chain owes its existence to the active volcanism resulting from these two plates converging at a rate of around 9 cm per year. Overall Vanuatu is uplifted around 4 cm per year. There is also a divergent plate boundary (called a spreading center or spreading axis) east of Vanuatu, adding to the complex geology of the region. Most of the volcanic eruptions in Vanuatu are Plinian, resulting in huge expanses of thick ash, later cemented together by rainfall. Thus the geology of the Vanuatu is basically basalt, from the build up of the shield volcanoes and lava flows, with overlays of limestone from coral build-up and compacted ash from eruptions.

Vanuatu is rich in both underwater and underground caves formed both by volcanic activity and the erosion of limestone and the much softer ash. Some caves, such as those at Siviri, on Efate Island, stretch inland for miles and their true extent has yet to be explored. In recent years a huge series of underground fresh water caves has been discovered in Santo and is fast becoming popular with divers.

The most unusual aspect of the local geology is the formation of beach rock. In the high rainfalls of tropical climates, the calcium carbonate from shells and the skeletons of dead zoo plankton that make up the beach sediment can precipitate into a solution (dissolve). This solution gravitates down the beach to the littoral zone (area between high and low tide) and in the high temperatures of the tropical sun, the water evaporates. The calcium carbonate remains as a natural cement, welding together everything within the littoral zone, forming what is known as beach rock.

In places like Espiritu Santo this beach rock has welded not only sand, but the remains of WW II machinery dumped at places like Million dollar Point,  into one huge long beach of naturally cemented war refuse. It's an amazing sight for not only war machinery was dumped here. Million Dollar Point may well have the distinction of being the only beach in the world made from rock embedded with tens of thousands of Coca Cola and 7 Up bottles.

Courtesy of the Vanuatu National Tourism Office 

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People and Culture

Vanuatu boasts 113 distinct languages and innumerable dialects. This makes it one of the most culturally diverse countries on earth.

Each successive wave of immigrants carried with them all the tools needed to live. Food crops, tree seedlings and their most important animal - the pig. This animal is probably the most significant aspect of life in Vanuatu, for it symbolises not simply a source of protein, it is the cornerstone of their ritual life, a token of wealth and power upon which entire societies are founded.

Over the millennia, natural boundaries; large open stretches of water, dense jungle and mountainous terrain, isolated many groups, even from the same ethnic origins, from each other.

Today, there are four main cultural areas.

• In the northern areas, there are two variations of a social and political society where men and women can 'purchase' positions of status. Wealth, in the form of mats and pigs - particularly pigs with rounded tusks - is not defined so much by how much an individual owns, but by demonstrating how much he can give away. Grade taking ceremonies, where large numbers of pigs are ritually killed and gifts given to members of an extended family, are elaborate affairs. Although the status of a person may be publicly displayed with, for example, certain body decorations, and a respect for their status, there is no real authority attached.
• In the central areas, Polynesian type systems have predominated. Here, a hereditary chief is a powerful authority figure reigning over an entire class system, complete with nobles and commoners.

• In the southern islands, particularly Tanna, titles or names are bestowed on certain men, which designate them as chiefs. This status can give them rights over land and even possessions of entire social groups. Women hold a very low status whereas in places like Ambae and the Shepherds, women can achieve the rank of Chief. 

• The situation is complicated even further by the introduction of more recent 'religions' such as the John Frumm's (cargo cult) and the Half Halfs and various men's secret societies, both on Tanna and to a lesser extent, on Santo and other islands.

However, throughout all the islands one thing remains constant, life is characterised by a constant cycle of ritual events. Every aspect of a person's life is celebrated by extended families that number in the hundreds, filial relationships being remembered back in time through countless generations. Birth, circumcision and initiation, the achievement of status, marriage and death are a paramount feature of a community's social life. With so many relatives, there seems always to be a significant ritual of some sort happening, or about to happen, somewhere.

With no written language, story telling, songs and dances are of paramount importance. Art, in it's many forms, from body decorations and tattoos, to elaborate masks, hats and carvings are also a vital part of ritual celebrations and the social life of the village.

Similar to Australian Aboriginal stories of the dreamtime, and Maori legends of the past, ni-Vanuatu culture is also abundant in mythic legends. Natural formations, the presence and causes of volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters, are all imbibed with legends of significant cultural importance.

Even today, natural events are considered not to be the result of, say, plate tectonics or a chance passing of a cyclone, but events brought about by the actions of individuals who may have offended certain spirits.

In the past, such beliefs caused animosity between villages and islands, to the extent that warfare often resulted (a classic example is the eruption of the Ambrym volcano in 1913). 

Naturally, traditional societies' economies are based on produce from the land. Staple foods are mostly root crops; yam, taro and manioc. Seasonal fruits like breadfruit are important mainstays. In most areas a portion of the jungle is simply cleared to plant crops. However in places where there is plenty of water, taro is grown in complex terraces hand built from earth and rocks. As mentioned above, pigs are a mainstay of the economy not just as food but as a form of money and prestige.

A village's economy plays a significant role not just in simple survival, but as part of the complex rituals. One of the simplest examples are circumcision ceremonies. On some islands, mothers 'pay' the uncles of boys to be circumcised. The boys are taken into the bush for weeks, sometimes months, where they are introduced to the ways of manhood - as well as having their foreskins removed. From that point on they no longer run naked, but wear a penis sheath. The price paid to the uncles is in pigs, mats, dances and food crops. And that price cannot be paid unless the mother's have accumulated sufficient wealth.

In years following natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions (acidic ash rain can damage crops significantly) or cyclones, young boys can reach almost adult age without being circumcised. And they are still treated as babies as a result, until the mothers can once again accumulate sufficient food crops and pigs to pay the circumcisions price.

Although Kava is not a food crop, it is a significant part of Vanuatu cultural society. Kava is a derivative of the pepper tree family. Traditionally it is cut and chewed into a pulp, then spat into a bowl. The mushy pulp is squeezed and the resultant liquid drunk in. On some islands, both men and women may drink kava as an evening soporific after a hard days work. On Tanna it has become more ritualised as a 'men only' pastime, so much so that women dare not pass near nakamal's (men's houses) at the time kava is being drunk, lest they accidentally see the ritual and be punished with a beating.

Because of a long history of inter island and inter village trading, many ni-Vanutau speak numerous languages. Since the arrival of Europeans, a lingua franca evolved. It's name, Bislama

Despite the introduction of European ideas, the disastrous effects of missionaries and the development of Bislama as a universal language (loss of language being a prime destroyer of primitive cultures worldwide) Vanuatu's richness and diversity of culture

Courtesy of the Vanuatu National Tourism Office. Contact the Vanuatu Tourism Office for more information. 

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Government and its Services

Vanuatu is an independent, democratic republic with a 52 member Parliament elected by the people every 4 years. The executive consists of a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister who is elected by Parliament from among its members. The President is elected by Parliament and the National Council of Chiefs for a period of five years.

The Prime Minister and the 12 co-members of the council of ministers oversee the administration of Vanuatu's 13 government ministries.

Independence was attained in 1980 after some 74 years of joint rule by Britain and France. The islands were then known as the New Hebrides.

The Constitution provides for executive and legislative arms of government, and the judiciary. The President is Vanuatu's Head of State. The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and a Magistrates Court.

Vanuatu is a full member of the British Commonwealth, the French League of Nations, the United Nations, Agence de Co-operation Culturelle et Technique, the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC), the South Pacific Commission, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (which has its regional headquarters in Port Vila).

The International Companies Act (1993), the Companies Act (1986), the Banking Regulation and other Regulations are based on English law. The Supreme Court of Vanuatu has jurisdiction to determine all matters. Commercial law is based on English law.

Courtesy of http://www.vanuatugovernment.gov.vu/government/vanuatugov.html. 

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Economy

The country has a dualistic economy, with a large smallholder subsistence agricultural sector and a small monetised sector. The monetised sector is based on established plantations, ranches and associated trading, manufacturing, banking and shipping services, as well as the country's tourist industry. In Vanuatu, copra is the most important cash economic activity in the rural sector. At present, about 69,000 hectares of land are under coconut plantation, producing 50,000 tons of copra a year. Nearly all domestic exports are primary goods, the principal ones being coconut products, beef, cocoa, coffee and timber.

The introduction of commercial laws in the early 1970s added a new dimension to the economy; it led to the development of an off-shore finance and banking centre, and a rapid expansion in the number of support organizations and professionals in Port Vila. The Finance Centre contributes considerably to Government revenue through the payment of business licence fees, insurance, banking and trust company licences, annual registration fees for all companies, stamp duties and other smaller fees. It is also a significant earner of foreign exchange through capital transfers, professional fees, interest etc.

The Government places a high priority on tourism development within the country and several new resorts and hotels are due for completion by 2000.

The Government earns substantial revenue from turnover taxes on hotels, licensed premises, and casinos. Vanuatu has also enacted legislation to allow all forms of betting (under strict controls).

Courtesy of http://www.vanuatugovernment.gov.vu/government/vanuatugov.html. 

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