Vanuatu

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Vanuatu fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇦🇺 Queensland labour traders1863 to 1906

   From the 1860s recruiters take tens of thousands of islanders to the sugar fields of Queensland and the plantations of Fiji, often by deceit or force. Most of those in Queensland are deported after Australia's Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1901.

2. 🇬🇧 British Empire1887 to 1980

   Britain refuses to let France annex the islands, shares a naval commission from 1887 and a condominium from 1906. English speaking Protestant islanders look to it, and Britain backs the move to independence in 1980.

3. 🇫🇷 France1887 to 1980

   France shares rule of the New Hebrides with Britain from 1906. French settlers hold much of the best land, and in 1980 some of them back Jimmy Stevens's revolt on Espiritu Santo against independence under Walter Lini.

4. 🇫🇷 France (Matthew and Hunter)Since 1980Still open

   Vanuatu claims Matthew and Hunter, two small volcanic islands east of New Caledonia, which France administers as part of that territory. The dispute over the islands and their surrounding waters remains unresolved.

Today

Vanuatu now

C. By around 1000, localized chieftain systems began to develop on the islands. Around 1600, Melanesian Chief ROI MATA united some of the islands of modern-day Vanuatu under his rule. In 1606, a Portuguese explorer was the first European to see Vanuatu's Banks Islands and Espiritu Santo, setting up a short-lived settlement on the latter. The next European explorers arrived in the 1760s, and the islands -- then known as the New Hebrides -- were frequented by whalers in the 1800s.

Capital

Port Vila

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Bob Loughman

Head of state

Nikenike Vurobaravu

Languages

Bislama, French, English

Area

12,189 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population320,4002023 · 51,600 in 1950
• Life expectancy71.5 years2023 · 43.9 years in 1950
• Living in cities22%2025 · 6% in 1950
• Literacy88%2023 · 33% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.