A bit of background...........
The first humans to have colonized Vanuatu may well have been Melanesian sailors from Papua New Guinea, other groups, some of them Polynesians, settled tyhese islands at a later date. In May 1606, the Portugese navigator, Pedro Fernandes de Queiros, was the first European to discover the archipelago. Beleiving that he had at last reached the southern continentr, the whole purpose of his trip, he christianed the stretch of land where he came ashore 'Terra Australia del Spiritu Santo" hence the name of Santo island in the north. He established a colony there called New Jerusalem but soon high tailed it back to sea due to the hostility of the natives!! Luckily that was not the case for us. Later, in 1768 the French explorer Bougainville dropped anchor in these waters and named the islands Grande Cyclades, the strait between Santo and Malekula which we are sailing now still bears his name. In 1774 James Cook (re) discovered the islands on board the good ship Resolution during his second tour of the pacific. He is to be thanked for the first charts of the area (we are very grateful) and he named them New Hebrides with reference to the islands off Scotland. Slightly warmer here though! Several other navigators followed after this including Captain Bligh.
These lands experienced a slow and disorganized colonization. The first European settlement can be traced back to 1825 when Irishman Peter Dillon established the sandalwood trade with China. Australian planters settled some time later on the islands of Efate and Epi to harvest the copra. Throughout the 19th century, these islands were the object of a great deal of rivalry between the United Kingdom and France. Ultimately they decided to set up a joint administration and in London on the 20th October the Condominium of the New Hebrides came into being.

During the World War 2 the New Hebrides were the first French colony to join forces with General de Gaulle. They also constituted a major rear base for the Americans who built a number of roads and airfields on Efate and Santo.

During the sixties the population started to aspire to greater autonomy and in 1975 the organization of elections was approved by the authorities. Eventually independence was declared on 30th July 1980 and the Republic of Vanuatu was born.