Vanuatu

Where the name comes from

Vanuatu joins Austronesian vanua, “land” or “home”, and tu, “stand”, expressing an independent homeland; it replaced the colonial name.

First people

Settlers linked to the Lapita culture arrived around 3,000 years ago and developed many island languages.¹

Known for

Vanuatu is known for land diving on Pentecost Island, the vine-jumping ritual that inspired bungee jumping, and for Mount Yasur, a volcano you can walk up to.²

Outside contact

Joint British–French rule began in 1906, as the New Hebrides.^3,4,5

The modern country

Vanuatu became independent in 1980; English, French and Bislama, which links people across local languages, are all official.⁴