Vanuatu History

Vanuatu

Settled by people from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the islands were charted by British Navigator James Cook in 1774, who named them the New Hebrides. In the 1860s, Catholic and Protestant missionaries arrived. Political control was contested by France and Great Britain. In 1906 they set up a joint rule. The islands served as a major Allied staging base in World War II. A brief rebellion by French settlers and plantation workers was quelled by British and French forces in May 1980. The country achieved independence in July 1980, and is a member of the British Commonwealth.