The constitutional position was settled in 1977, at a conference between British, French and New Hebridean representatives in Paris, and the islands became fully independent in 1980 with the New Hebrides becoming the Republic of Vanuatu. Later, the planters recruited labour from Malaya, China, Vietnam, Fiji and Tonga, which explains today's multicultural mix.Īfter World War 2, a complex power struggle began between the indigenous islanders and the dual colonial interests over the future political and economic course of the islands. The early part of the 20th century saw the local people employed on low wages by white plantation owners in conditions not much better than slavery. This caused chaos with French and English currencies, two prisons, two hospitals, 'Bobbies' patrolling one side of the street and gendarmes the other and, for a short time, vehicles drove on both sides of the road. In 1906, it was decided without any consultation with the indigenous people that the New Hebrides would become an Anglo-French Condominium. The 19th century saw the indigenous population decimated by atrocities – slaughtered by sandalwood traders, kidnapped as cheap labour for the cane fields and the infected by missionaries who introduced many diseases. In 1774, Cook sailed to Malekula, Erromango, Tanna, Santo and Efate (which he named Sandwich Island). The stories were so accurate that in 1967 the digs were easy to locate and revealed the stories were true.Įuropean explorers visited the islands in the 17th and 18th centuries from various parts of the globe. For example, Roy Mata, the chief for Efate and the Shepherd Islands, died around 1265 and stories were told of his burial that his wives, close relatives and clan leaders chose to be buried alive with him. For centuries the ni-Vanuatu have recorded their history orally, passing stories from one generation to the next. Settlement in Vanuatu dates back to around 500BC. Vanuatu History, Language and Culture History of Vanuatu Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. In: Michaelis, Susanne Maria & Maurer, Philippe & Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus (eds.)Ītlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. Patrick (Essex) lists it among eight other such cases at .uk/lg/lg449/PCsAsNationalLanguages.htm (date: 2005). (A transcript and translation to English can be found on the wikitongues channel.)īislama is among the few creole languages that have turned into official national languages. The speaker first says something in Bislama, followed by a few sentences in Neverver, one of the indigenous Vanuatu languages. The most prominent researcher on Bislama was Terry Crowley (1953-2005), who published, among others, a reference grammar (Crowley 2004). #VANUATU PIDGIN ENGLISH FREE#: free language resources on Bislama, including learning material and a bilingual English-Bislama dictionary.The entry on Bislama in the Atlas of Pigin and Creole Language Structures Online.There are a number of very informative resources on Bislama on the internet: It is an English-based creole language with influence from French and local languages. Bislama is the lingua franca in the country.
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