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Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island country in Melanesia, located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 km (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.
Vanuatu's economy is primarily agricultural; 80% of the population is engaged in agricultural activities that range from subsistence farming to smallholder farming of coconuts and other cash crops.
Port Vila, or simply Vila, is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate.
Bislama is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" and the second language of much of the rest of the country's residents. The lyrics of "Yumi, Yumi, Yumi", the country's national anthem, are composed in Bislama.
The vatu is the currency of Vanuatu. Vanuatu is, by population, the fourth smallest country in the world, after Barbados,Tonga, and the Seychelles to have its own currency and monetary policy. The vatu has no subdivisions.
The Torres Islands are an island chain in the Torba Province of the country of Vanuatu, and is that country’s the northernmost island group. The chain of islands that make up this micro-archipelago straddles the broader cultural boundary between Island Melanesia and several Polynesian outliers located in the neighbouring Solomon Islands. To the island chain’s north is Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands, to its south is Espiritu Santo, and to its southeast are the Banks Islands. To the west, beneath the ocean surface, is the deep Torres Trench, which is the subduction zone between the Australian and Pacific plates.
Pentecost Island is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.
Ambae, also known as Aoba, Omba, Oba, or Opa and formerly Lepers’ Island, is an island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, located near 15°30′S167°30′E, approximately 310 kilometres north-northwest of Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila. It is also Vanuatu's largest active volcano.
The Vanuatu national rugby union team represents Vanuatu in the sport of rugby union. The team is classified as a tier three nation by the International Rugby Board (IRB), and has yet to qualify for a Rugby World Cup. Its international debut was in 1966. It became affiliated with World Rugby in 1999. The team is nicknamed the Tuskers, after the pig tusks prized as currency in some parts of the country. The tusks also appear on the country's flag.
Vanuatu is an overwhelmingly Christian majority country, with adherents of Islam being a minuscule minority. Due to the secular nature of Vanuatu's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. There are roughly 1,000 Muslims in the country according to online estimates.
Customary land is land which is owned by indigenous communities and administered in accordance with their customs, as opposed to statutory tenure usually introduced during the colonial periods. Common ownership is one form of customary land ownership.
Christianity is the largest religion in Vanuatu. Vanuatu is an archipelago made up of 13 larger islands, and approximately 70 smaller surrounding islands, each home to multitudes of diverse cultural and religious communities.
Ralph John Regenvanu is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet for most of the period from December 2010 to January 2012 and then from March 2013 to June 2015, and was the Director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council from 1995 until December 2010.
This article presents an overview of the culture of Vanuatu.
The Turaga nation is an indigenous movement based in northern Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. Its leader is Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua, and it has also been associated with Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i. The organisation has its headquarters in the traditional village of Lavatmanggemu on the north-east coast of Pentecost.
Avoiuli is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in traditional sand drawings, and intended as a native alternative to the Latin alphabet. It is used mainly for writing in the area's native Raga language, although it can also be used for other languages including Apma, Bislama and English.
The Livatu is a unit used by the Turaga indigenous movement and the Tangbunia Bank in Vanuatu to reckon the worth of items of traditional currency such as pigs and textiles. One livatu is equivalent to one fully curved boar's tusk, a symbolic item of value in Vanuatu culture. Long dyed mats, a less valuable item of exchange, are worth up to a half a livatu.
Law in the Republic of Vanuatu consists of a mixed system combining the legacy of English common law, French civil law and indigenous customary law. The Parliament of Vanuatu is the primary law-making body today, but pre-independence French and British statutes, English common law principles and indigenous custom all enjoy constitutional and judicial recognition to some extent.
Grade-taking is a term used in anthropology for social systems under which individuals rise in status and authority by performing a series of ceremonies. Grade-taking was the system of leadership in pre-colonial societies of northern Vanuatu, typically involving the killing of valuable pigs; it is still actively practiced in some areas.
Squatting in the Republic of Vanuatu is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. After independence in 1980, informal settlements developed in cities such as Luganville and the capital Port Vila. Land in Vanuatu is either custom land owned by indigenous peoples or public land owned by the republic.
References
- ↑ "Piggy banking". www.andrewgray.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
- ↑ "Paying in pig tusks in Vanuatu", Andrew Harding, BBC, July 4, 2007
- ↑ J P Taylor, 2008, The Other Side: Ways of Being and Place in Vanuatu
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