Port Vila, Vanuatu

Port Vila is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Vanuatu, an archipelago in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The capital is located on the island of Efate and serves as the primary commercial and economic center for Vanuatu. With a beautiful natural harbor and a blend of Melanesian, English, French, and Asian cultures, Port Vila has developed into a popular tourist destination in the Pacific region.

Landscape

Port Vila is nestled in an inlet of Mele Bay, along the southwestern coast of the island of Efate. The island is one of eighty-three islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that form the archipelago of Vanuatu, which is about 1,750 kilometers (1,087 miles) east of Australia. The archipelago stretches over 1,300 kilometers (807 miles) north to south, from the Solomon Islands to New Caledonia. Efate is the third-largest island in Vanuatu, with a land mass of about 900 square kilometers (348 square miles). The highest peak on the island is Mount Macdonald, at 647 meters (2,123 feet) above sea level.

Efate is a mountainous, tropical island typical of the unique Vanuatu rainforest ecosystem, but Port Vila's harbor location provides some relief from the heat and rugged terrain. The island's climate includes a wet season that falls between November and April and a dry season from May to October. Southeasterly trade winds contribute to the dry season and produce an ideal climate for tourism, with warm days and cooler evenings. Temperatures in Vanuatu range from about 25 to 31 degrees Celsius (77 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the season. Unlike many of the islands of Vanuatu, there are no active volcanoes on Efate.

Port Vila has been affected by climate change, including rising sea levels, stronger cyclones, heat waves, and extreme rainfall.

People

Port Vila is the most populated city in the archipelago, with an estimated population of 49,034 as of 2020. The history of this port city is a multicultural blend of Melanesian, French, English, and Asian cultures. As such, the city is known for its interesting flavors, festivals, and crafts, and tourists and residents can find a wide variety of cuisines, ranging from Mexican to Italian to Asian, all within the city center. The Port Vila market also reflects the culture of the archipelago with its plentiful array of tropical fruits, vegetables, flowers, and souvenirs. In addition, the capital is host to the premiere cultural event of Vanuatu every October: the annual Fest Napuan Music Festival. The word napuan, which means music and dance, is taken from one of the local languages on the island of Tanna.

The Melanesian influence in Port Vila is apparent in the availability of the beverage kava. This mildly intoxicating substance is made from the roots of the kava plant, which is common only in the South Pacific and requires human intervention for the pollination necessary for the plant's survival. The Republic of Vanuatu is recognized as the home of kava, and the archipelago boasts the largest kava pepper harvest in the world. Kava is typically consumed on holidays and at celebrations and public festivals.

While English is an official language of Vanuatu, many transactions are still conducted in French, which is also considered an official language. Many island natives, or Ni-Vanuatu, communicate in the local creole language of Bislama, the other official language. Due to influences from nineteenth-century Christian missionaries, over 80 percent of the population of Port Vila practices some form of Christianity. About 29 percent of Ni-Vanuatu are Presbyterian, 12 percent are Catholic, and 1 percent are Anglican, according to the 2020 census. A variety of other Christian denominations are present in small groups throughout Port Vila and other parts of Vanuatu. The indigenous religion of the archipelago is tribal animism, and some islanders blend their ancestral practices with their Christian beliefs, forming a particular spiritualism unique to the islands. These customary beliefs include so-called cargo cults, rooted in early contact with Westerners.

Economy

Port Vila is the primary city for tourism and international trade in Vanuatu. The Mele Bay harbor serves to transport the country's primary exports, including copra, coffee, beef, cocoa, and timber. These goods leave Vanuatu for such destinations as Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. The harbor is also a popular port for Pacific cruise ships and includes various services for tourists. Outside of Port Vila, the majority of ni-Vanuatu are subsistence farmers, and the nation as a whole is dependent on foreign aid, much of that coming from Australia and New Zealand as well as China. Port Vila is also home to Vanuatu's only international airport, Bauerfield International Airport, which serves the country's trade industries as well as its tourism business. The country had over 82,400 visitors in 2020, despite ongoing airport infrastructure difficulties.

Vanuatu's banking and education industries are also centered in Port Vila. Offshore banking is a big business in Port Vila, and in 2002 the government of Vanuatu began enacting legislation to establish industry standards to help avoid money laundering and protect the interests of the nation's finance industry. In the field of education, Vanuatu is one of twelve co-owners of the University of the South Pacific, and Port Vila is home to the law school and Pacific languages department of the university.

Communications is the youngest industry in Port Vila. In 2000 the government of Vanuatu passed several laws establishing an Internet Free Trade Zone in the hopes of promoting the nation as one of the premier offshore cyberspace ports in the world. These laws provided new guidelines for electronic transactions, e-business, and interactive gaming. The Internet Free Trade Zone established a tax-free environment for all legitimate e-commerce including freedom from income tax, property tax, capital gains tax, corporate tax, value-added tax, and goods and services tax.

Landmarks

Within the city, one of the most significant landmarks is the Cultural Centre. The center is located on Main Street and includes the Port Vila Public Library, the National Library of Vanuatu, the National Museum of Vanuatu, and the National Photo, Film and Sound Archive.

The National Library of Vanuatu houses two distinct collections. The Vanuatu Collection includes materials about Vanuatu written in English, French, and Bislama, and the Pacific Collection contains materials about the rest of the Pacific and includes written works in over one hundred different languages. The National Museum of Vanuatu provides an archive of the cultural history of the many different peoples of Vanuatu; it includes an art gallery, the women's culture collection, and a popular gift shop that offers a wide selection of artisan crafts representing the traditions of the island.

Some of the more unusual landmarks of Vanuatu are the many World War II relics that lie in the waters off the coastline of the islands of Efate and Espiritu Santo. During the war these two islands housed large United States military bases for the Pacific theater. The battles of Guadalcanal (1941–43), the Solomon Islands (1942–43), and the Coral Sea (1942) were all staged from these bases. Due to the severity of the air-to-air assaults, many of the downed aircraft were abandoned in the waters around the islands. These uncommon underwater wrecks are now popular sites for scuba divers visiting Port Vila.

Port Vila's location along the harbor coast of Efate also provides tourists and residents the opportunity to participate in a variety of land and water sports. Some of the most popular tourist activities in Vanuatu are the aerial island tours; such tours take guests over the islands for a bird's-eye view of the coral reefs, beaches, lagoons, wildlife, villages, and the capital. In addition, the Cascades, a crystal blue river featuring numerous pools and waterfalls, is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

History

Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest inhabitants of Vanuatu were the Lapita people; pottery on Vanuatu places the date of their civilization around 1200 BCE. They most likely arrived on the island from Papua New Guinea by way of the Solomon Islands and spoke some form of Austronesian language. The islands of Vanuatu were not visited by European explorers for another 2,500 years.

In 1606, Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernández de Quirós landed on Espiritu Santo island. Another 160 years passed before another European, British explorer James Cook, came to Vanuatu in 1774 and named it New Hebrides. This name remained attached to the archipelago until the nation gained its independence in 1980 and chose a name that reflected its Pacific heritage.

During the eighteenth century, New Hebrides was colonized by both the British and the French. It was during this time that Port Vila began to emerge as the likely capital for the islands. At the time the city was known as Franceville, and for a short time in 1889 the city declared itself an independent territory. As such, it was the first self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage, in which voting rights are extended to all adults regardless of race, gender, or other criteria. This independence was ultimately suppressed by the French and British contingencies on the island and eventually contributed to the formal establishment of the British-French Condominium of New Hebrides in 1906.

During this period New Hebrides was governed jointly by Great Britain and France with separate communities under the separate jurisdiction of a joint court when needed. This system presented a variety of challenges, as the overlap between the two governments on law enforcement issues became more and more complicated, with both natives and visitors picking and choosing which laws applied in various circumstances.

During World War II Port Vila served as a host nation for military forces from both the United States and Australia. After the war the indigenous peoples of the islands sought independence from both Great Britain and France. Sovereignty was granted in 1980, and Port Vila has remained the governmental and commercial center for the archipelago. The city has also experienced severe damage due to natural disasters, including a cyclone in 1987 and an earthquake in 2002. In 2015 Cyclone Pam brought further damage, hindering the growing tourist industry in Port Vila and Vanuatu as a whole.

Bibliography

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