Happy Constitution Day Vanuatu! =D =D Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands lying between New Caledonia and Fiji in the South Pacific. Every year on October 5, Vanuatu celebrates the anniversary of its constitution’s creation. The island chain of which Vanuatu is a part has been settled since 500 BC. The first settlers are believed to have arrived from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands by canoe. Vanuatu was at the heart of the empire of Tonga, up to and beyond the 13th century AD. The islands were sighted by Pedro Fernandes de Queiros of Portugal in 1606 and were charted by the British navigator James Cook in 1774, who named the archipelago New Hebrides after the northern Scottish islands. During the 19th century, the islands were settled by British and French missionaries, planters, and traders. France and the United Kingdom eventually agreed on the British-French Condominium, a special form of dual-controlled government over the islands. After World War II, a complex power struggle began between the indigenous islanders and the dual colonial interests over the future political and economic course of the islands. At a conference between British, French, and New Hebridean representatives in Paris in 1977, it was agreed that the islands should become fully independent within three years. On October 5, 1979, the signing of a new constitution paved the way for a declaration of independence on July 30, 1980. Vanuata celebrates 31 years of its constitution in 2010. The people remember the events that led up to their independence from France and Britain. In 2009, marking the 30th anniversary, Vanuatu’s President Abbil said, “If the people of Vanuatu can stay together for 30 years as a united and free republic, it is due to the spirit of unity and freedom that our founding fathers and mothers sealed in the signing of the constitution which is the Mama Loa.”
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 21:37:42 +0000
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