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Vanuatu

General information

Common name	Vanuatu
Local name	Ripablik blong Vanuatu République de Vanuatu
Name	Ripablik blong Vanuatu République de Vanuatu
Motto	"Long God yumi stanap" (In God we stand)
Anthem	"Yumi, Yumi, Yumi" ("We, We, We")
Capital	Port Vila
Largest city	Port Vila
Official languages	Bislama English French
Demonym	Ni-Vanuatu; Vanuatuan
Government
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
President	Iolu Abil
Prime Minister	Sato Kilman
Independence	Independence (from France and the United Kingdom)
Date	30 July 1980
Geography
Total Area	12190 km2 (4706.6 sqmi) sq mi (31572.1 km2) (161st)
Demography
Population Est.	224,564 (July 2011 est.)
Population census	243304 (2009)
Density (pop.)	19.7/km² (188th) (51/sq mi)
Economy
GDP PPP	$1.216 billion (2010)
GDP (PPP) per capita	$5,500 (2010 est.)
GDP (nominal)	$721 million (2010)
GDP (nominal) per capita	$2,835
Other information
HDI	(+)0.693 (2004) (medium) (126th)
Currency	Vanuatu vatu (VUV)
Time zone	VUT (Vanuatu Time) (UTC+11)
Drives on the	right
Internet TLD	.vu
Calling code	678

Home | Country | Vanuatu

Vanuatu (Bislama -xxvanuaˈtu; English -enˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuːen-us-Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu ( , Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1750 km (1087.4 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 km (310.7 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.

Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. Europeans discovered the islands in 1605 with the arrival of a Spanish expedition led by Fernandes de Queirós in Espiritu Santo. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British-French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.

The nation's name was derived from the word vanua ("land" or "home"), which occurs in several Austronesian languages, and the word tu ("stand"). Together the two words indicated the independent status of the new nation.

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