Economy: Agriculture 22%, Services 68%, Industry 10%
GDP per capita: 2620 US-Dollars
Climate: Tropical, temperate by trade winds
Highest point: Mount Tabwemasana (1877m high)
Vanuatu is a Y-shaped archipelago made up of 83 islands, which is located in the region of Melanesia. People have inhabited the area for the last 7000 years, but it was not discovered by Europeans until Portuguese sailors landed in 1606.
With the visit by the British Captain James Cook in 1774, the islands gained the name "New Hebrides". They were administered by Great Britain and France for more than 100 years, starting in 1887.
Like the inhabitants of Tuvalu who were abducted as laborers, the people of the New Hebrides had to work on sugarcane plantations in Australia and Fiji for many years.
Since the independence in 1980 the archipelago was named "Vanuatu". After that there was a Francophone movement on the island of Espiritu Santo. The whole country went through an unstable, but democratic change.
The population is mainly formed by Melanesians who speak more than 100 different languages. On the island of Efate is Vanuatu's capital Port Vila, which is appreciated by many as the most beautiful city in the South Pacific.