Vanuatu

Fiji was alright, but I went to Fiji mostly because, before coming to Tonga, everyone I had to talked to in Canada said (once we had established where Tonga was) "the Pacific? My [any family member] went to Fiji!" That and then in Tonga, most Tongans told me something to the effect of, "yeah our country is OK...but you should really go see Fiji!" So I felt like I had no choice but to check it out. But the country I was REALLY looking forward to visiting was Vanuatu. Where!? I've met British here in Tonga who had never heard of Vanuatu, and it was in THEIR empire! Some background:

Two of my favourite travel writers, Paul Theroux and J. Maaten Troost, visited Vanuatu during their time in the South Pacific. And a new favourite explorer of mine, Captain Cook, had also visited and written extensively about what were then called the "New Hebrides." After reading the accounts of these three men, I was determined to see the islands with my own eyes.

When Cook visited the New Hebrides, he wrote, "the people of this country are in general the most ugly and ill-proportioned of any I ever saw." What a jerk! But what really interested Europeans was Cook's description of the people's paganism, barbarism, and cannibalism. John Williams was the first missionary there. He had played a major role in bringing the Wesleyan faith to Polynesia, but as he stepped off his boat in the New Hebrides he was promptly clubbed and eaten. The competition was on - Cannibals 1, Christianity 0. Soon missionaries from both the English Presbyterian Church the French Catholic Church and were flooding in to the islands. They were followed by British and French settlers, who became frustrated by the lawlessness in a country that neither Britain nor France was willing to adopt as a colony. Finally, after a series of attacks and murders in the New Hebrides committed by both natives and Europeans, and an increasing German presence in the South Pacific, Britain and France agreed to jointly rule the colony. In 1906 the New Hebrides became the first and only place where these two worked together in one colony, and the result was about as awkward as you can imagine.

Ni-Vanuatu (citizens of Vanuatu) I talked with, who lived through this condominium government, said it was all extremely confusing. Instead of actually working together, the British and French competed and doubled up on everything. There were two school systems - one British and one French. Two hospitals, two police forces, two sets of laws, two courts, two postal systems! At one time, the height of flag poles was measured, to make sure the French weren't flying their flag higher then the British or vise-versa. Real confusion came when British insisted on driving on the left while the French drove on the right! I made that last one up (or did I...).

Things finally came to a head in the 1970s when the British were determined to unload the last of their colonies while the French were determined to keep all of theirs. In the end, the British convinced France to pull out of the New Hebrides and the country became independent "Vanuatu" in 1980. The British promptly disappeared, as if they had never been there, leaving a lot of Ni-Vanuatu wondering if the fight for independence had really been a good idea. While France gives some aid to the former colony, things appear much better for nearby New Caledonia which remains a part of the French empire.

Now with a history like that, I knew I'd enjoy myself. But just in case, I also planned to go to the rim of an active volcano, visit to a remote island that all but worships Americans, and take plenty of powerful yet legal narcotics (true story). How could Vanuatu be anything but awesome?

Britain and France, united only by their fear of der German Kaiser Wilhelm II!