Port Vila

Port Vila /ˌpɔərt ˈviːlə/ is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu and is located on the island of Efate.

Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 50% on the previous census result (29,356 in 1999). In 2009, the population of Port Vila formed 18.8% of the country's population, and 66.9% of the population of Efate.

Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, Port Vila is the economic and commercial centre of Vanuatu. The current mayor is Ulrich Sumptoh, of the Union of Moderate Parties, elected in January 2014; his deputy is Leimara Malachi, of the Vanua'aku Pati.

On March 13, 2015, Port Vila bore extensive damage from Cyclone Pam.

Name

Locally the town is most commonly referred to simply as "Vila" (with a long i sound, not like English "villa").

The name of the area is Efil in the native South Efate language and Ifira in neighbouring Mele-Fila language. Vila is a variant of these names. Today, Ifira refers to the small island in Vila harbour where many of the area's traditional landowners reside.

Vanuatu

Coordinates: 16°S 167°E / 16°S 167°E / -16; 167

Vanuatu (English ⁱ/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is a Pacific island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of the Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.

Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived on the largest island in 1606. He then claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial Spanish East Indies, and named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo.

In the 1880s, France and Great Britain claimed parts of the archipelago, 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 founded in 1980.

Vila

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Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of 3,955.5 km² (1,527.2 sq mi) and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.

It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu. The town of Luganville, on Espiritu Santo's southeast coast, is Vanuatu's second-largest settlement and the provincial capital. Roads run north and west from Luganville but most of the island is far from the limited road network.

Vanuatu's highest peak is the 1879 metre (6165 foot) Mount Tabwemasana in west-central Espiritu Santo.

In 1998, Santo hosted the Melanesia Cup.

History

A Spanish expedition led by Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, established a settlement in 1606 at Big Bay on the north side of the island. Espiritu Santo takes its name from Queirós, who named the entire island group La Austrialia [sic] del Espíritu Santo in acknowledgment of the Spanish king's descent from the royal House of Austria, and believing he had arrived in the Great Southern Continent, Terra Australis. During the time of the British–French Condominium, Hog Harbour, on the northeast coast, was the site of the British district administration, while Segond, near Luganville was the French district administration.