New Hebrides Condominium
| New Hebrides Condominium (English) Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides (French) |
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| New Hebrides Condominium | |||||
| 1906-1980 | |||||
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| Official language | English , French and Bislama | ||||
| Capital | Port Vila | ||||
| Form of government | condominium | ||||
| surface | 12,190 km² | ||||
| population | 77,988 (1967 census) | ||||
| gross domestic product | US $ 50 million (1976) | ||||
| Gross domestic product per inhabitant | 480 US $ (1976) | ||||
| currency | 1 New Hebridean Franc = 100 Centimes | ||||
| Time zone | UTC +11 | ||||
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The New Hebrides Condominium was a jointly administered territory by Great Britain and France that comprised the Pacific archipelagos of the New Hebrides , Banks Islands and Torres Islands and existed from 1906 to 1980 when it gained independence and became the Republic of Vanuatu .
history
The islands came into the interests of the European powers in the second half of the 19th century. British and French settlers put coconut plantations by the Kopraherstellung on. Large plantation societies financed missionaries to bring the local population under control and motivate them to work on the plantations. In 1887 France and Great Britain agreed to exercise loose control over the islands in the interests of European planters and missionaries, for which a joint naval commission was set up. It was only with the establishment of a condominium in 1906 that political administration was taken over by the two powers. In the period that followed, the population declined due to diseases introduced, and plantation owners recruited workers from Vietnam to replace them .
In the Second World War were on Espiritu Santo and the island of Efate US military bases large furnished. Encouraged by contacts with the Afro-American soldiers, anti-colonial movements arose in the period that followed.
On November 4 and 5, 1974, France and Great Britain agreed to set up an elected assembly to prepare for independence. This meeting first met in April 1976. On July 30, 1980, the condominium was given independence and renamed Vanuatu . In contrast, from May to August 1980 there had been an attempt at secession on Espiritu Santo, supported by European and Creole settlers, against which France and Great Britain had in fact no longer acted.
economy
The main export items were copra, manganese ore and fish, and to a lesser extent cocoa . Transfer payments from the two colonial powers made a significant contribution to the budget of the condominium, as the value of imports was significantly higher than the value of exported goods. In 1978 exports were worth US $ 33 million and imports were US $ 45 million. Companies could be set up under either French or British law.
The French franc and the British pound were the official currencies until 1938, and they were replaced with the introduction of the New Hebridean franc . The Australian dollar was also in circulation after World War II .
administration
The condominium was managed in three parts and consisted of a British and French residency and a joint administrative apparatus. The British and French residencies were headed by a diplomat with the rank of Commissioner and Préfet , respectively , supported by European officials. Every British civil servant had a corresponding French counterpart , which in fact led to a double administrative apparatus. Each decision required the approval of the two responsible officials, which made administrative procedures difficult. The judicial system, including the prisons, was also designed in two ways, and locals could choose whether a trial should be conducted under British or French law.
The joint condominium administration had a mixed composition of Europeans and Melanesians , but its tasks were limited to the control of public works, the ports, postal systems, voter registration and the implementation of the instructions of the residences.
Postal services
The first stamps appeared in 1908, using stamps from the then British Fiji and stamps from French New Caledonia with the country's name printed in English or French. With a few exceptions, the post office of the condominium always issued parallel stamps with English and French inscription on every occasion. Since both the French and British currencies were in circulation in the early years, the postage value was given in gold francs or gold centimes, the accounting unit of the Universal Postal Union . This practice continued until the introduction of the Vatu in 1982.
literature
- John G. Peck, Robert J. Gregory: A Brief Overview of the Old New Hebrides. In: Anthropologist. Volume 3, 2005, ISSN 0972-0073 , pp. 269-282 ( PDF file; 0.1 MB ).
- Sarah Mohamed-Gaillard: Du condominium franco-britannique des Nouvelles-Hébrides au Vanuatu. Two métropoles pour une indépendance. In: Journal de la Société des Océanistes. No. 2, 2011, ISSN 1760-7256 , pp. 309-322.
Individual evidence
- ^ Fischer Weltalmanach 1980, column 186, ISBN 3-596-19080-0
- ↑ Vanuatu in the online version of the Enzyclopaedia Britannica (Eng.)
- ^ Outline of the History of the Islands , accessed September 25, 2012