Tanna (Vanuatu)
| Tanna | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Archipelago | New Hebrides | |
| Geographical location | 19 ° 30 ′ S , 169 ° 20 ′ E | |
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| length | 40 km | |
| width | 19 km | |
| surface | 561 km² | |
| Highest elevation |
Mount Tukosmera 1084 m |
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| Residents | 28,799 (2009) 51 inhabitants / km² |
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| main place | Isangel | |
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Tanna is an island of the New Hebrides and with 561 km² the main island (although in terms of area only the second largest island after Erromango ) of the province of Tafea of the sovereign island state of Vanuatu in the southwest Pacific. The island has around 20,000 inhabitants, the main town is Isangel on the west coast and the highest point is Mount Tukosmera at 1084 m . Tanna is the administrative, economic and tourist center of the Tafea province, which is characterized by a pleasant climate.
history
Probably at the beginning of the third millennium BC, clans of the first Proto- Melanesian inhabitants of Vanuatu also reached the islands of what is now the province of Tafea and thus also Tanna. From 1400 BC Then began the spread of the Lapita culture , in the course of which the respective islands developed their own regional characteristics. After thousands of years of seclusion, European explorers reached Tanna for the first time in 1774: James Cook described the glowing red glow in the night sky over Tanna as “The lighthouse of the South Seas”.
Cook also discovered the volcano, the 361 m high Mount Yasur , which has shaped the history and landscape of Tanna and has been in permanent activity for at least 800 years. Mt. Yasur is considered to be the most active volcano on earth. Cook landed in a bay east of the Yasur, which he named Port Resolution after his ship, the Resolution . However, he was not allowed to climb the volcano because of a taboo. In 1825 the Irishman reached Peter Dillon after stays in Fiji and on the Society Islands Tanna and Erromango , where he discovered sandalwood and the associated marketing opportunities.
In 1864 one of the saddest chapters in the history of Tanna and of all of Melanesia began : Australian " blackbirder " (slave traders) landed on Tanna and Erromango and abducted 65 men for slave labor on the plantations of Queensland and what is now the Northern Territory , where through forced "voluntary" labor contracts ( indentured labor ) the legal "correctness" was ensured. In 1907 Tanna became part of the British-French condominium of the New Hebrides .
At the beginning of the Second World War , the John Frum movement , which is also known as the cargo cult and whose followers practice a mixture of Christianity and the worship of material western goods, arose on Tanna . In addition to the John Frum movement, a second cargo cult developed in the 1960s with the Prince Philip movement , which attracted international attention. During the Pacific War , Tanna was also the scene of fighting between the Japanese and the Allies.
Through the administrative reform in 1994, Tanna became part of the province of Tafea, the letters of which each represent a main island in the province: TAFEA (Tanna, Aniwa , Futuna , Erromango , Anatom ). The capital of Tanna, Isangel , is also the capital of the province of Tafea.
economy
Tanna is the economic center of the province of Tafea. Copra , cocoa and sandalwood are produced and exported , as well as to a lesser extent tobacco , kava roots and woven products. In addition to some construction companies, tourist facilities in particular are important sources of foreign exchange. Hotels and pensions are almost the only jobs outside of subsistence farming . The standard of the facilities is simple to very rustic . Fishing and shipping are irrelevant.
places
The only town and thus the center is Isangel on the west coast, where a considerable part of the Tannese live. Other important places are Lenakel , Imalo , Yakel , Yaohnanen and Port Resolution on the east coast.
Web links
- SP Response to Cyclone Pam | Vanuatu, Tafea Province 02-04-2015 Update (map with boundaries of the six Council Areas, PDF)
- Map of the Laboratoire d'Ethnologie de Institut français d'Océanie (1956)
- IGN topographic map sheet 1: 100,000 (1965)
