Editing History of Vanuatu (section)

==Franceville==
[[File:1897_Australasian_New_Hebrides_Company_2d_stamp.jpg|thumb|1897 stamp of the Australasian New Hebrides Company, providing shipping and other services - including mail delivery - on steamers running between Australia and the New Hebrides, at intervals of about three weeks.]]
{{main article|Franceville, New Hebrides}}
The municipality of Franceville (present-day [[Port Vila]]) on [[Efate]] was established during this period. In 1878 [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[France]] declared all of the New Hebrides to be [[neutral territory]],<ref name="Cuhaj2012">{{cite book|last=Cuhaj|first=George S.|title=2013 Standard Catalog of World Paper Money - Modern Issues: 1961-Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMxQwXQghgkC&pg=PA721|date=17 February 2012|publisher=Krause Publications|isbn=978-1-4402-2956-5|page=721}}</ref> but the lack of a functional government led to rising discontent among British and French colonists. The French were especially inconvenienced because French law recognized marriages only when contracted under a civil authority (the nearest being in [[New Caledonia]]), whereas British law recognized marriages conducted by local clergy (the nearest being in [[Colony of Fiji|Fiji]]). In 1887 both nations created an [[Anglo-French Joint Naval Commission]] to defend their citizens. On 9 August 1889, Franceville declared itself independent under the leadership of [[mayor]]/[[President (government title)|president]] [[Ferdinand Chevillard]] and with its own red, white and blue flag with five stars.<ref>Bourdiol, Julien (1908), Condition internationale des Nouvelles-Hebrides, p 107</ref><ref>Simpson, Colin (1955). ''Islands of Men: A Six-part Book about Life in Melanesia'', p 133.</ref> This community became the first [[self-governing]] nation to practice [[universal suffrage]] without distinction of sex or race. Although the district's population at the time consisted of about 500 natives and fewer than 50 whites, only the latter were permitted to hold office. One of its elected presidents was a [[United States|U.S.]] citizen by birth, [[R. D. Polk]].<ref>"Wee, Small Republics: A Few Examples of Popular Government," ''Hawaiian Gazette'', 1 November 1895, p1</ref>