Editing Vanuatu (section)

===Arrival of Europeans (1606–1906)===
[[File:Pedro Fernández de Quirós.JPG|thumb|upright|Portuguese explorer [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]] was the first European to arrive in Vanuatu, in 1606. He named [[Espiritu Santo]], the largest island in Vanuatu.]]

The Vanuatu islands first had contact with Europeans in April 1606, when the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorer [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]], sailing for the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish Crown]], departed [[Callao|El Callao]],<ref>{{cite web |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Rogers Kotlowski |title=Southland of the Holy Spirit |url=http://www.chr.org.au/books/southloand-of-holy-spirit/page5.html |publisher=CHR |access-date=10 August 2021 |quote=In 1605 [...] Quiros sailed west from Callao, Peru |archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224084941/http://www.chr.org.au/books/southloand-of-holy-spirit/page5.html }}</ref> sailed by the [[Banks Islands]], landing briefly on [[Gaua]] (which he called Santa María).<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="Jolly">{{cite CiteSeerX |last1=Jolly |first1=Margaret |title=The Sediment of Voyages: Re-membering Quirós, Bougainville and Cook in Vanuatu |citeseerx=10.1.1.533.9909 }}</ref> Continuing further south, Queirós arrived at the largest island, naming it {{lang|es|La Austrialia del [[Espíritu Santo]]}} or "The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit", believing he had arrived in [[Terra Australis]] (Australia).<ref name="Archaeology"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Vanuatu and New Caledonia |url=https://archive.org/details/vanuatunewcaledo00joce |url-access=registration |year=2009 |publisher=Lonely Planet |isbn=978-1-74104-792-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/vanuatunewcaledo00joce/page/29 29] |access-date=15 December 2017 }}</ref> The Spanish established a short-lived settlement named ''Nueva Jerusalem'' at Big Bay on the north side of the island.<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="Jolly"/>

Despite Queirós's intention, relations with the Ni-Vanuatu turned violent within days. The Spanish subsequent attempts to make contact were met with the islanders fleeing or leading the explorers into an ambush.<ref name="Beginning"/> Many of the crew, including Queirós, were also suffering from ill health, with Queirós's mental state also deteriorating.<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="Jolly"/> The settlement was abandoned after a month, with Queirós continuing his search for the southern continent.<ref name="Beginning"/>

Europeans did not return until 1768, when the French explorer [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]] sailed by the islands on 22 May, naming them the Great [[Cyclades]].<ref name="Anne">{{cite book |last1=Salmond |first1=Anne |title=Aphrodite's Island |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-26114-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/aphroditesisland00salm/page/113 113] |url=https://archive.org/details/aphroditesisland00salm/page/113 }}</ref><ref name="Archaeology"/> Of the various French toponyms Bougainville devised, only [[Pentecost Island]] has stuck.<ref name="Jolly"/>

The French landed on [[Ambae]], trading with the native people in a peaceful manner, though Bougainville stated that they were later attacked, necessitating him to fire warning shots with his muskets, before his crew left and continued their voyage.<ref name="Jolly"/> In July–September 1774 the islands were explored extensively by British explorer [[Captain James Cook]], who named them the New Hebrides, after the [[Hebrides]] off the west coast of [[Scotland]], a name that lasted until independence in 1980.<ref name=cp>{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2815.htm |title=Background Note: Vanuatu |publisher=[[US Department of State]] |access-date=22 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604193751/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2815.htm |archive-date=4 June 2019 |url-status=live }}<br /></ref><ref name="Archaeology"/><ref name="Jolly"/> Cook managed to maintain generally cordial relations with the Ni-Vanuatu by giving them presents and refraining from violence.<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="Jolly"/>

In 1789, [[William Bligh]] and the remainder of his crew sailed through the Banks Islands on their return voyage to [[Timor]] following the [[Mutiny on the Bounty|mutiny on the ''Bounty'']]; Bligh later returned to the islands, naming them after his benefactor [[Joseph Banks]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wahlroos |first1=Sven |title=Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: A Companion to the Bounty Adventure |url=https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/encyclopedia.shtml |publisher=Pitcairn Islands Study Centre |access-date=23 August 2020 |archive-date=1 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001151537/https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/encyclopedia.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

Whaleships were among the first regular visitors to this group of islands. The first recorded visit was by the ''Rose'' in February 1804, and the last known visit by the New Bedford ship ''John and Winthrop'' in 1887.<ref>{{cite book |last=Langdon |first=Robert |date=1984 |title=Where the whalers went; an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century |location=Canberra |publisher=Pacific Manuscripts Bureau |pages=190–191 |isbn=0-86784-471-X}}</ref> In 1825, the trader [[Peter Dillon]]'s discovery of [[sandalwood]] on the island of [[Erromango]], highly valued as an incense in China where it could be traded for tea, resulted in rush of incomers that ended in 1830 after a clash between immigrant Polynesian workers and indigenous Ni-Vanuatu.<ref name="Archaeology"/><ref name="Sandalwood">{{cite web |last1=Bule |first1=Leonard |last2=Daruhi |first2=Godfrey |title=Status of Sandalwood Resources in Vanuatu |url=https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr122/psw_gtr122_bule.pdf |publisher=US Forest Service |access-date=23 August 2020 |archive-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320052919/https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr122/psw_gtr122_bule.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Van Trease|1987|p=12-14}}<ref name="JM">{{cite web |last1=MacClancy |first1=Jeremy |title=To Kill a Bird with Two Stones – A Short History of Vanuatu |url=https://www.academia.edu/3279401 |via=Academia.edu |date=January 1981 |publisher=Vanuatu Cultural Centre |access-date=25 August 2020 |archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224084936/https://www.academia.edu/3279401 |url-status=live }}</ref> Further sandalwood trees were found on Efate, Espiritu Santo, and Aneityum, prompting a series of boom and busts, though supplies were essentially exhausted by the mid-1860s, and the trade largely ceased.<ref name="Sandalwood"/><ref name="JM"/>

During the 1860s, [[plantations|planters]] in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Samoan islands, in need of labourers, encouraged a long-term [[indentured labour]] trade called "[[blackbirding]]".<ref name="JM"/> At the height of the labour trade, more than one-half the adult male population of several of the islands worked abroad. Because of this, and the poor conditions and abuse often faced by workers, as well the introduction of common diseases to which native Ni-Vanuatu had no immunity, the population of Vanuatu declined severely, with the current population being greatly reduced compared to pre-contact times.<ref name=cp/><ref name="Archaeology"/><ref name="JM"/> Greater oversight of the trade saw it gradually wind down, with Australia barring any further 'blackbird' labourers in 1906, followed by Fiji and Samoa in 1910 and 1913 respectively.<ref name="JM"/>

[[File:The Landing at Tana one of the New Hebrides, by William Hodges.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|[[James Cook]] landing at [[Tanna (island)|Tanna island]], {{Circa|1774}}]]
From 1839 onwards, [[missionary|missionaries]], both [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Protestant]], arrived on the islands.<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="JM"/> At first, they faced hostility, most notably with the killings of [[John Williams (missionary)|John Williams]] and James Harris of the [[London Missionary Society]] on Erromango in 1839.<ref name="Beginning"/>{{sfn|Van Trease|1987|p=15}} Despite this, they pressed on, resulting in many conversions. To the consternation of the Europeans, Ni-Vanuatu [[syncretism|syncretised]] Christianity with traditional ''[[kastom]]'' beliefs.<ref name="JM"/> The Anglican [[Melanesian Mission]] also took young converts for further training in New Zealand and [[Norfolk Island]].<ref name="Beginning"/> Presbyterian missionaries were particularly successful on Aneityum, though less so on Tanna, with missionaries being repeatedly chased off the island by locals throughout the 1840s–60s.<ref name="Beginning"/>  The waves of illnesses and deaths the missionaries brought with them may have been partly to blame for the hostile response.<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="JM"/>

Other European settlers also came, looking for land for [[cotton plantation]]s, the first of these being Henry Ross Lewin on Tanna in 1865 (which he later abandoned).{{sfn|Van Trease|1987|p=19}} When international cotton prices collapsed after the ending of the [[American Civil War]], they switched to coffee, [[Cocoa bean|cocoa]], bananas, and, most successfully, [[coconut]]s. Initially British subjects from Australia made up the majority of settlers, but with little support from the British government they frequently struggled to make a success of their settlements.<ref name="JM"/>

French planters also began arriving, beginning with Ferdinand Chevillard on Efate in 1880, and later in larger numbers following the creation of the ''Compagnie Caledonienne des Nouvelles-Hébrides'' (CCNH) I. 1882 by John Higginson (a fiercely pro-French Irishman), which soon tipped the balance in favour of French subjects.<ref name="UsaUSA2009">{{cite book |title=Vanuatu Country Study Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjuxcXTEJ_sC&pg=PA26 |date=30 March 2009 |publisher=International Business Publications |isbn=978-1-4387-5649-3 |page=26 |access-date=15 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729084223/https://books.google.com/books?id=wjuxcXTEJ_sC&pg=PA26 |archive-date=29 July 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Van Trease|1987|p=26-7}} The French government took over the CCNH in 1894 and actively encouraged French settlement.<ref name="JM"/> By 1906, French settlers (at 401) outnumbered the British (228), almost two to one.<ref name=cp/><ref name="JM"/>