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| Country | Vanuatu | | | Flag |  | | | Capital | name: Port-Vila (on Efate) geographic coordinates: 17 44 S, 168 19 E time difference: UTC+11 (16 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) | | | Population | 211,971 (July 2007 est.) | | | GMT | +11 | | | Location | Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia
see map | | | Area | total: 12,200 sq km land: 12,200 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes more than 80 islands, about 65 of which are inhabited | | | Ethnic groups | Ni-Vanuatu 98.5%, other 1.5% (1999 Census) | | | Religions | Presbyterian 31.4%, Anglican 13.4%, Roman Catholic 13.1%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%, other Christian 13.8%, indigenous beliefs 5.6% (including Jon Frum cargo cult), other 9.6%, none 1%, unspecified 1.3% (1999 Census) | | | Languages | local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census) | | | Government type | parliamentary republic | | | National holiday | Independence Day, 30 July (1980) | | | Constitution | 30 July 1980 | | | Legal system | unified system being created from former dual French and British systems | | | Background | Multiple waves of colonizers, each speaking a distinct language, migrated to the New Hebrides in the millennia preceding European exploration in the 18th century. This settlement pattern accounts for the complex linguistic diversity found on the archipelago to this day. The British and French, who settled the New Hebrides in the 19th century, agreed in 1906 to an Anglo-French Condominium, which administered the islands until independence in 1980, when the new name of Vanuatu was adopted. | | Internet country code | .vu | |
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