Vanuatu

The islands were sighted in 1606 by the Portuguese explorer Pedro de Queirós. They were visited in 1768 by the French navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville and in 1774 by the British navigator Captain James Cook, who named them New Hebrides, after the similarly rugged Scottish Hebrides Islands. In 1887, the British and French established a joint naval commission to administer the islands. In 1906 the islands became a territory jointly administered by the British and French, where each power was to retain jurisdiction over its own citizens. During World War II (1939-1945) the United States established a large naval and air base on Espiritu Santo. In June 1980, just before the islands were to receive independence, a short-lived revolt on the island of Espiritu Santo was quelled by British marines. The New Hebrides became independent as Vanuatu on July 30, 1980.