Vanuatu
A volcanic chain in the southwest Pacific
Vanuatu is a Y-shaped chain of some eighty islands in the southwest Pacific, a Melanesian nation famous for its active volcanoes, its extraordinary cultural diversity, and consistently ranking among the happiest places on Earth in well-being surveys. The accessible lava lake of Mount Yasur on Tanna has drawn travelers for generations, and traditional kastom culture remains strong across the islands. Port Vila, on the island of Efate, is the capital of a country that blends Melanesian custom with the legacies of joint British and French colonial rule.
Most of the islands are volcanic and mountainous, several with active volcanoes, and the highest point is Mount Tabwemasana on Espiritu Santo at 1,879 meters. The archipelago sits squarely on the Pacific Ring of Fire and in the cyclone belt, making it one of the most natural-disaster-prone countries in the world, regularly battered by earthquakes, eruptions, and storms. The climate is tropical, hot and humid, and the islands are clothed in rainforest and ringed by coral reefs that sustain fishing communities and a growing dive tourism trade.
Austronesian peoples settled the islands more than three thousand years ago. From 1906 the archipelago, then known as the New Hebrides, was governed by an unusual Anglo-French condominium, leaving a legacy of three official languages. Independence came in 1980 as the Republic of Vanuatu. The economy relies on subsistence agriculture, tourism, and offshore financial services, while the nation has emerged as a forceful voice in international forums on climate change, given its acute vulnerability to rising seas and intensifying storms.