Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

has a small, but significant, Vietnamese community. There are an estimated 1,000-2,000 people of Vietnamese descent, about 500 of whom are immigrants, making Vietnamese the second-largest group of foreigners in Vanuatu.

History

The Vietnamese population in Vanuatu has its origins during the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

colonization of Vanuatu, under which it was known as the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

. During the 1920s and 1930s, the French recruited laborers from Vietnam, especially the provinces of

Ninh Bình Ninh Bình () is a small city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Ninh Bình Province. Geography Ninh Bình Province is located in northern Vietnam comprising 48 square kilometres; the 2007 city population was 130,517 ...

, Nam Định, and

Thái Bình Thái Bình City () is a city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Thái Bình Province. The city is located 110 km from Hanoi. The city area is 67.7 square km, with a population of 210,000 people (2006). History ...

in the Red River Delta area, which at the time was facing poverty and famine, to work on plantations in Vanuatu. Between 1921 and 1940, over 21,000 Vietnamese were recruited to Vanuatu, and made up about 10% of the population in 1929. After the end of the Second World War, the French liquidated all labor contracts, and as the Vietnamese workers were freed from their status as indentured workers many demanded to return to Vietnam. After two repatriations to Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s, much of the Vietnamese community had returned to Vietnam, although a significant community remains, consisting of older immigrants to the New Hebrides who chose to remain, recent immigrants to Vanuatu from Vietnam, and people of mixed Vietnamese and ni-Vanuatu descent.

Notable people

Gilbert Dinh Van Than Gilbert Đinh Văn Thân, more commonly known as Đinh Văn Thân, is a ni-Vanuatu "prominent businessman" and former politician. Ron Crocombe described him in 2007 as "perhaps the wealthiest entrepreneur and largest private employer in Vanuatu ...

, ni-Vanuatu businessman and politician

References

{{Reflist * https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-life/in-my-words/vietnamese-surprises-in-vanuatu-3651856.html
https://www.dailypost.vu/news/vietnam-community-is-second-largest-foreign-community-in-vanuatu-new-ambassador/article_d4b45b19-066c-52c9-bc90-4208d730a7e0.html#:~:text=Vanuatu%20is%20home%20to%20more,%2C%20Obed%20Moses%2C%20yesterday%20morning.
* https://www.academia.edu/20370598 Vanuatuan people of Vietnamese descent