NEW HEBRIDES

NEW HEBRIDES / NOUVELLES-HÉBRIDES CONDOMINIUM.

Definitive stamps.
Port Vila and Iririki Island.
Third stamp in a set of 11, issued on 03.09.1957 (issue in French language).
Face value: 15 New Hebrides goldcentimes.
Printing: Recess.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 185.
- Scott No. 100 (French issue).
- StampWorld No. 185.

- Stanley Gibbons No. 98 (French issue).

- Yvert et Tellier No. 177.

Port Vila is the capital and the most populous city of Vanuatu (44,039 inhabitants according to the 2009 census). Located on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, it is the economic and commercial center of the country, and its port and airport are the most important in Vanuatu. The area occupied by Port Vila has been inhabited by Melanesian people for thousands of years. An archaeological expedition discovered in 2004 a burial site of 25 tombs containing three dozen skeletons of members of the Lapita culture; Pieces of ceramics found at the site were dated to the 13th century BC. The first Europeans to land on the site, in May 1606, were Portuguese explorers led by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós and Luís Vaz de Torres. At the end of the 19th century, French citizen Ferdinand Chevillard purchased land around present-day Port Vila to turn it into the largest French plantation on the island. Thus was born the municipality of Franceville, which declared independence on August 9, 1889. From 1887, the territory of the New Hebrides was administered jointly by the French and the British, and in 1906 it was formalized as an Anglo-French condominium, which it was maintained until the independence of Vanuatu (July 30, 1980).

Iririki Island (0.18 km² or 0.07 sq mi) is located in Mele Bay, opposite Port Vila. Since 2004 it has been privately owned by an Australian businessman, who since 2018 has managed a resort and a casino.