Vanuatu Trivia
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50 free Vanuatu trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Vanuatu trivia quiz covers the Y-shaped chain of 83 volcanic islands in the South Pacific: how Queirós, Bougainville and Cook found them, the strange Anglo-French Condominium that ran the New Hebrides for 74 years, the 1980 independence that came with a 'Coconut War', and the wartime American presence that left behind cargo cults, a famous wreck dive and Million Dollar Point. There are questions on the things Vanuatu is famous for — the land divers of Pentecost, the glowing crater of Mount Yasur, kava, laplap, Bislama and the villagers who worshipped Prince Philip — and on the modern country: the vatu, the passport-sales scheme, the plastic ban, Cyclone Pam and its two first-place finishes on the Happy Planet Index. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before independence, what was Vanuatu called?
The New Hebrides
The New Hebrides was ruled by Britain and France at the same time for 74 years, and the new republic dropped the colonial name on independence day in 1980.
Q 02Which explorer charted Vanuatu in 1774 and gave the islands the name they kept until independence?
James Cook
James Cook's name for the chain outlasted him by two centuries: even the French, whose own explorer Bougainville had sailed through six years earlier, used a translation of it.
Q 03Pedro Fernandes de Queirós led the first Europeans to Vanuatu in 1606, believing he had found what?
A great southern continent
A great southern continent, he thought: Queirós claimed the land for Spain and founded a settlement there, then abandoned it within weeks.
Q 04Vanuatu belongs to which island region?
Melanesia
Melanesia: Vanuatu helped found the region's political bloc, the Melanesian Spearhead Group, in the 1980s and still hosts its headquarters, in a building paid for by China.
Q 05Britain and France's joint rule of colonial Vanuatu was mockingly nicknamed what?
The Pandemonium
The Pandemonium, a pun on its official name, the Condominium: each power ran its own administration, courts and schools, and they shared a joint court whose president was appointed by the King of Spain.
Q 06Under the Anglo-French Condominium, what nationality could native Ni-Vanuatu claim?
Officially stateless
Officially stateless: islanders were barred from taking either power's citizenship, and the two governments left their schooling and healthcare largely to missionaries.
Q 07What was Walter Lini, Vanuatu's first prime minister, by profession?
An Anglican priest
An Anglican priest ordained in 1970, Father Lini led Vanuatu for its first eleven years and took it into the Non-Aligned Movement.
Q 08Which country's troops did newly independent Vanuatu call in to end a secessionist revolt on its largest island?
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea sent its army abroad for the first time, and the revolt collapsed within weeks when rebel leader Jimmy Stevens surrendered.
Q 09American backers of Vanuatu's 1980 revolt hoped to create what?
A tax haven
A tax haven was the dream of the Phoenix Foundation, a group of American libertarians who funded rebel leader Jimmy Stevens before the breakaway state was put down.
Q 10What is the capital and largest town of Vanuatu?
Port Vila
Port Vila began as Franceville, a settlers' town that declared itself an independent commune in 1889, an experiment that lasted less than a year.
Q 11Vanuatu's capital sits on which island?
Efate
Efate was garrisoned by American forces in 1942, and the airstrip they built outside the capital is now the country's main airport, still named Bauerfield after a US Marine pilot.
Q 12What is the largest island in Vanuatu?
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo, or simply Santo, was turned into a huge American military base in the Second World War, centred on what is now the country's second-largest town.
Q 13Vanuatu's island chain and its flag both trace the shape of which letter?
Y
Y: the yellow Y on the flag traces the islands' layout across the Pacific and also stands for the light of the Gospel spreading through them.
Q 21A Vanuatu land dive staged for Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 turned fatal because it was held when?
Out of season
Out of season: colonial officials wanted a show for the royal tour and persuaded villagers to jump at the wrong time of year, and one of the men who fell that day later died of his injuries.
Q 22Vanuatu's land divers inspired which modern thrill sport, first tried from an English bridge in 1979?
Bungee jumping
Bungee jumping was born when members of Britain's Dangerous Sports Club, recalling magazine articles about the land divers, tried the same leap from Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge on elastic cords.
Q 23Mount Yasur, one of the world's most active volcanoes, is on which Vanuatu island?
Tanna
Q 14What is Vanuatu's national language, an English-based creole?
Bislama
Bislama is the language of the national anthem, 'Yumi, Yumi, Yumi' ('We, We, We'), and the everyday bridge between islanders who grow up speaking different local tongues.
Q 15The name of Vanuatu's creole language comes from a French term for which traded delicacy?
Sea cucumber
Sea cucumber is bêche-de-mer in French; 19th-century traders came to the islands to harvest it, and the pidgin English spoken with their crews took the animal's name.
Q 16In Vanuatu's national creole, which English word does 'blong' replace?
Of
Of: 'blong' comes from the English 'belong', so the country's own name in the creole is 'Ripablik blong Vanuatu'.
Q 17Vanuatu's 100-plus indigenous languages belong to which far-flung family that also includes Hawaiian, Malay and Malagasy?
Austronesian
Austronesian tongues are so numerous here, more per head than in any other country, that islanders rely on a shared creole to talk to people from the next island.
Q 18The famous land-diving ritual, in which men leap from tall wooden towers, is performed on which island?
Pentecost
Pentecost's divers believe the higher they jump, the higher the crops will grow; the soil beneath the tower is tilled soft because the aim is to land as close to the ground as possible.
Q 19What do Vanuatu's land divers tie around their ankles before jumping from the tower?
Tree vines
Tree vines must be supple and full of sap, and matched to each diver with great precision: one that is too dry can snap, and one too long means hitting the ground.
Q 20Land diving is traditionally performed to ensure a good harvest of which crop?
Yam
Yam harvest is what the dive is for: a good jump is believed to bring a good crop, and for boys the leap is a rite of passage into manhood.
Tanna's Yasur has been erupting almost continuously for centuries, often several times an hour, yet visitors can usually approach the crater safely.
Q 24On John Frum Day each February, followers of the Vanuatu movement parade with mock rifles made of what?
Bamboo
Bamboo, with the tips painted scarlet to look like bayonets: the marchers copy the American troops of the 1940s, with 'USA' daubed on their bare chests.
Q 25Followers of Vanuatu's John Frum movement believe their rituals will one day bring what?
Planeloads of modern goods
Planeloads of modern goods, the 'cargo' in cargo cult: islanders who watched wartime America's supplies pour in were promised radios, trucks and Coca-Cola if they kept faith with John Frum.
Q 26Vanuatu's Yaohnanen tribe revered which British royal as a mountain spirit's divine son?
Prince Philip
Prince Philip played along: when the villagers sent him a ceremonial club, he posted back a photograph of himself holding it.
Q 27Which 1947 book of wartime stories drew on its author's posting to what is now Vanuatu?
Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific grew out of James Michener's posting to a US Navy base in the islands, and two years later Rodgers and Hammerstein turned it into the musical South Pacific.
Q 28Why is a beach on Vanuatu's largest island called 'Million Dollar Point'?
Departing US forces dumped surplus there
Departing US forces dumped surplus there out of spite: colonial officials refused to buy the vehicles and stores at six cents on the dollar, hoping to get them free, so the Americans drove them into the sea.
Q 29The SS President Coolidge, now a famous wreck dive off Vanuatu, sank in 1942 after striking what?
Mines laid by its own side
Mines laid by its own side sank the liner because her sailing orders left out the safe channel; the captain ran her aground so about 5,000 men could wade ashore, and only two died.
Q 30What is the national dish of Vanuatu?
Laplap
Laplap is a pudding of grated root crops or plantain, wrapped in leaves and baked for hours in an earth oven, which is why many families save it for weekends and feasts.