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| French Polynesia - New Hebrides 500 CFP Pacific Francs banknote |
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| New Hebrides 500 Pacific Francs |
Obverse: Portrait of Polynesian Fisherman at Marquesas Islands. Dugout canoe with sail at center. In background - Typical Polynesian landscape - seacoast.
Reverse: Portrait of Marquesan man. Volcanic Rock Formations at Hienghene. (Hienghène - commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean)
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. Native people have inhabited the islands for thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived in 1606 from a Spanish expedition led by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós. The islands were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands. The two countries eventually signed an agreement making the islands an Anglo-French condominium, which lasted from 1906 until 1980, when the New Hebrides gained their independence as Vanuatu.
The Condominium divided the New Hebrides into two separate communities—one Anglophone and one Francophone. This divide continues even after independence, with schools either teaching in one language or the other, and between different political parties.