Both (island)

Oba Island is located in the northern part of the New Hebrides archipelago in the Pacific Ocean , between Espiritu Santo Island, lying to the west, and Maewo Island, lying to the northeast; the island of Pentecost is located to the south-east. Both are one of the largest islands in the archipelago. The total land area is about 402 km². ^[2]

The island has a volcanic origin and is a Hawaiian-type thyroid volcano . The volcano, called Manaro (its volume is about 2500 km³, height is 1496 m), is the most massive ^[3] and the most dangerous in the New Hebrides ^[4] . On the upper part of Manaro there is a pyroclastic cone ^[3] , in which there are three crater lakes: Manaro-Lacua (area - 170 hectares ), Manaro-Ngoru (area - 15 hectares), Vui (area - 150 hectares) ^[5] . There are thermal zones with hot springs, geysers and fumaroles in the south-eastern part of Lake Manaro-Lacua and Lake Vui. The water of Lake Vui has a bitter taste and a distinctive green color ^[5] .

There are no permanent rivers on the island, but the population rarely suffers from water shortages ^[6] .

The climate is both humid tropical with slight seasonal variations. The average annual temperature on the coast is 30 ° C, on the caldera - 23 ° C ^[5] . The average annual rainfall varies from 2500 to 3500 mm of rain. The rainy season lasts from November to April ^[5] .

The islands of Vanuatu were settled about 2,000 years ago during the migration of the population through the Solomon Islands from the northwestern Pacific Ocean and Papua New Guinea ^[7] . The colonization of the islands was carried out during long voyages on large canoes , which could accommodate up to 200 people.

Oba Island was opened on May 23, 1768 by the French traveler Louis Antoine de Bougainville ^[8] . Locals met the hostess with hostility: with stones and arrows. After this event, for almost a century the Europeans did not land on the island.

In March 1906, Both, like the other islands of the New Hebrides, became a joint possession of France and Britain , that is, the archipelago received the status of an Anglo-French condominium ^[9] .

The peak of the Christianization of local residents dates back to the 1930s. Most of the islanders who lived in the western part of Oba became adherents of the Church of Christ, and the eastern - of the Anglican Church ^[8] .

On June 30, 1980, the New Hebrides gained independence from Britain and France, and Oba Island became the territory of the Republic of Vanuatu .

General characteristics

In 2009, the population of Oba was 10,407 people ^[10] . The island is the administrative center of the province - the city of Saratamat . There are three runways used by Air Vanuatu : in Wallach, Redcliffe and Longan .

Languages

The main languages ​​spoken on the island are Bislama , French and English , although local languages ​​are also used:

• Eastern Ambae (5,000 speakers in 1991 ; has about 15 dialects),
• western ambae (4,500 carriers in 1983 ; distributed in the western part of Oba) ^[11] .

Social organization

Society in the eastern part Both exogamous , matrilineal. Children born are attributed to the clan in which the mother was born. Nevertheless, clans do not play a key role in the public organization of the inhabitants ^[12] . In the western part of the island dominated by the bloodline kinship ^[12] . In the daily life of the islanders, the main unit of the community of people is the village ^[13] .

Bigmen (or people who were in the center of subsocial personalized systems ^[14] ) in the eastern part. Both held a higher position in society with a carefully developed system of social hierarchy, in which each person occupied a certain position in society. The main political unit in this part of the island was a community of relatives in which the leader could rule on a regular basis ^[13] .

In the western part both villages and groups of villages were the main political units, but the church played a decisive role in society ^[13] .

The local economy is a barter economy based on natural exchange of goods. The main sphere of production is agriculture , and the main commercial crop is coconut palm , from the fruit of which they produce copra (although residents also grow cocoa ) ^[15] . Much of the islanders work in the public sector.

The islanders are engaged in subsistence agriculture, bred gardens. Mostly grown taro , bananas , yams and manioc . Unlike other islands of Vanuatu, fishing on the island does not play a key role ^[15] .

Both are located two post offices, banks in the settlements of Lolovai and Nduindui. There are regular flights to other islands of the country.

• List of islands of Vanuatu

• Volcanic activity on Oba Island. (eng.)
• Lake Vui. (eng.)
• List of birds that live on the island. (English) (inaccessible link) . Archived January 6, 2009.
• Languages ​​of the island. (eng.)