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Franceville, New Hebrides
 
 
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The municipality of Franceville (present-day Port Vila
Port Vila

Port Vila is the Capital of Vanuatu. It is also Vanuatu's largest city. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last was 29,356, an increase of 55% on the previous census result ....
) on Efate
Éfaté

Located at 16.69? S and 168.36? E in the Pacific Ocean, Efate is an island in Vanuatu . It is also known as ?le Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu; in terms of land area Efate is Vanuatu's third largest island....
 or Sandwich island was established during the period when the New Hebrides
New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the Pacific Ocean that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the United Kingdom and France in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands....
 were a neutral territory
Neutral territory

A Neutral territory is a territory that is not an integral part of any state , and yet is not terra nullius, but is the object of an agreement under international law between at least two parties that neither shall establish, at least for the duration of the agreement's validity, effective control over it....
 under the loose jurisdiction of a joint Anglo-French naval commission. In order to gain basic legal status, it declared itself independent for a few months in 1889.

In 1878 the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
 and France
French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the political regime of France between the Second French Empire and the Vichy France. It was a republican parliamentary democracy that was created on 4 September 1870 following the collapse of the Empire of Napoleon III of France in the Franco-Prussian War....
 declared all of the New Hebrides to be neutral territory
Neutral territory

A Neutral territory is a territory that is not an integral part of any state , and yet is not terra nullius, but is the object of an agreement under international law between at least two parties that neither shall establish, at least for the duration of the agreement's validity, effective control over it....
. The Convention of 16 October 1887, established a joint naval commission for the sole purpose of protecting French and British citizens, but claimed no jurisdiction over internal native affairs.

The lack of a functional government led to rising discontent among the colonists.






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The municipality of Franceville (present-day Port Vila
Port Vila

Port Vila is the Capital of Vanuatu. It is also Vanuatu's largest city. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last was 29,356, an increase of 55% on the previous census result ....
) on Efate
Éfaté

Located at 16.69? S and 168.36? E in the Pacific Ocean, Efate is an island in Vanuatu . It is also known as ?le Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu; in terms of land area Efate is Vanuatu's third largest island....
 or Sandwich island was established during the period when the New Hebrides
New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the Pacific Ocean that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the United Kingdom and France in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands....
 were a neutral territory
Neutral territory

A Neutral territory is a territory that is not an integral part of any state , and yet is not terra nullius, but is the object of an agreement under international law between at least two parties that neither shall establish, at least for the duration of the agreement's validity, effective control over it....
 under the loose jurisdiction of a joint Anglo-French naval commission. In order to gain basic legal status, it declared itself independent for a few months in 1889.

In 1878 the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
 and France
French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the political regime of France between the Second French Empire and the Vichy France. It was a republican parliamentary democracy that was created on 4 September 1870 following the collapse of the Empire of Napoleon III of France in the Franco-Prussian War....
 declared all of the New Hebrides to be neutral territory
Neutral territory

A Neutral territory is a territory that is not an integral part of any state , and yet is not terra nullius, but is the object of an agreement under international law between at least two parties that neither shall establish, at least for the duration of the agreement's validity, effective control over it....
. The Convention of 16 October 1887, established a joint naval commission for the sole purpose of protecting French and British citizens, but claimed no jurisdiction over internal native affairs.

The lack of a functional government led to rising discontent among the colonists. The French were especially inconvenienced because French law recognized marriages only when contracted under a civil authority (the nearest being in New Caledonia
New Caledonia

New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
), whereas British law recognized marriages conducted by local clergy. On August 9, 1889, Franceville declared itself an independent commune under the leadership of elected mayor/president
President

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, company, trade unions, university, and country. Etymology, a "president" is one who Wiktionary:Preside, who sits in leadership ....
 Ferdinand Chevillard and with its own red, white and blue flag with five stars.

This community became a self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage
Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the Suffrage to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and noncitizens....
 without distinction of sex or race. Although the district's population at the time consisted of about 500 natives and fewer than 50 whites, only white males were permitted to hold office. One of its elected presidents was one R.D. Polk, a native of Tennessee
Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
 and relative of James K. Polk
James K. Polk

James Knox Polk was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 4, 1849. He was 49 years old at the time of his inauguration, making him the youngest President up to that time....
.

The new government was soon suppressed, and by June 1890 Franceville as a commune was reported to have been "practically broken up." In 1906, the naval commission was replaced by a more structured British-French Condominium
Condominium (international law)

In international law, a condominium is a political territory in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into 'national' zones....
.

See also

  • History of Vanuatu
    History of Vanuatu

    The history of Vanuatu begins obscurely. The commonly held theory of Vanuatu's prehistory from archaeological evidence supports that peoples speaking Austronesian languages languages first came to the islands some 4,000 to 6,000 years ago....
  • Port Vila
    Port Vila

    Port Vila is the Capital of Vanuatu. It is also Vanuatu's largest city. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last was 29,356, an increase of 55% on the previous census result ....
  • Timeline of women's suffrage
    Timeline of women's suffrage

    Women's suffrage has been granted at various times in various countries throughout the world. In many countries women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, so women from certain classes or Race were still unable to vote, while some granted it to both sexes at the same time....