Vanuatu

France and the U.K. jointly administered some 80 South Pacific islands known as the New Hebrides for 74 years until independence in 1980. During World War II the U.S. launched attacks from here against Japanese troops in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, inspiring James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific. Tourism augments income from copra, tuna processing, meat canning, and timber sales. South American hardwoods have been introduced to expand forests.