Population in a vegetable Kingdom: Aneityum Island (Vanuatu) at European contact in 1830

Aneityum or Anatom (20'10' south latitude, 169'50' east longitude) is the southernmost inhabited island of Vanuatu (Figure 14.1) and is situated within TAFEA Province (an acronym referring to the five main islands of southern Vanuatu: Tanna, Aniwa, Futuna, Erromango, and Aneityum). It is a high island formed from two coalesced Pleistocene volcanoes. It is 160 km² in area, with the highest peak reaching 852 m. The geology is mainly basaltic volcanics with one small area of Pleistocene raised reef and extensive areas of recent alluvium that in part overlie reefal materials laid down just above present sea level in the mid-Holocene. The soils reflect this relatively simple geology, but climatic zonation and human infl uence have complicated the picture. Some 88 percent of the soils are strongly leached ferrallitic soils (ferralsols and cambisols) of poor to moderate fertility. The other main soil type is that of the alluvial soils, which form about 9 percent of the area, and these are the most fertile soils on the island (Quantin 1979).