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New Caledonia

1927

Country codes:NC

Introduction

New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) east of Australia and about 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands in the Coral Sea are also part of New Caledonia. Locals refer to Grand Terre as "Le Caillou", the rock.

New Caledonia has a land area of 18,576 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). The population (2011 estimate) is 256,275. The capital and the only sizeable city of the territory is Nouméa.

History

The earliest traces of human presence in New Caledonia date back to the Lapita period. The Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific.

Europeans first sighted New Caledonia on September 4, 1774, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook. He named the territory New Caledonia, as the north-east of the island reminded him of Scotland. The west coast of Grande Terre was approached by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse in 1788, shortly before his disappearance, and the Loyalty Islands were first visited in 1796. From then until 1840, only a few sporadic contacts with the archipelago were recorded. Contacts became more frequent after 1840, because of the interest in sandalwood from New Caledonia.

As trade in sandalwood declined, it was replaced by a new form of trade, "Blackbirding", a euphemism for enslaving people from New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands, New Hebrides, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands to work in sugar cane plantations in Fiji and Queensland. The trade ceased at the start of the 20th century. The victims of this trade were called Kanakas like all the Oceanian people, after the Hawaiian word for 'man'.

The first missionaries from the London Missionary Society and the Marist Brothers arrived in the 1840s. In 1849, the crew of the American ship Cutter was killed and eaten by the Pouma clan. Cannibalism had once been widespread throughout New Caledonia.

On September 24 1853, under orders from Napoleon III, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia and Port-de-France (Nouméa) was founded June 25, 1854. A few dozen free settlers settled on the west coast in the following years. New Caledonia became a penal colony, and from the 1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897, about 22,000 criminals and political prisoners were sent to New Caledonia, among them many Communards, including Henri de Rochefort and Louise Michel. Between 1873 and 1876, 4,200 political prisoners were "relegated" in New Caledonia. Only forty of them settled in the colony, the rest returned to France after being granted amnesty in 1879 and 1880.

In 1864 nickel was discovered on the banks of the Diahot River and with the establishment of the Société Le Nickel in 1876 mining began in earnest. The French imported labourers to work in the mines, first from neighbouring islands, then from Japan, the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina. The French government also attempted to encourage European immigration, without much success.

The indigenous population was excluded from the French economy, even as workers in the mines, and they were ultimately confined to reservations. This sparked a violent reaction in 1878 as High Chief Atal of La Foa managed to unite many of the central tribes and launched a guerrilla war which cost 200 Frenchman and 1,000 Kanaks their lives. The Kanak population declined from around 60,000 in 1878 to 27,100 in 1921, and their numbers did not increase again until the 1930s.

In June 1940, after the fall of France, the Conseil General of New Caledonia voted unanimously to support the Free French government, and in September the pro-Vichy governor was forced to leave for Indochina. In March 1942, with the assistance of Australia, the territory became an important Allied base, and Nouméa the headquarters of the United States Navy and Army in the South Pacific. The fleet which turned back the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was based at Noumea. American troops counted up to 50,000 men, the equivalent of the contemporary population. In 1946 New Caledonia became an overseas territory. By 1953 French citizenship had been granted to all New Caledonians, regardless of ethnicity.

The European and Polynesian populations gradually increased in the years leading to the nickel boom of 1969–72, and the Melanesians became a minority, though they were still the largest single ethnic group. Between 1976 and 1988, New Caledonia adopted five different statutes, with each proving to be a source of discontent and, at times, serious disorder, culminating in 1988 with a bloody hostage taking in Ouvéa. The Matignon Agreements, signed on June 26, 1988, ensured a decade of stability. The Noumea Accord signed May 5, 1998, set the groundwork for a 20-year transitional period that will gradually transfer competences to the local government.

Culture

Wood carving, especially of the houp (Montrouziera cauliflora), are a contemporary reflection of the beliefs of the traditional tribal society, and include totems, masks, chambranles, or flèche faitière, a kind of arrow which adorns the roofs of Kanak houses. Basketry is a craft widely practiced by tribal women, creating objects of daily use.

The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano and opened in 1998, is the icon of the Kanak culture.

The Kaneka is a form of local music, inspired by reggae and originating in the 1980s.

The Mwâ Ka is a 12m totem pole commemorating the French annexation of New Caledonia, and was inaugurated in 2005.

Media

Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes is the only daily newspaper in the archipelago. A monthly publication, Le chien bleu, parodies the news from New Caledonia.

There are five radio stations: the public service broadcaster RFO radio Nouvelle-Calédonie, Océane FM, Radio Djido (established by Jean-Marie Tjibaou), NRJ and Radio Rythmes Bleus.

As for television, the public service broadcaster RFO Nouvelle-Calédonie has two channels: Télé Nouvelle-Calédonie, dedicated partly to local programming and newscasts and Tempo, which retransmits French programmes. Canal+ relays the programming of Canal + France, and CanalSat proposes 17 digital channels in French. Analogue television broadcasts ended in September 2011, completing the digital television transition in New Caledonia. The French broadcasting authorities are considering bids for two new local television stations, NCTV and NC9, planned to be launched in 2012.

The media are considered to be able to operate freely, but Reporters Without Borders raised concerns in 2006 about "threats and intimidation" of RFO staff by members of a pro-independence group.

Sports

The New Caledonia football team began play in 1951, and was admitted into FIFA, the international association of football leagues, in 2004. Prior to joining FIFA, New Caledonia held observer status with the Oceania Football Confederation, and became an official member of the OFC with its FIFA membership. They have won the South Pacific Games five times, most recently in 2007, and have placed third on two occasions in the OFC Nations Cup. Christian Karembeu is a prominent New Caledonian former footballer, while Alex Khadivi also played a few games in Noumea.

Horse Racing is also very popular in New Caledonia.

Women's cricket matches are also popular.

The Rugby league team participated in the Pacific Cup in 2004.

New Caledonia also has a national synchronised swimming team which travel to other countries preforming.

New Caledonia is hosting the Oceanias in 2012

Geography

New Caledonia is part of Zealandia, a fragment of the ancient Gondwana super-continent. Zealandia separated from Australia 60–85 million years ago. New Caledonia itself separated from Australia 65 million years ago, subsequently drifting in a north-easterly direction, reaching its present position about 50 million years ago.

The mainland is divided in length by a central mountain range whose highest peak are Mount Panié (1629 m) in the north and Mount Humboldt (1618 m) in the southeast. The east coast is covered by a lush vegetation. The west coast, with its large savannahs and plains suitable for farming, is a drier area. Many ore-rich massifs are found along this coast.

The Diahot River is the longest river of New Caledonia, flowing for some 100 kilometres (62 mi). It has a catchment area of 620 square kilometres and opens north-westward into the Baie d'Harcourt, flowing towards the northern point of the island along the western escarpment of the Mount Panié. Most of the island is covered by wet evergreen forests, while savannahs dominate the lower elevations. The New Caledonian lagoon, with a total area of ​​24,000 square kilometers is one of the largest lagoons in the world. It is surrounded by the New Caledonia Barrier Reef.

Climate

The climate is tropical, with hot and humid period from November to March with temperatures between 27°C and 30°C, and a cooler, dry period from June to August with temperatures between 20°C and 23°C, linked by two short transition periods. The tropical climate is strongly moderated by the oceanic influence and the trade winds that attenuates humidity, which can be close to 80%. The average annual temperature is 23°C, with historical extremes of 2.3°C and 39.1°C.

The rainfall records show that precipitations differ greatly within the island. The 3000 mm of rainfall recorded in Galarino are three times the average of the west coast. There are also dry periods, because of the effects of El Nino. Between December and April, tropical depressions and cyclones can cause winds to exceed a speed of 100 km/h with gusts of 250 km/h and very abundant rainfall. The last cyclone affecting New Caledonia was Cyclone Kerry, in January 2005.

Inforamtion above from the Wikipedia article New Caledonia, licensed under CC-BY-SA full list of contributors here.

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