New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a French territory in the southwest Pacific, 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia. Its special status has its own chapter in the French Constitution, Nouméa is the capital, and the main island, Grande Terre, is joined by the Loyalty Islands, the Isle of Pines and smaller groups.

The islands are part of Zealandia, a mostly sunken continent that broke from Gondwana tens of millions of years ago. People of the Lapita culture settled the coasts between about 1100 BC and AD 200, and their descendants are the Kanak people, who make up 41% of the population. James Cook sighted the island on 4 September 1774 and named it after the Latin name of Scotland, and the whaler William Raven mapped the Loyalty Islands between 1793 and 1796.

France took possession on 24 September 1853 under Napoleon III. Nickel was found in 1864, the Société Le Nickel began mining in 1876, and a nickel boom from 1969 to 1972 brought new settlers that left Kanaks a minority. The Matignon Agreements of 1988 and the Nouméa Accord of 5 May 1998 began a gradual transfer of powers.

Voters rejected independence in referendums in 2018 and 2020, and in a third vote on 12 December 2021, boycotted by independence parties, 96% chose to stay with France. The territory is divided into the North, South and Loyalty Islands provinces, and independence supporters call it Kanaky. Islanders nickname Grande Terre le Caillou, the Rock, and the territory also takes in the Belep archipelago and the Chesterfield Islands in the Coral Sea. It is associated with the European Union as an overseas country and territory.