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About New Caledonia
New Caledonia is the third largest group of islands in the Pacific region after Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. It is located in southern Melanesia and is New Zealand's closest neighbour.
Five hundred kilometres long, 50 km wide, New Caledonia offers an endless variety of landscapes, from some of the best white sand beaches in the Pacific to spectacular mountain retreats. Surrounded by a 1,600 km long coral reef, New Caledonia also boasts the largest lagoon in the world. The reef can be as close as a few kilometres from the coast in some places and as far as 65 km in others – with an average depth of 40 metres.
New Caledonia, the foreshortened form of Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie or Territoire des Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dependences) is an overseas territory of France. New Caledonia will decide whether to remain within the French Republic or become an independent state in a referendum some time after 2014.
The population of the country is approximately 240,000 and is largely made up of Kanaks, the indigenous people of Melanesia, and Caldoches, French immigrants. Nouméa is the capital of New Caledonia.
New Caledonia comprises the Mainland (the Grande Terre), and several smaller islands: the Isle of Pines to the south; the Loyalty Islands (Maré, Lifou, Tiga, Ouvéa, Mouli and Faiava) to the east; the Belep Archipelago to the northwest; and numerous islands and islets: Huon and Surprise, Chesterfield, Walpole, Beautemps-Beaupré, Astrolabe, and the Bellona Reef.
The Grande Terre is by far the largest of the islands, and the only mountainous island, with a mountain range (Chaîne Centrale) running the length of it. This unusual relief divides the Grande Terre into two very different areas: The East Coast, humid and open to the trade winds is a fertile, exotic land with lush tropical vegetation, green valleys, beautiful waterfalls, rivers – and authentic Melanesian huts along the roads. The West Coast is a drier, temperate zone. There are fewer coconut trees but "niaouli" trees grow by the thousands and the endemic wildlife is rich. It is "cattle country", shaped by people who live at the pace of their cattle. There is an abundance of beautiful beaches too.
The Loyalty Islands are mystical islands of unique beauty, steeped in legend and tradition. The Islands were so named because of the agreeable nature of the inhabitants.
The Isle of Pines, known as Kunie to its Melanesian inhabitants, and named for its colossal endemic column pines, is often referred to as "the closest island to Paradise". The Kunies guard their land closely and the island has become an indigenous reserve.
New Caledonian soils contain a considerable wealth of industrially-critical elements and minerals, including about a quarter of the world's nickel resources. Mining is therefore a significant industry that greatly benefits the national economy.
New Caledonia is considered one of the world's most botanically-important, and critically endangered hotspots. Unlike many of the Pacific Islands, which are of relatively recent volcanic origin, New Caledonia is an ancient fragment of the Gondwana super-continent. New Caledonia and New Zealand separated from Australia 85 million years ago, and from one another 55 million years ago. This isolated New Caledonia from the rest of the world's landmasses, and made it a Noah's Ark of sorts, preserving a snapshot of prehistoric Gondwanan forests. The country still shelters an extraordinary diversity of unique, endemic, and extremely primitive plants and animals of Gondwanan origin.
Further information at www.newcaledonia.co.nz
