NEW CALEDONIA

officially Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies, French Territoire de la Nouvelle-Caldonie et Dpendances French overseas territory in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 900 miles (1,500 kilometres) east of Australia. It includes the island of New Caledonia (the Grande Terre, or mainland), where the capital, Nouma, is located; the Loyalty Islands; the Blep Islands; and the Isle of Pines. These islands, which form more than 99 percent of the total land area of about 7,300 square miles (19,000 square kilometres), lie between latitudes 18 and 23 S and longitudes 163 and 169 E. The territory also includes a number of far-flung uninhabited islets: Huon and Surprise islands in the D'Entrecasteaux Reefs, the atolls of the Chesterfield Islands and Bellona Reef, Walpole Island, Beautemps-Beaupr Atoll, and Astrolabe Reefs. France also claims Hunter and Matthew islands, but the claim is disputed by Vanuatu. Although New Caledonia has a relatively small population, it has acquired significance as a remaining outpost of European sovereignty in a largely decolonized region. The main island, with an area of 6,500 square miles, is by far the largest island and contains about 90 percent of the population. It is surrounded by a coral reef that extends from the Huon Islands in the north to the Isle of Pines in the south. Except for the central part of the west coast, which is bordered only by a fringing reef, it is a true barrier reef enclosing a large lagoon. There are numerous passages in the reef, usually at the mouths of rivers. officially Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies, French Territoire de la Nouvelle-Caldonie et Dpendances French overseas territory in the southwestern Pacific, consisting of the islands of New Caledonia and Walpole, the Isle of Pines (le des Pins), and the island groups known as Loyalty, Blep, Huon and Surprise, and Chesterfield. Since 1975 France has also claimed Matthew and Hunter islands, but this is disputed by Vanuatu. The territory extends northwestward in a double chain and is located about 900 miles (1,450 km) northwest of New Zealand. The Chesterfields, a small group of uninhabited atolls, lie about 370 miles (595 km) west of the northern tip of New Caledonia island. Nouma on New Caledonia island is the territorial capital. Area 7,172 square miles (18,576 square km). Pop. (1994 est.) 183,000. For current history and for statistics on society and economy, see Britannica Book Of The Year. Melanesians settled the territory more than 3,000 years ago and, except for rare Polynesian voyagers, probably were cut off from outside contact until the late 18th century. In 1774 Captain James Cook landed at Balade, on the east coast of the mainland, and he named the island New Caledonia for his native Scotland. Cook was followed there by the French navigator Antoine de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux, in 1793. Regular contact with Europeans began in 1841 when sandalwood traders from Australia introduced islanders to the use of iron. The arrival of a Protestant mission from the London Missionary Society in the Loyalty Islands in 1841 and a Marist mission, which was set up at Balade with the aid of the French navy in 1843, marked the beginning of the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the territory. France took possession of most of present-day New Caledonia in 1853 in ceremonies at Balade and the Isle of Pines with the aim of reserving the territory as a possible site for a penal colony. The French flag was not run up in the Loyalty Islands until 1864. From the time of colonial settlement until as late as 1917, Melanesian uprisings were common and were constantly feared by the settlers and authorities alike. The insurrection of 185659 near Nouma and the uprising of 187879, which extended along the west coast from Bouloupari to Poya, seriously endangered French occupation. Grievances centred around the confiscation of Melanesian lands, the foraging of settlers' cattle on the Melanesians' produce gardens, and, in 1917, the head tax, which had been imposed by the colonial government in 1899. The French suppressed each uprising (with the help of indigenous auxiliaries) by destroying villages and crops and demanding unconditional surrender, and insurgents were punished by deportation or execution and further confiscation of their lands. By 1860 French authority had been established over the southern third of the mainland, and in the next decade policies for the disposal of indigenous land, the regrouping of tribes, and the appointment of a system of tribal chiefs to represent the administration were established. By the end of the 19th century large areas of Melanesian land had been alienated and the inhabitants relegated to reserves. Forced labour, limitations on travel, and curfews were imposed from the early days of colonial rule and became the basis of a system of administrative law codified in 1887 as the indignat (native regulations). In 1899 a head tax was levied on male Melanesians to oblige them to obtain employment with settlers and the government and, like the indignat, remained in force until 1946. Although the prime concern of the early colonial administration was the reception and control of about 22,000 French convicts sent to New Caledonia between 1864 and 1897, the need to attract free settlers and to provide a supply of cheap labour also were continuing preoccupations. Between 1864 and 1939 some 60,000 indentured labourers, as well as the convicts, were imported to construct public works and to work on plantations, ships, wharves, and mines and in commerce and domestic service. These included ni-Vanuatu (the indigenous population of Vanuatu) and Solomon Islanders (18651920), Vietnamese (18911939), Javanese (18961939), and Japanese (18921921). Only a small percentage of the survivors of these workers remained in the colony after the expiry of their contracts, and, although few ex-convicts left the territory, not many established families. New Caledonia was also the unlikely home of 4,000 dports, political exiles of the 1871 uprising of the Paris Commune, but few of the survivors stayed after being granted amnesty. Most of the free white settlers were either former members of the French administration and armed forces, settlers from Australia and New Zealand, or former sugar planters from Runion. Two later waves of free settlers in the 1890s and 1920s were encouraged to migrate to help establish coffee and cotton industries, respectively. By 1936, however, there were only 15,000 residents of European origin among 29,000 native Melanesians. After World War II the European population gradually increased by migration, but the main influx of white and Polynesian settlers occurred in the years leading up to and including the nickel boom of 196972. For the first time the Melanesians became a minority in their own country, although they still were the largest single ethnic group. Since the beginning of French settlement, political debate among the white settlers revolved around the rights of residents to administer their own affairs without endangering the flow of French financial aid. Between 1885 and 1956 a locally elected general council advised the governor on territorial affairs and voted a local budget. By 1953 French citizenship had been granted to all, regardless of ethnic origin. Melanesians then formed a coalition with Europeans to bring the party, the Caledonian Union (Union Caldonienne), to power on a ticket of full self-government in local affairs. Progress toward self-government was made in 1957 when a Territorial Assembly was created with powers to elect an executive to administer, under the presidency of a high commissioner, the affairs of the territory. In the 1970s the Caledonian Union became an increasingly Melanesian party as Europeans deserted it. Many Melanesians also left to form parties that campaigned in support of independence. In 1979 the Caledonian Union, which had converted to the cause of independence, formed an Independence Front in coalition with several minority Melanesian parties. The Socialist French government of 1981 took many steps to stem the growing political polarization and granted complete self-government in territorial affairs under the Lemoine Statute of 1984. The statute was rejected, however, by the Independence Front, which reconstituted itself as the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (Front de Libration Nationale Kanake et Socialiste; FLNKS). The FLNKS boycotted the elections held in November 1984 and took control of most of the territory outside Nouma. Peace was gradually restored as the government proposed to grant the Melanesians independence in association with France in an arrangement through which French citizens would retain residential and other rights. The European community, with the strong support of non-Melanesian ethnic groups, vigorously rejected this proposal. In 1985 the French government transferred most of the powers of self-government to four regional councils. In elections held in September 1985 the FLNKS won a majority of seats in all except the Nouma region, which was won by the settler-dominated party, the Rally for Caledonia in the Republic (Rassemblement pour la Caldonie dans la Republique; RPCR). In 1986 France reduced the powers of the regional councils and held a referendum. The referendum was boycotted by the FLNKS and produced a large majority in favour of continued ties with France. It was followed by a new statute for self-government, which altered the regional boundaries in order to limit FLNKS successes to the principal concentrations of Melanesians in the Loyalty Islands and on the east coast of the mainland. For its part the FLNKS demonstrated its ability to direct the votes of the great mass of Melanesian voters in four electoral consultations since 1984. With the aid of the independent countries of the South Pacific that form the South Pacific Forum, the question of New Caledonia was listed on the agenda of the United Nations Committee of Decolonization. The lack of consensus on the subject in France was paralleled by the increasing polarization within the territory. D.L. Shineberg Additional reading Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer, Atlas de la Nouvelle-Caldonie et dpendances (1981), gives an account of the territory's development, with detailed maps. Comptes conomiques (annual), and Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques, France, Rsultats du recensement de la population de la Nouvelle Caldonie (1984), are useful official publications. Political and social affairs are the subject of Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff, The French Pacific Islands: French Polynesia and New Caledonia (1971); Myriam Dornoy, Politics in New Caledonia (1984); and Alan Ward, Land and Politics in New Caledonia (1982). Sociological studies include J.M. Kohler, Colonie ou Democratie (1987); J.M. Kohler and P. Pillon, Impact de l'opration caf en milieu Mlansien (1982); J.M. Kohler and Loc J.D. Wacquant, L'cole ingale: lments pour un de sociologie de l'cole en Nouvelle-Caldonie (1985); and K.R. Howe, The Loyalty Islands: A History of Culture Contacts, 18401900 (1977). Alain Saussol, L'Hritage: essai sur le problme foncier mlansien en Nouvelle-Caldonie (1979); and Pierre Gascher, La Belle au bois dormant: regards sur l'administration coloniale en Nouvelle-Caldonie de 1874 1894 (1974), provide accounts of French settlement. The most comprehensive history is John Connell, New Caledonia or Kanaky?: The Political History of a French Colony (1987).