French unique collectivity, Pacific Ocean
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Also known as: Nouvelle-Calédonie
Written by
D.L. Shineberg,
Sophie Foster•All
Fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: •Article History
New Caledonia, French unique collectivity in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 900 miles (1,500 km) east of Australia. It includes the island of New Caledonia (the Grande Terre [Mainland]), where the capital, Nouméa, is located; the Loyalty Islands; the Bélep Islands; and the Île des Pins. These islands form more than 99 percent of the total land area and lie between latitudes 18° and 23° S and longitudes 163° and 169° E. New Caledonia 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 the Bellona Reefs, Walpole Island, Beautemps-Beaupré Atoll, and Astrolabe Reefs. France also claims Hunter and Matthew islands, but the claim is disputed by Vanuatu.
Flag of New Caledonia
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- French:
- Nouvelle-Calédonie
- Heads Of Government:
- High Commissioner (for France): Louis Le Franc; President of the Government (for New Caledonia): Louis Mapou
- Capital:
- Nouméa
- Population:
- (2024 est.) 273,900
- Head Of State:
- President of France: Emmanuel Macron
- Official Language:
- none4
The main island is by far the largest of the group and contains about nine-tenths of the population. It is surrounded by a coral reef that extends from Huon Island in the north to the Île des Pins 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. New Caledonia’s lagoons, with their diverse reefs and associated ecosystems, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.
Land
Relief and drainage
Recent News
Aug. 20, 2024, 7:33 AM ET (ABC News (Australia))
Discord between Paris and Noumea halts PIF visit to New Caledonia
Aug. 20, 2024, 7:33 AM ET (ABC News (Australia))
Discord between Paris and Noumea halts Forum visit to New Caledonia
Aug. 15, 2024, 7:29 AM ET (ABC News (Australia))
Aug. 15, 2024, 3:37 AM ET (ABC News (Australia))
Kanak pro-independence leaders welcomes Pacific Forum assessment of New Caledonia
Aug. 14, 2024, 1:10 PM ET (ABC News (Australia))
The cigar-shaped main island is some 30 miles (50 km) wide and 310 miles (500 km) long. Rugged mountain ranges, consisting principally of metamorphic rock formations, divide the island into an east coast, which in many places descends precipitously to the sea, and a west coast, which slopes more gradually and contains basically flat but undulating land. Ultrabasic serpentine rock forms a continuous plateau over most of the southern third of the island, rising to 5,308 feet (1,617 metres) at Mount Humboldt, and continues along the west coast as a series of discrete mountain masses. Outcrops from this formation form the islands of Art and Pott in the Bélep archipelago in the north and, in the south, the central part of the Île des Pins, which is bordered by an emerged coral platform. These rocks have weathered to form the striking terre rouge (i.e., red soils that overlie the island’s extensive deposits of nickel, chrome, and cobalt ore). In the northeast of the main island, an outcrop of gneiss forms a mountain range 40 miles (60 km) long that includes New Caledonia’s highest point, Mount Panié, elevation 5,341 feet (1,628 metres). Elsewhere the northern half of the island consists mainly of an irregular series of ranges formed from schists. Sedimentary rocks are limited to a narrow zone extending along much of the west coast inland between the serpentine ranges and the northern schist formations. They have weathered to produce broad undulating plains with some steep-sided hills.
Numerous streams descend from the central mountain chain to the lagoon; the streams often flood rapidly after rainfall and dry out in dry weather, especially on the west coast. The Diahot River, the longest river in New Caledonia, flows for about 60 miles (100 km) toward the northern tip of the island along the western escarpment of the Mount Panié range.
The Loyalty Islands consist of three main islands—Ouvéa, Lifou, and Maré—and numerous small islands, the most important being Tiga. The Loyalty Islands account for more than one-tenth of New Caledonia’s total land area and about one-tenth of the population. In contrast to the island of New Caledonia, these islands are raised coral plateaus, nowhere rising much higher than 430 feet (130 metres) or so. Surface water is lacking because of the porous nature of the calcareous rock formation.
Climate
The climate is subtropical with year-round precipitation. Rainstorms are especially common on the east coast, where at higher elevations more than 120 inches (3,000 mm) of rain may fall annually. On the west coast the precipitation is regularly less than 40 inches (1,000 mm). The period from December to March is particularly rainy because of equatorial depressions, including frequent tropical cyclones (typhoons). Another period of heavy rainfall occurs in July and August; the driest months are September through November. Winds bearing northeast to southeast, including trade winds, predominate throughout the year and relieve temperatures in the hot season, which begins in November. Cyclonic winds are frequent late in the hot season.
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The mean annual temperature at sea level ranges 71–75 °F (22–24 °C). In the southern part of the main island there are few days when the temperature rises above 86 °F (30 °C). The lowest temperature reached in Nouméa is about 55 °F (13 °C), but, farther north on the west coast, temperatures as low as 41 °F (5 °C) have been known to occur.
Plant and animal life
Physical isolation, contrasting soils, and a wide range in elevations have produced a rich indigenous flora. Terre rouge soils support a number of sclerophyllic (drought-resistant) shrubs with spectacularly coloured flowers. Different forms of rainforest range from those growing on coral platforms, as in the Loyalty Islands, to montane forests above 3,000 feet (900 metres) on the main island. The savanna woodlands of the west coast are characterized by stands of niaouli, or cajeput trees (Melaleuca quinquenervia), which are highly fire-resistant and tend to dominate landscapes that have been cleared by bushfires. Although the niaouli grows best in wet soils up to an elevation of 2,000 feet (610 metres), it also extends onto well-drained slopes and crests and forms the main species in the closed swamp forests of the Diahot valley. Dry sclerophyll forests, dominated by the guaiacum (Acacia spirorbis), were once widespread at low elevations on the west coast. Mangrove swamps proliferate on the highly indented west coast. One woodland species, Amborella trichopoda, has become of great scientific interest as a possible link between gymnosperms and angiosperms (coniferous and flowering plants).
Except for several types of bat, which were present before the arrival of Europeans, mammals are absent from the native fauna. There are no frogs and no venomous land reptiles, although scorpions and centipedes are present. There are no endemic malaria-carrying mosquito species. The kagu, a flightless bird, is the most unusual of some 100 endemic bird species and is now rare. A wide range of marine life is present in the lagoon.
