New Caledonia

New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie; popular name: Le caillou) (Malay: Caledonia Baru) is a "sui generis collectivity" (in practice an overseas territory) of France, made up of a main island (Grande Terre) and several smaller islands. It is in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. At about half the size of Taiwan, it has a land area of 18,575.5 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). At the 2004 census, 230,789 people lived there. It has an internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of .nc. The capital and largest city of the territory is Nouméa. The currency is the CFP franc. The inflation rate is -0.6%. The unemployment rate is 17.1% A referendum was held in November 2018 to see if New Caledonia should declare independence from France. The results were more people wanted to stay in France than leave. There have been referendums later. In 2024's second quarter there were riots; five people have been killed (including indigenous people and police officers); A State of emergency has been declared by the authorities. The president of France came. In July 2025, the Elysée Palace will sign an institutional development agreement for New Caledonia between French and Caledonian elected officials. Kanak people are an indigenous people. References