"text":"Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century, the island became a French possession in 1853. It served as a penal colony for four decades after 1864. Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord, which over two decades transferred an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New Caledonia. In a referendum held in November 2018, residents rejected independence and decided to retain their territorial status, although two additional referendums may occur in 2020 and 2022, per the Noumea Accord."
"text":"preservation of coral reefs; prevention of invasive species; limiting erosion caused by nickel mining and forest fires"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"consists of the main island of New Caledonia (one of the largest in the Pacific Ocean), the archipelago of Iles Loyaute, and numerous small, sparsely populated islands and atolls"
"text":"Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies"
},
"conventional short form":{
"text":"New Caledonia"
},
"local long form":{
"text":"Territoire des Nouvelle-Caledonie et Dependances"
},
"local short form":{
"text":"Nouvelle-Caledonie"
},
"etymology":{
"text":"British explorer Captain James COOK discovered and named New Caledonia in 1774; he used the appellation because the northeast of the island reminded him of Scotland (Caledonia is the Latin designation for Scotland)"
}
},
"Dependency status":{
"text":"special collectivity (or a sui generis collectivity) of France since 1998; note - independence referenda took place on 4 November 2018 and 4 October 2020 with a majority voting to reject independence in favor of maintaining the status quo; an additional referenda, still unsceheduled, may occur in 2022"
},
"Government type":{
"text":"parliamentary democracy (Territorial Congress); an overseas collectivity of France"
},
"Capital":{
"name":{
"text":"Noumea"
},
"geographic coordinates":{
"text":"22 16 S, 166 27 E"
},
"time difference":{
"text":"UTC+11 (16 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)"
"note":"<br><br><strong>etymology:</strong> established in 1854 as Port-de-France, the settlement was renamed Noumea in 1866, in order to avoid any confusion with Fort-de-France in Martinique; the New Caledonian language of Ndrumbea (also spelled Ndumbea, Dubea, and Drubea) spoken in the area gave its name to the capital city, Noumea, as well as to the neighboring town (suburb) of Dumbea"
"text":"3 provinces; Province Iles (Islands Province), Province Nord (North Province), and Province Sud (South Province)"
},
"Independence":{
"text":"none (overseas collectivity of France); note - in two independence referenda, on 4 November 2018 and 4 October 2020, the majority voted to reject independence in favor of maintaining the status quo"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Fete de la Federation, 14 July (1790); note - the local holiday is New Caledonia Day, 24 September (1853)"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"4 October 1958 (French Constitution with changes as reflected in the Noumea Accord of 5 May 1998)"
"text":"President Emmanuel MACRON (since 14 May 2017); represented by High Commissioner Laurent PREVOST (since 5 August 2019)"
},
"head of government":{
"text":"President of the Government Thierry SANTA (since 9 July 2019); Temporary Vice President Gilbert TUIENON (since 9 July 2019); note - Temporary Vice President Gilbert TUIENON was elected so that the new government could take over; Philippe GERMAIN' s government remained caretaker government until the new government was settled"
},
"cabinet":{
"text":"Cabinet elected from and by the Territorial Congress"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"French president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); high commissioner appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; president of New Caledonia elected by Territorial Congress for a 5-year term (no term limits); election last held on 13 June 2017 (next to be held in 2022)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Thierry SANTA elected president by Territorial Congress with 6 votes out of 11"
"text":"unicameral Territorial Congress or Congrès du Territoire (54 seats; members indirectly selected proportionally by the partisan makeup of the 3 Provincial Assemblies or Assemblés Provinciales; members of the 3 Provincial Assemblies directly elected by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms); note - the Customary Senate is the assembly of the various traditional councils of the Kanaks, the indigenous population, which rules on laws affecting the indigenous population<br />New Caledonia indirectly elects 2 members to the French Senate by an electoral colleges for a 6-year term with one seat renewed every 3 years and directly elects 2 members to the French National Assembly by absolute majority vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term"
"text":"<br />Territorial Congress - last held on 12 May 2019 (next to be held in May 2024)<br />French Senate - election last held on 24 September 2017 (next to be held not later than 2019)<br /><br />French National Assembly - election last held on 11 and 18 June 2017 (next to be held by June 2022)"
"text":"<p>Territorial Congress - percent of vote by party - N/A; seats by party -Future With Confidence 18, UNI 9, UC 9, CE 7, FLNKS 6, Oceanic Awakening 3, PT 1, LKS 1 (Anti-Independence 28, Pro-Independence 26); composition - men 30, women 24, percent of women 44.4%</p> <br />French Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UMP 2<br /><br />French National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CE 2"
"text":"Court of Appeal in Noumea or Cour d'Appel; organized into civil, commercial, social, and pre-trial investigation chambers; court bench normally includes the court president and 2 counselors); Administrative Court (number of judges NA); note - final appeals beyond the Court of Appeal are referred to the Court of Cassation or Cour de Cassation (in Paris); final appeals beyond the Administrative Court are referred to the Administrative Court of Appeal (in Paris)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"judge appointment and tenure based on France's judicial system"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Courts of First Instance include: civil, juvenile, commercial, labor, police, criminal, assizes, and also a pre-trial investigation chamber; Joint Commerce Tribunal; administrative courts"
"text":"Build Our Rainbow Nation<br />Caledonia Together or CE [Philippe GERMAIN]<br />Caledonian Union or UC [Daniel GOA]<br />Future Together (l'Avenir Ensemble) [Harold MARTIN]<br />Kanak Socialist Front for National Liberation or FLNKS (alliance includes PALIKA, UNI, UC, and UPM) [Victor TUTUGORO]<br />Labor Party (Parti Travailliste) or PT [Louis Kotra UREGEI]<br />National Union for Independence (Union Nationale pour l'Independance) or UNI<br />Party of Kanak Liberation (Parti de Liberation Kanak) or PALIKA [Paul NEAOUTYINE]<br />Socialist Kanak Liberation or LKS [Nidoish NAISSELINE]<br />The Republicans (formerly The Rally or UMP) [interim leader Thierry SANTA]<br />Union for Caledonia in France"
"text":"New Caledonia has two official flags; alongside the flag of France, the Kanak (indigenous Melanesian) flag has equal status; the latter consists of three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), red, and green; a large yellow disk - diameter two-thirds the height of the flag - shifted slightly to the hoist side is edged in black and displays a black fleche faitiere symbol, a native rooftop adornment"
"note":"<p><strong>note:</strong> adopted 2008; contains a mixture of lyrics in both French and Nengone (an indigenous language); as a self-governing territory of France, in addition to the local anthem, \"La Marseillaise\" is official (see France)</p>"
"text":"<p>New Caledonia has 11% of the world's nickel reserves, representing the second largest reserves on the planet. Only a small amount of the land is suitable for cultivation, and food accounts for about 20% of imports. In addition to nickel, substantial financial support from France - equal to more than 15% of GDP - and tourism are keys to the health of the economy.</p><p></p><p>With the gradual increase in the production of two new nickel plants in 2015, average production of metallurgical goods stood at a record level of 94 thousand tons. However, the sector is exposed to the high volatility of nickel prices, which have been in decline since 2016. In 2017, one of the three major mining firms on the island, Vale, put its operations up for sale, triggering concerns of layoffs ahead of the 2018 independence referendum.</p>"
"text":"well advanced telecoms sector; 3G & 4G network services; one of the highest smart phone adoption rates in the region; telecommunications sector is dominated by govt. owned company with a monopoly on fixed and mobile services, Internet and broadband access (2020)"
"note":"<br><br><strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 outbreak is negatively impacting telecommunications production and supply chains globally; consumer spending on telecom devices and services has also slowed due to the pandemic's effect on economies worldwide; overall progress towards improvements in all facets of the telecom industry - mobile, fixed-line, broadband, submarine cable and satellite - has moderated"
"text":"the publicly owned French Overseas Network (RFO), which operates in France's overseas departments and territories, broadcasts over the RFO Nouvelle-Calédonie TV and radio stations; a small number of privately owned radio stations also broadcast"
"text":"no regular military forces; France bases land, air, and naval forces on New Caledonia (Forces Armées de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, FANC) (2019)"
