Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian ( Wallisians, Futunians, Tahitians), Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and Kanaks who work in one of the South Pacific's most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour that serves as the chief port for New Caledonia. At the September 2019 census, there were 182,341 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Greater Nouméa (), 94,285 of whom lived in the city (commune) of Nouméa proper. 67.2% of the population of New Caledonia live in Greater Nouméa, which covers the communes of Nouméa, Le Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta. History The first European to establish a settlement in the vicinity was British ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Caledonia
) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , established_title = Annexed by France , established_date = 24 September 1853 , established_title2 = Overseas territory , established_date2 = 1946 , established_title3 = Nouméa Accord , established_date3 = 5 May 1998 , official_languages = French , regional_languages = , capital = Nouméa , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym = New Caledonian , government_type = Devolved parliamentary dependency , leader_title1 = President of France , leader_name1 = Emmanuel Macron , leader_title2 = President of the Government , leader_name2 = Louis Mapou , leader_title3 = President of the Congress , leader_name3 = Roch Wamytan , leader_title4 = High Commissioner , leader_name4 = Patrice ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nouméa Cathedral
Nouméa Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Joseph de Nouméa) is a Roman Catholic church architecture, church in Nouméa, New Caledonia. It is dedicated to the Saint Joseph. The cathedral has been the seat since 1966 of the Archdiocese of Nouméa, to which the former Vicariate Apostolic of Nouvelle-Calédonie was elevated. History The cathedral, dedicated to Saint Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, was built between 1887 and 1897 as the seat of the Vicar Apostolic of Nouvelle-Calédonie (created in 1847) with convict labour to plans by a former prisoner, a certain Labulle. It was blessed on 26 October 1890 by Père Xavier Montrouzier, almoner of the hospital, opened on the following All Saints Day, and consecrated in 1893 by the Vicar Apostolic of Fiji, Monseigneur Julien Vidal, before the façade and the bell towers were completely finished. Structure The cathedral has a Latin cross ground plan, and is long (five bays with sexpartite ogival vaults for the nave, two st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Naval Base Noumea
Naval Base Noumea was a major United States Navy sea and air base at Nouméa, New Caledonia. Naval Base Noumea was built at Noumea Harbor. Noumea was picked for a Naval Base as it was beyond the range of Japanese land-based planes. Noumea is on the east side the Coral Sea, 1,469 km, (913 miles) from Brisbane, Australia. The Base was built during World War II to support the many ships and aircraft fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of war as part of the Pacific War. Naval Base Noumea had anchorage for large ships. Noumea was protected against submarine attack by ring of islands and Naval minefields. At its peak 50,000 Troops were stationed at Naval Base Noumea. New Caledonia has been a colony of France since 1853. Noumea is the capital City of New Caledonia on the southwest end of the island. On November 8, 1942, US Navy South Pacific headquarter moved to Noumea. History In September 1940, New Caledonia joined the Free France organization, founded June 194 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sonia Lagarde
Sonia Lagarde (born 29 August 1948) is a French New Caledonian politician and the current mayor of Nouméa. She has been a member of the National Assembly for New Caledonia's 1st constituency since 2012. Career Lagarde has been a member of various parties of the miscellaneous right opposed to The Rally-UMP: Une Nouvelle-Calédonie pour tous (UNCT) from 1995 to 1999, the Alliance from 1999 to 2004, Avenir ensemble from 2004 to 2008, and Caledonia Together since 2008. Member of the Congress of New Caledonia from 1995 to 2012 and vice-president of the Assembly of the South Province from 2004 to 2011, she was elected as member of the National Assembly for New Caledonia's 1st constituency (comprising Nouméa, Isle of Pines, and the Loyalty Islands) 17 June 2012. After being the head of the municipal opposition to the majority of mayor Jean Lèques in Nouméa, she became mayor of the city following her victory in the 2014 municipal elections. In 2020, Lagarde was opposed by b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nouméa-Païta Railway
The Nouméa-Païta railway was, apart from several narrow gauge industrial railway lines, the only metre-gauge railway line serving New Caledonia. It was opened in December 1914 between Nouméa, the capital, and Dumbéa in 1904 and extended to Païta in 1914. The Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge tracks of the railway traveled the between the two cities in one hour and fifteen minutes. History The idea of a railway connecting Nouméa to Canala on the North coast of the island 166 km Northwest of Noumea was first approved by governor Pallu de la Barrière in 1884. But money failed as the Conseil General hesitated to give the required loan necessary for the enterprise. The following governor Paul Feillet was able to elect a Conseil General who borrowed the sum necessary for the execution of a program of works including the construction of a railway. The line was inaugurated August 17, 1901, but opened to users first on December 30, 1904. The ambitious initial project had been con ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kanak People
The Kanak ( French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. According to the 2019 census, the Kanak make up 41.2% of New Caledonia's total population — corresponding to around 112,000 people. The Kanak population is traditionally contrasted with two other groups of European descent: (1) the Caldoche, who were born in New Caledonia; and (2) the Zoreille, who live in the territory yet were born in metropolitan France. The earliest traces of human settlement in New Caledonia go back to Lapita culture, about 3000 BP, i.e. 1000 BCE. In addition, Polynesian seafarers have intermarried with the Kanaks over the last centuries. New Caledonia was annexed to France in 1853, and became an overseas territory of France in 1956. An independence movement, which led to a failed revolt in 1967, was restarted in 1984, pursuing total independence from French rule. When the 1988 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sui Generis Collectivity
Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonization. They are part of the European Union. This collective name is used in everyday life in France but is not an administrative designation in its own right. Instead, the five overseas regions have exactly the same administrative status as the metropolitan regions; the five overseas collectivities are semi-autonomous; and New Caledonia is an autonomous territory. Overseas France includes island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, French Guiana on the South American continent, and several peri-Antarctic islands as well as a claim in Antarctica. Excluding the district of Adélie Land, where French sovereignty is effective ''de jure'' by French law, but where the French exclusive claim on this part of Antarctica i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South Province, New Caledonia
The South Province () is one of three administrative subdivisions in New Caledonia. It corresponds to the southern and southwestern portion of the New Caledonian mainland. Overview It is by far the most economically developed and most urbanized part of the archipelago and indeed in the entire Melanesian region. The South Province is also the only part of New Caledonia - and Melanesia - where ethnic Melanesians do not constitute an absolute majority of the population. The provincial assembly and executive are in Nouméa. The administrative services of the French state, however, are located in La Foa, with a Deputy Commissioner of the Republic (''commissaire délégué de la République''), akin to a subprefect of metropolitan France, in residence there. La Foa was chosen by the French central State in the late 1980s to counterbalance the overwhelming weight of Nouméa in New Caledonia The central State administrative services in La Foa are not to be confused with the central St ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Paddon
James Paddon (23 September 1811, Portsea, Hampshire – 13 February 1861, Nou Island, New Caledonia) was an English navigator-merchant, sandalwood, settler, pioneer in the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Early Years The beginning of his life remains unknown. Originally from Portsea Island, Portsea, the island where Portsmouth is located in Hampshire, in the south of England. The fifth of ten children, his father was a pilot. It seems that Paddon left the Royal Navy with the rank of midshipman in Australia. He was then found in 1840 in China, where he is the Captain of the brig ''Brigand'' on behalf of a Parsi Heerjeebhoy Rustomjee, his sponsor, and owner of the vessel. No doubt he was involved in the opium trade. The New Hebrides until 1852 It was around 1841-1842 that the Paddon heard about the sandalwood in the New Hebrides (this commodity was highly sought after by the Chinese and very lucrative). With the agreement of his sponsor, Paddon planned to colonize an island in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dumbéa
Dumbéa (, ) is a commune in France, commune in the suburbs of Nouméa in the South Province, New Caledonia, South Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The population of the commune was 35,873 according to the 2019 census. From 1904 to 1940 the town was linked to Nouméa by the Nouméa-Païta railway. Population Twin towns – sister cities Dumbéa is Sister city, twinned with: * Fréjus, France (1985) * Lifou, New Caledonia (2000) * Port Vila, Vanuatu (2003) * Poum, New Caledonia (2014) * Punaauia, French Polynesia (1991) References External links * Communes of New Caledonia {{NewCaledonia-geo-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wallis And Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, and Tokelau to the northeast. Mata Utu is its capital and largest city. Its land area is . It had a population of 11,558 at the 2018 census (down from 14,944 at the 2003 census). The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands and a number of tiny islets. It is divided into two island groups that lie about apart: the Wallis Islands (also known as Uvea) in the northeast; and the Hoorn Islands (also known as the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island. Since 28 March 2003, Wallis and Futuna has been a French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM''). Between 1961 and 2003, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grande Terre (New Caledonia)
Grande Terre is the largest and principal island of New Caledonia, which is a territory of France. History British explorer James Cook sighted Grande Terre in 1774 and named it "New Caledonia", Caledonia being the Latin name for what is now Scotland. The island's mountains reminded him of Scotland. Eventually, the name "New Caledonia" became applied to Grande Terre and its surrounding islands. It was annexed by the French Empire and became a penal colony in 1853. Today, Grande Terre has about 268,000 residents. Geography The largest settlement on Grande Terre is Nouméa, the capital city of New Caledonia. Locals refer to Grand Terre as "Le Caillou", the pebble. The island has a fairly hot and humid climate, though varying as the south-east trade winds bring relatively cool air. Surrounding the island and especially to the north-west is the New Caledonian barrier reef. The island is located roughly east of Australia. Grande Terre is oriented northwest-to-southeast; its area ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |