Loyalty Islands Province (, ) is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands ()

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre. The provincial government seat is at Lifou. The Loyalty Islands are a '' collectivité territoriale'' of France. The province's 2019 population was approximately 18,353 inhabitants living on almost . The native inhabitants are

Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...

who speak various Kanak languages and

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

who speak the Fagauvea language.

History

The first Western contact on record is attributed to British Captain William Raven of the whaler ''Britannia'', who was on his way in 1793 from

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

to Batavia (now called

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

). It is very likely, however, that the discovery and name originated with officials on the London ship ''Loyalty'', which was on a Pacific Ocean trading voyage from 1789 to 1790. The

French Government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

demanded the removal of missionaries from the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

led by Rev. Samuel Macfarlane from the Loyalty Islands and

in 1869. This led to the missionaries travelling to the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

on the vessel ''Surprise'', in an event still celebrated as " The Coming of the Light", on 1 July 1871. Dated 20 January 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2021.

Geography

The archipelago consists of six inhabited islands – Lifou Island, Maré Island, Tiga Island, Ouvéa Island, Mouli Island, and Faiava Island – and several smaller uninhabited islands and

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s. Their combined land area is . The highest elevation is at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

on Maré Island. The islands are part of the New Caledonia rain forests ecoregion. The chief export of the Loyalty Islands is

copra Copra (from ; ; ; ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted ...

. An

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

of moment magnitude 7.7 was reported just after midnight on 11 February 2021 in an area south-east of the islands, with several aftershocks. Over 50 quakes of magnitude greater than 4.5 were recorded in less than 24 hours, and then on the 19 May another quake of the same magnitude happened and caused tsunamis detected by GeoNet's DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) and hit everywhere (mostly) in the Pacific Ocean and another of the same size on 20 May triggering another tsunami warning.

Demographics

The people of the Loyalty Islands are of mixed Melanesian and Polynesian ancestry, with a small European minority. The population numbered 17,436 in the 2009 census, a 7.9% reduction from the 22,080 in the preceding 2004 census. In 2014 the population grew to 18,297, an increase of 4.9%, and in 2019 the population grew a further 0.1% to 18,353. Several thousand more Loyalty Islanders live on New Caledonia, especially in

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, 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 i ...

, the capital, and in the mining areas of the main island.

Communes

The Loyalty Islands Province is divided into three communes (municipalities): * Lifou (comprises Lifou Island, Tiga Island, and several

s) * Maré (comprises Maré Island and Dudun Island) * Ouvéa (comprises Ouvéa Island, Mouli Island, Faiava Island, and several additional islands and islets nearby) * Walpole Island is geographically part of the Loyalty Islands, but administratively part of the commune of Île des Pins, South Province, New Caledonia.

Provincial congress

As of 2018, there are 14 seats in the province's congress held by six parties: the nationalist Caledonian Union holds four, the anti-independence Rally for Caledonia in the Republic holds two, and the National Union for Independence-Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, Socialist Kanak Liberation, Renewed Caledonian Union and Union of Pro-Independence Co-operation Committees each have two.

Presidents of Loyalty Province

*1st Richard Kaloï 1989–1995 *2nd Nidoïsh Naisseline 14 July 1995 – 9 May 1999 *3rd Robert Xowie 14 May 1999 – 9 May 2004 *4th Néko Hnepeune 14 May 2004 – 17 May 2019 *5th Jacques Lalié 17 May 2019 – present

References

Bibliography

* Dunbabin, Thomas: William Raven, RN, and his 'Britannia', 1792–95; in: The Mariner's mirror, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Nov.); London .a.1960 (S. 297–303) * Dunmore, John: Who's who in Pacific navigation; Carlton, Vic. 1992 * Henze, Dietmar: Enzyklopädie der Entdecker und Erforscher der Erde, Bd. 4; Graz 2000 * Jones, A. G. E.: Ships employed in the South Seas trade Vol. 1: 1775 - 1861; Canberra 1986 & Vol. 2: 1775 - 1859; Burwood, Vic. 992* * Riesenberg, Saul H.: Six Pacific island discoveries; in: The American Neptune, Vol. 34; Salem, Mass. 1974 (S. 249–57) * Sharp, Andrew: The discovery of the Pacific Islands; Oxford 1960 NZ DART Network Data https://www.geonet.org.nz/tsunami/dart {{authority control Provinces of New Caledonia Geography of New Caledonia Loyalty Islands Islands of New Caledonia Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean