New Caledonia

Nouvelle-Calédonie New Caledonia
Sui generis collectivity of ‌France


Anthem La Marseillaise


Capital	Nouméa

Status	Sui generis collectivity
President of France
- From 2007	Nicolas Sarkozy
High Commissioner
- From 2010	Albert Dupuy
President of Government
- From 2011	Harold Martin

Legislature	Congress

History
- September 24, 1853	Annexed by France
- October 27, 1946	Overseas territory
- July 20, 1998	Sui generis collectivity

Area	18,575 km²

Population
- 2009	249,000
Density	13.4/km²

Currency	CFP franc

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New Caledonia is a sui generis collectivity of France, located in Melanesia.

Background

Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century, the island was made 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 a period of 15 to 20 years will transfer an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New Caledonia. The agreement also commits France to conduct a referendum between 2014 and 2019 to decide whether New Caledonia should assume full sovereignty and independence.^[1]

Economy

New Caledonia has about 25% of the world's known nickel resources. 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. Substantial new investment in the nickel industry, combined with the recovery of global nickel prices, brightens the economic outlook for the next several years.^[2]