How many Kanak still live in New Caledonia?
Kanak people
Kanak languages are extremely diverse, but French serves as the official language of New Caledonia. There are 28 distinct Kanak languages, as well as many dialects, out of the 1,200 Melanesian languages spoken throughout the Pacific. They are mutually incomprehensible. All are a part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family. They all belong to the New Caledonian subgroup – except for Fagauvea, which is a Polynesian language.
New Caledonia catshark
The New Caledonia catshark or Kanakorum catshark ("Aulohalaelurus kanakorum") is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae in the order Carcharhiniformes, known only from one specimen collected near southwestern New Caledonia in the western central Pacific Ocean. The holotype measured . The New Caledonia catshark is a rare and vulnerable inshore catshark found around coral reefs.
Hmwaveke language
Hmwaveke (’Moaveke) is a Kanak language of New Caledonia, in the commune of Voh.
Languages of New Caledonia
The forty native languages of New Caledonia form two branches of the Southern Oceanic languages, part of the Austronesian family; West Uvean is Polynesian. Their speakers are known as Kanaks. The most important are: Drehu, Nengone, Paicî, Ajië, and Xârâcùù. The other languages are spoken by a few hundred to couple thousand people and are endangered. Many Kanaks do not know their native languages very well because of the wide usage of French.
Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front
This is composed of the Caledonian Union (UC) (a centre-left formerly multi-ethnic party dating back to the early postwar period) on the one hand and the Nationalist Unions for Independence (UNI) on the other. The UNI includes Melanesian Progressive Union (a political movement based on the island's west coast and mainly around the village of Poya, where its founder, the late Edmond Nekiriai hails from), the Oceanian Democratic Rally (a Polynesian (Wallisian-and-Futunian) based party) and the Party of Kanak Liberation (PALIKA), a more radical party founded by left-leaning students that came back from France after the May 1968 riots. Both the UC and UNI are of approximately equal size, and with varying rhetoric. However, all support the independence of New Caledonia. The party boycotted the 1987 independence referendum.
Kanak people
Tjibaou was involved in the establishment of the "Écoles populaires kanak", which was taught in a local Kanak language and educated children in spiritual and practical knowledge, while including French and English language instruction. Since 2006, pre-school children have been given the opportunity to learn indigenous Kanak languages. While the Kanak languages have been taught in high schools across the Loyalty Islands and North Province, the language education has not been as common in the more European South Province. The establishment of the Kanak Language Academy (KLA) was a provision of the Nouméa Accord.
Biodiversity of New Caledonia
New Caledonia's animal land diversity was similar to that of some oceanic islands, particularly New Zealand and as in these islands, the biodiversity was greater before being inhabited by humans. The island has no native mammals except for bats and no native amphibians. The vertebrates are dominated by reptiles and birds. Today the island has 21 endemic species of birds, including one endemic family, the Rhynochetidae, represented by one living species, the kagu. The island is also home to the unusual tool-using New Caledonian crow. The separation of the Gondwana islands before the mammalian expansion that allowed the radiation of flightless birds (moa, kiwi, sylviornis, cagous) and Mesozoic reptilian forms such as the tuatara of New Zealand.
Caloenas
One or two extinct species are known: the Kanaka pigeon was a large species from New Caledonia and Tonga. It is only known by subfossil remains and was probably hunted to extinction by the early settlers. The spotted green pigeon, another extinct species from an unknown locality, has only a slightly similarity to the Nicobar pigeon due to its neck feathers. Ornithologists place it in this genus but there is not a unanimous agreement. One surviving specimen exists in the Liverpool Museum.
Black War
Estimates of Tasmania's Aboriginal population in 1803, the year of the first British arrivals, range from 3,000 to 7,000. Lyndall Ryan's analysis of population studies led her to conclude that there were about 7,000 spread throughout the island's nine nations; However, Nicholas Clements, citing research by N.J.B Plomley and Rhys Jones, settled on a figure of 3,000 to 4,000; this number being a more reasonable number when the circumstances of Indigenous life are factored in.
But Aboriginal numbers began dropping almost immediately: violent encounters were reported in the Hobart region, while at Port Dalrymple in the colony's north, Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson is thought to have ordered soldiers to shoot at Aboriginal people wherever they were found, leading to the virtual disappearance of North Midlands clans in that region after 1806. In 1809 New South Wales surveyor-general John Oxley reported that kangaroo hunting by whites had led to a "considerable loss of life among the natives" throughout the colony. One settler, the convict adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen, also claimed that Aboriginal numbers were "much reduced during the first six or seven years of the colony" as whites "harassed them with impunity". By 1819 the Aboriginal and British population reached parity with about 5000 of each, although among the colonists men outnumbered women four to one. At that stage both population groups enjoyed good health, with infectious diseases not taking hold until the late 1820s.
Pacific Islands home front during World War II
The indigenous New Caledonias (Kanak) noted with interest that the African American soldiers, while segregated, could outrank white Americans. They judged that this system was superior to the one they lived in under French rule. Asian indentured servants in New Caledonia could not officially be employed by the Americans, however, they were heavy involved in the black market supply of good and labor that developed. Their absence put pressure on the efficiency of the local nickle mines.
New Caledonia
Under the Nouméa Accord, signed in 1998 following a period of secessionist unrest in the 1980s and approved in a referendum, New Caledonia held a second referendum on independence on 4 November 2018, where 56.9% of voters chose to remain with France.
Laurel forest
New Caledonia was an ancient fragment of the supercontinent Gondwana. Unlike many of the Pacific Islands, which are of relatively recent volcanic origin, New Caledonia is part of Zealandia, a fragment of the ancient Gondwana that separated from Australia 60–85 million years ago, and the ridge linking New Caledonia to New Zealand has been deeply submerged for millions of years. This isolated New Caledonia from the rest of the world's landmasses, preserving a snapshot of Gondwanan forests. New Caledonia and New Zealand are separated by continental drift of Australia 85 million years ago. The islands still shelter an extraordinary diversity of endemic plants and animals of Gondwanan origin that have later spread to the southern continents.
Caac language
Caac or Caaàc is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia.
Fwâi language
Fwâi (Poai) is a Kanak language of New Caledonia, in the commune of Hienghène.
New Zealand kaka
The New Zealand kaka (Maori: kākā) ("Nestor meridionalis") is a large species of parrot of the family Nestoridae found in native forests of New Zealand. Two subspecies are recognised. It is endangered and has disappeared from much of its former range.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia has a land area of . Its population of 268,767 (August 2014 census) consists of a mix of Kanak people (the original inhabitants of New Caledonia), people of European descent (Caldoches and Metropolitan French), Polynesian people (mostly Wallisians), and Southeast Asian people, as well as a few people of Pied-Noir and North African descent. The capital of the territory is Nouméa.
Kumak language
Kumak, also known as Nêlêmwa-Nixumwak after its two dialects, is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia.
List of mammals of New Caledonia
This is a list of the mammal species recorded in New Caledonia. There are 16 mammal species in New Caledonia, of which 0 are critically endangered, 2 are endangered, 4 are vulnerable, and 0 are near-threatened. 1 of the species listed for New Caledonia is considered to be extinct.
Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front
The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (, FLNKS) is a pro-independence alliance of political parties in New Caledonia. It was founded in 1984 at a congress of various political parties. Its supporters are mostly from the Kanak indigenous population but also include supporters from other ethnic communities.
New Caledonia
At the last census in 2014, New Caledonia had a population of 268,767. Of these, 17,436 live in the Loyalty Islands Province, 45,137 in the North Province, and 183,007 in the South Province. Population growth has slowed down since the 1990s, but remains strong with a yearly increase of 1.7% between 1996 and 2009.
Islam in New Caledonia
Islam in New Caledonia is a minority faith, consisting of 2.6% of population or 6,357 people. The community is largely ethnic Javanese, and primarily speaks French, and Arabic or Indonesian, causing a linguistic gap between them and neighbouring Anglophone Muslim communities in Australia and Fiji. There is an Islamic centre in Nouméa, and another in Bourail catering to Algerian-Caledonians.
Nestor (genus)
There are two surviving species and at least one well documented extinct species in the genus "Nestor". Very little is known about the fourth, the Chatham kaka, which may have been conspecific with another kaka species.Of the four species, the Norfolk kaka and Chatham kaka became extinct in recent history. The last known individual of the Norfolk kaka died in captivity in London sometime after 1851, and only between seven and 20 skins survive. The Chatham kaka became extinct in pre-European times, after Polynesians arrived at the island, between 1550 and 1700, and is only known from subfossil bones. The mainland New Zealand kaka is listed as endangered, and the kea is listed as vulnerable.
Wallis and Futuna
The total population of the territory at the July 2008 census was 13,484 (68.4% on the island of Wallis, 31.6% on the island of Futuna), down from 14,944 at the July 2003 census. The vast majority of the population are of Polynesian ethnicity, with a small minority of Metropolitan French descent and/or native-born whites of French descent. More than 16,000 Wallisians and Futunians live as expatriates in New Caledonia, which is more than the total population of Wallis and Futuna.
Kanak people
New Caledonia was annexed to France in 1853, and became an overseas territory of France in 1956. An independence movement led to a failed revolt in 1967, and was restarted in 1984, pursuing total independence status from the French rule. When the 1988 Matignon agreements were signed between the representatives of France and New Caledonia to decide on holding the referendum for independence, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, the Kanak leader of the independence movement, had mooted a proposal to set up an Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture (ADCK). After Tjibaou's assassination in 1989, the French President François Mitterrand ordered that a cultural centre on the lines suggested by Tjibaou be set up in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia; it was to be the last of Mitterrand's "Grands Projets". The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre was formally established in May 1998.
Indigenous architecture
The centre comprises an interconnected series of ten stylised grandes cases (chiefs' huts), which form three villages (covering an area of 6060 square metres). These huts have an exposed stainless-steel structure and are constructed of iroko, an African rot-resistant timber which has faded over time to reveal a silver patina evocative of the coconut palms that populate the coastline of New Caledonia. The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre draws materially and conceptually on its geopolitical environment, so that despite being situated on the outskirts of the capital city, it draws influence from the diverse Kanak communities residing elsewhere across Kanaky. The circling pathway that leads from the car park to the centre's entrance is lined with plants from various regions of Kanaky. Together, these represent the myth of the creation of the first human: the founding hero, Téâ Kanaké. Signifying the collaborative design process, the path and centre are organically interconnected so it is difficult to discern any discrete edges existing between the building and gardens. Similarly, the soaring huts appear unfinished as they open outward to the sky, projecting the architect's image of Kanak culture as flexible, diasporic, progressive and resistant to containment by traditional museological spaces.
New Britain
The indigenous people of New Britain fall into two main groups: the Papuans, who have inhabited the island for tens of thousands of years, and the Austronesians, who arrived around two thousand years ago. There are around ten Papuan languages spoken and about forty Austronesian languages, as well as Tok Pisin and English. The Papuan population is largely confined to the eastern third of the island and a couple of small enclaves in the central highlands. At Jacquinot Bay, in the south-east, they live beside the beach where a waterfall crashes directly into the sea.
The population of New Britain was 493,585 in 2010. Austronesian people make up the majority on the island. The major towns are Rabaul/Kokopo in East New Britain and Kimbe in West New Britain.
Kanaka pigeon
The Kanaka pigeon ("Caloenas canacorum"), also called the great green pigeon or greater maned pigeon, is extinct. It was probably hunted to extinction by the early settlers of New Caledonia and Tonga around 2500 years ago. It was described from subfossil remains found at the Pindai Caves of New Caledonia. The specific epithet is a latinisation of "kanaka", the name of the native Melanesian people of New Caledonia. It was about 25% larger than its closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon.
Kanak people
Although ancient Lapita potteries date back to 1500 BC, and the people of the island have long been involved in the arts, since the establishment of the ADCK, Kanak arts and crafts have become more popular in New Caledonia. Wooden carvings in the shape of hawks, ancient gods, serpents and turtles are popular as is "flèche faîtière", a carving which resembles a small totem pole with symbolic shapes. Music, dance and singing are part of many a Kanak ceremonial function and dances are performed during the traditional Kanak gatherings with the objective of cementing relationships within the clan and with ancestors.
Settler colonialism
The Caldoche are the descendants of European—in the majority French—settlers in New Caledonia, who often displaced the indigenous Kanak population from the mid-19th century onwards.
Kanak people
An agreement called the Matignon Accord followed on 6 November 1988 between the French and the Kanaks, which had the majority support of 80% of the French people. According to the Matignon Accord (or Matignon Agreement) a referendum on independence was proposed to be held by 1998. However, two of the Kanak leaders who had signed the agreement, Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwene Yeiwene, were assassinated on 4 May 1989 by a Kanak activist. The Kanak independence activists were unhappy with the situation as they felt that France would never allow them independence.
Japanese settlement in New Caledonia
Official statistics showed some 6,880 Japanese miners that landed in New Caledonia between 1892 and 1919. The Japanese community had almost 3,000 individuals in 1922, and many left New Caledonia in the 1920s and 1930s as ethnic suspicion against ethnic Japanese intensified. Within the Japanese community, Okinawans consisted a sizeable minority, and a 1905 census recorded some 387 Okinawans in New Caledonia. In all official census until the 1940s, Japanese were classified as "Europeans" and enjoyed similar rights with other European settlers. Inter-ethnic unions between Japanese men and women were frequentplace, although some Japanese settlers married Japanese women. A 1940 report showed some 36 men that married Japanese women, while another 20 married French women. Another 107 married or cohabited with Kanak, Vietnamese or Javanese women. In the same year, there were some 200 second-generation Japanese settlers, of which three quarters were born to one non-Japanese parent, while the remainder were of pure Japanese descent.
Australasian gannet
In New Zealand, almost all breeding colonies are on or around the North Island. Gannet Island, offshore from Kawhia, was named by Captain James Cook in January 1770 for the gannets seen there and 8,003 pairs were counted in a 1981 census. Three Kings Islands, north-west of Cape Reinga, contained New Zealand's largest offshore gannet colonies, with 9,855 pairs across five smaller colonies in 1981. However, an aerial survey in 2014–15 found that it had shrunk to 6,402 pairs. Whakaari / White Island, offshore in the Bay of Plenty and comprising five smaller colonies, also saw a reduction in numbers, from 6,662 pairs in 1980–81 to 5,306 pairs in 2014–15. The colony at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke's Bay is thought to have been settled around 1850, with 100 pairs reported in 1885. It had 5,186 pairs counted in a 1981 census. Muriwai, near Auckland, comprises a mainland colony on Okatamiro Point, estimated at 1,385 pairs in 2016, while nearby Motutara (Pillar Rock) had 187 pairs. Gannets established a colony on Tikitiki Rock (Nine Pin Rock) in the outer Bay of Islands in 2007, which had around 70 pairs by 2017. A small colony was established at Young Nick's Head in 2008.
Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture
The Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture (Agence de développement de la culture kanak, ADCK), on New Caledonia is an administrative agency, established in 1989, to preserve and promote Kanak and Pacific Islands culture, art and heritage. It was formed on the first anniversary of the signature Matignon-Oudinot Agreements to recognise and promote the values of Kanak culture.
Rhacodactylus leachianus
Some of the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia fear Leach's giant gecko. This is because of an old superstition which purports that it has the ability to cling to a person's body and pull out that person's soul.
Kanak people
The Caledonian Union, one of the political parties within the pro-independence FLNKS group had, in 2010, appealed for a national committee to evaluate progress and prepare New Caledonia for the change in leadership before the planned referendum in 2014. In this appeal, the UC also argued that, according to the Nouméa Accord, it was obligatory for the French government to train and build the capacity of Kanaks to be able to take over the government in 2014 and urged them to respond swiftly.
Orang Kanaq
According to the Department of Orang Asli Affairs (JHEOA) in 2010, 29 families of Kanaq people lived in Malaysia numbered at 139 people (2010, JHEOA). They made up 0.18% of the Proto-Malay people and 0.1% of the Orang Asli's total population.
Paul Néaoutyine
Paul Néaoutyine (born October 12, 1951 in Poindimié) is a New Caledonian politician. A Kanak of the Saint-Michel tribe, he has been president of the North Province of New Caledonia since 1999. He is a supporter of New Caledonian independence.
Kanak people
The Kanak movement proposed a self-government in January 1986. An interim arrangement was announced by Mitterrand who moved to give greater autonomy in the colony. However, the French prime minister Jacques Chirac stationed troops in the islands and the autonomy issue was shelved. The FLNKS, backed in their campaign for a referendum by regional organizations such as the "Groupe du fer de lance mélanesien" (the Melanesian Spearhead Group), the Pacific Forum, and the Nonaligned Countries Movement, were successful in getting the UN Resolution 41-41 A of 2 December 1986 passed; it re-inscribed New Caledonia on the Decolonisation List of Non-Self-Governing Territories. But this resolution did not mitigate the violence as what ensued was more confrontations with the authorities: the "Ouvéa cave hostage taking" resulted in 21 deaths including 19 Kanaks. Following the battle, there was an international outcry that resulted in initiation of talks for settlement between the French government, the Kanaks and the French settlers.
New Caledonia
The indigenous population or Kanak people were excluded from the French economy and from mining work, and ultimately confined to reservations. This sparked a violent reaction in 1878, when High Chief Atal of La Foa managed to unite many of the central tribes and launched a guerrilla war that killed 200 Frenchmen and 1,000 Kanaks. A second guerrilla war took place in 1917, with Catholic missionaries like Maurice Leenhardt functioning as witnesses to the events of this war. Leenhardt would pen a number of ethnographic works on the Kanak of New Caledonia. Noel of Tiamou led the 1917 rebellion, which resulted in a number of orphaned children, one of whom was taken into the care of Protestant missionary Alphonse Rouel. This child, Wenceslas Thi, would become the father of Jean-Marie Tjibaou (1936–1989).
Caldoche
New Caledonia was used as a penal colony from 1854 to 1922 by France. From this period and on, many Europeans (particularly of French and, to some extent, German origin) settled in the territory and they intermingled with Asian and Polynesian settlers. "Code de l'indigénat", introduced in 1887, provided the free settler population with an advantageous status over the indigenous Melanesian peoples, known collectively as Kanak. Caldoches settled and gained property on the dry west coast of the main island Grande Terre where the capital Nouméa is also located, pushing the Kanaks onto small reservations in the north and east. With the superior position, they constituted the ruling class of the colony and they were the ones who widened the usage of the word "Canaque" as a pejorative.
New Caledonia
A 2015 documentary by Al Jazeera English asserted that up to 10% of New Caledonia's population is descended from around 2,000 Arab-Berber people deported from French Algeria in the late 19th century to prisons on the island in reprisal for the Mokrani Revolt in 1871. After serving their sentences, they were released and given land to own and cultivate as part of colonisation efforts on the island. As the overwhelming majority of the Algerians imprisoned on New Caledonia were men, the community was continued through intermarriage with women of other ethnic groups, mainly French women from nearby women's prisons. Despite facing both assimilation into the Euro-French population and discrimination for their ethnic background, descendants of the deportees have succeeded in preserving a common identity as Algerians, including maintaining certain cultural practices (such as Arabic names) and in some cases Islamic religion. Some travel to Algeria as a rite of passage, though obtaining Algerian citizenship is often a difficult process. The largest population of Algerian-Caledonians lives in the commune of Bourail (particularly in the district, where there is an Islamic cultural centre and ), with smaller communities in Nouméa, Conné, Blambut, and Surianté.
Batek people
The Batek (or Bateq) are an indigenous people (numbering about 1,519 in 2000) who live in the rainforest of peninsular Malaysia. As a result of encroachment, they now primarily inhabit the Taman Negara National Park. They are nomadic hunters and gatherers, so the exact location of their settlements change within the general confines of the area that they inhabit.
Black Brothers
There was another group titled 'Black Brothers' in New Caledonia, which was associated with the Kanak independence movement.
Biodiversity of New Caledonia
Some New Caledonia plant communities are true living fossils. Flora contains many groups of plants that appear to be remnants of the Gondwanan flora in late Cretaceous - early Tertiary that once covered large parts of Australasia. The flora is exceedingly diverse and includes a level of endemism, per square kilometre, seen almost nowhere else on Earth. Three quarters of native plant species on New Caledonia are endemic, but a quarter of those are "at risk" of decline or extinction.
There are besides 454 species of marine macrophytes.
Jawe language
Jawe (Diahoue, Njawe, Oubatch, Ubach) is one of the Kanak languages spoken in the northern province of the largest island of New Caledonia named Grande Terre. Jawe speakers are located along the northeast coast of the island, north of Hienghène and south of Pouébo; primarily in the Cascada de Tao region, Tchambouenne, and in the upper valleys of both sides of the centrally dividing mountain range.
Hinduism in New Caledonia
New Caledonia has several descendants of Tamils, whose parents intermarried with the local population in the 20th century. New Caledonia requires a special study since a large number of Tamils went there as laborers and a report in a book published about 1919 states that of the Chinese, Indians and Javanese who colonized new Caledonia, the Indians gave satisfaction.
Māori Australians
The 2001 Australian Census found that the Māori population in New Zealand numbered 101,100. The 2001 Census also revealed that 35.5% of the Australian Māori population lived in New South Wales, 29.7% in Queensland (including 19,000 in Brisbane), 14 % in Victoria, and 6% in other territories. Of the 79,000 resident Māori who identified their iwi/tribal affiliations, 20,000 were Ngāpuhi, 12.500 Ngāti Porou, 11,500 Waikato, 10,000 Ngāti Kahungunu, and 3,000 Ngāi Tahu. There were also around 30,000 to 45,000 Ngāpuhi residing in Sydney and the Gold Coast.
New Caledonia
There are five radio stations: the public service broadcaster RFO radio Nouvelle-Calédonie, Océane FM (the collectivity's newest station), the youth-oriented station NRJ, Radio Djiido (established by Jean-Marie Tjibaou), and Radio Rythmes Bleus. The last two stations are primarily targeted to the various Kanak groups who are indigenous to New Caledonia ("Djiido" is a term from the Fwâi language, spoken in Hienghène in the North Province, denoting a metal spike used to secure straw thatching to the roof of a traditional Kanak house).
Japanese settlement in New Caledonia
Japanese settlement in New Caledonia dates back to the 19th century when male indentured labourers were brought to the island and worked in the nickel mines. Some of whom settled down in New Caledonia, and often intermarried with women of other ethnicites. After the Second World War, most of the island's Japanese were repatriated back to Japan, although a small minority remained behind.
Maurice Leenhardt
Maurice Leenhardt (9 March 1878 – 26 January 1954), was a French pastor and ethnologist specialising in the Kanak people of New Caledonia.
Party of Kanak Liberation
The Party of Kanak Liberation (, Palika) is a socialist pro-independence political party in New Caledonia. It is a component of the National Union for Independence, which in turn is one of the two components of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).
Kanak people
When Kanaks were forced to move to reserve areas of the island, closer to the mountains, they occupied only 10 per cent of the area of their ancestral territories given that their population had declined so dramatically due to disease, and their living conditions became very hard. This situation arose consequent to induction of 20,000 convicts by the French government between 1864 and 1897, most of whom settled permanently in the country, and who were employed to extract nickel (beginning with 1864) and copper from 1875 onwards. This caused serious resentment among the Kanaks who revolted in 1878 against the French colonial rule, which was suppressed by the French who were better armed. The Kanak leader was decapitated, and his head was put on display in the Museum of Natural History.
Kagu
The kagu had an important role in the traditional lives of the Kanak tribes of New Caledonia. Among the tribes found in the vicinity of Hienghène in the north of Grande Terre, its name was given to people, its crest was used in the head-dresses of chiefs, and its calls were incorporated into war dances and considered messages to be interpreted by the chiefs. Kanaks in the vicinity of Houaïlou referred to the species as the "ghost of the forest."
New Caledonia
The European and Polynesian populations gradually increased in the years leading to the nickel boom of 1969–1972, and the indigenous Kanak Melanesians became a minority, though they were still the largest ethnic group.
Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front
An attempt to re-unite the party was made on the occasion of the 2007 legislative elections in France, in which both New Caledonian constituencies were up for election. In New Caledonia's 1st constituency, Charles Washetine, a member of UNI-Palika ran with a Caledonian Union running mate. In New Caledonia's 2nd constituency, the leader of the Caledonian Union, Charles Pidjot, ran with a UNI-Palika running mate. However, both were defeated by the candidates of The Rally-UMP.
Flags of New Caledonia
In 2008, the government of New Caledonia debated the introduction of an official regional flag and anthem, as required by the Accord de Nouméa. A flag in fairly widespread unofficial use was the flag of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), a political party favoring independence for New Caledonia, thus a highly polemical emblem, and the French tricolor would remain the only flag used for the next two years.
Nadine Pidjot
Nadine Pidjot (born 1967) is a lawyer from New Caledonia. She was the first Kanak woman to become a lawyer.
Indians in New Caledonia
New Caledonia has several descendants of Tamils, whose parents intermarried with the local population already in the last century. New Caledonia requires a special study since a large number of Tamils went there as labourers and a report in a book published about 1919 states that of the Chinese, Indians and Javanese who colonised new Caledonia, the Indians gave satisfaction. In Tahiti in August 1967, were found about twenty families who had descended from Tamils. Neither the parents nor the children had any knowledge of their ancestry, but the parents remembered their own parents and how when their parents and Indian friends met they spoke 'la langue' and often sang and cried remembering their homeland. The family name was the only clue to their Indian origin e.g. Pavalacoddy, Mariasoosay, Rayappan, Saminathan, Thivy, Veerasamy."
New Caledonian languages
The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks. One language is extinct, one is critically endangered, 4 are severely endangered, 5 are endangered, and another 5 are vulnerable to extinction. The languages of the northern Voh–Koné area (*) are often discussed as a unit.
Drehu language
Drehu ([ɖehu]; also known as Dehu, Lifou, Lifu, qene drehu) is an Austronesian language mostly spoken on Lifou Island, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia. It has about twelve-thousand fluent speakers and the status of a French regional language. This status means that pupils can take it as an optional topic for the baccalauréat in New Caledonia itself or French mainland. It has been also taught at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris since 1973 and at the University of New Caledonia since 2000. As for other Kanak languages, Drehu is now regulated by the "Académie des langues kanak", officially founded in 2007.
Kanak Language Academy
There are eight project leaders, each working in one of the areas of the country who are supported by academicians. They are selected from New Caledonia's main cultural and traditional clans and confederations. Déwé Gorodey was appointed chair of the academy in 2007. Its current director is Weniko Ihage.
Kanak Language Academy
The Kanak Language Academy (Académie des Langues Kanak; KLA) is a local, public educational establishment in New Caledonia. Founded in 2007, with roots reaching to the Nouméa Accords of 1998, the legislative assembly endorsed the setting up of the French territory’s first indigenous Kanak languages institute. Its mission is "to establish rules of usage and to help promote and develop all Kanak languages and dialects". The KLA is expected to standardise, protect, and develop the about forty Kanak languages and dialects, as well as standardize the written form for Kanak languages.
History of the Jews in New Caledonia
The history of the Jews in New Caledonia dates back to 1987, when the Jewish community was first established. The Jewish community numbers around 50 people, most of whom are located in Nouméa. In Nouméa there is a synagogue and a Jewish community center, the Association Culturelle Israelite de Nouvelle Caledonie. Almost all of the Jews in New Caledonia are Sephardi Jews of French descent. Most work in business and state government.
Karen people
Some Karen have left the refugee camps in Thailand to resettle elsewhere, including in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia. In 2011, the Karen diaspora population was estimated to be approximately 67,000.
Charles Pidjot
Charles 'Charly' Pidjot (17 July 1962 - 11 September 2012) was a pro-independence politician from New Caledonia who was a member of the Kanak people. He was born in the community of Conceptions in Le Mont-Dore (New-Caledonia) and was the president of the Caledonian Union from 8 November 2007 to his death.
New Caledonia
Europeans brought new diseases such as smallpox and measles, which caused the deaths of many natives. The Kanak population declined from around 60,000 in 1878 to 27,100 in 1921, and their numbers did not increase again until the 1930s.
Nyâlayu language
Nyelâyu (Yâlayu), more commonly known as Nyelâyu, is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia, spoken by approximately 2,000 speakers. There are two dialects that are not mutually intelligible. Pooc (or Haat) is spoken in the Belep islands, which are located just north of Grande Terre. Puma (or Paak or Ovac) is spoken in the northernmost regions of New Caledonia in the areas around Poum in the west and Pouébo and Balade in the east.
Kanak people
The word 'Kanak' is derived from "kanaka maoli", a Hawaiian phrase meaning 'ordinary person' which was at one time applied indiscriminately by European explorers, traders and missionaries in Oceania to any non-European Pacific islander. Prior to European contact, there were no unified states in New Caledonia, and no single self-appellation used to refer to its inhabitants. Other words have been coined from "Kanak" in the past few generations: "Kanaky" is an ethno-political name for the island or the entire territory. "Kanéka" is a musical genre associated with the Kanak, stylistically a form of reggae with added flutes, percussion and harmonies. "Kaneka" often has political lyrics and is sung in Drehu, Paici or other Melanesian languages, or in French. The word "kanak" is grammatically invariable. The German racial epithet "Kanake" — which is now applied to all non-whites, even southern Europeans in some cases, and especially to Turkish immigrants — also derives from the same source, and was originally applied to people from German colonial possessions in Oceania.
Blue River Provincial Park
The park includes two biomes typical of New Caledonia: maquis shrubland overlying peridotite rock and tropical rainforest. There is a very high rate of biodiversity of New Caledonia. In particular, the park is known for being one of the last areas where the kagu, an endangered bird which has become a symbol of the country, can be seen in its natural habitat, with a population of about 700; this is the largest single population of the species in the wild. Other endemic and rare animals in the park include the crow honeyeater, notou, New Caledonian crow, and crested gecko.
Administrative divisions of New Caledonia
In addition, a parallel layer of administration exists for Kanak tribal affairs; these are called "aires coutumières" ("tribal areas") and are eight in number. Their jurisdiction does not encompass non-Kanaks living within these zones. The tribal areas more or less correspond to the indigenous language areas and/or areas of pre-French tribal alliances.
Kanak people
In 1981 the movement for Independence began, following the murder of Pierre Declercq, the secretary general of the Caledonian Union (French: "Union calédonienne", UC) on 19 September 1981. A national forum titled "Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak Socialiste" (FLNKS) was established in 1984. This forum refused to participate in elections to the Territorial Assembly and even declared its own Provincial Government; it met with opposition by the French. FLNKS "organized a boycott of the territorial elections in New Caledonia, smashing ballot boxes and setting up roadblocks to prevent people from voting." The FLNKS persisted with their agitation and unilaterally announced on 7 January 1985 that a referendum on independence would be conducted in July 1985. After the death of Kanak leader Eloi Machoro in 1985, Kanak activists took 27 gendarmes hostage on the island of Ouvéa, igniting a French response (see Ouvéa cave hostage taking).
Karuk
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber proposed a population for the Karuk of 1,500 in 1770. Sherburne F. Cook initially estimated it as 2,000, later raising this figure to 2,700. In 1910, Kroeber reported the surviving population of the Karuk as 800.
Scottish people
The majority of Scottish immigrants settled in the South Island. All over New Zealand, the Scots developed different means to bridge the old homeland and the new. Many Caledonian societies were formed, well over 100 by the early twentieth century, who helped maintain Scottish culture and traditions. From the 1860s, these societies organised annual Caledonian Games throughout New Zealand. The Games were sports meets that brought together Scottish settlers and the wider New Zealand public. In so doing, the Games gave Scots a path to cultural integration as Scottish New Zealanders. In the 1961 census there were 47,078 people living in New Zealand who were born in Scotland; in the 2013 census there were 25,953 in this category.
2014 New Caledonian legislative election
The main issue at stake in the elections was independence from France. The elected Congress would be responsible for taking decisions on moving towards independence, as agreed in the Nouméa Accord, and an independence referendum will be held during the term of this Congress if there is a three-fifths majority in favour of holding one. However, in the lead up to the elections, the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front claimed that around 6,700 people on the Special Roll had moved to New Caledonia after 1988, and that 2,000 people who should have been on the Special Roll and were eligible to vote in the Territorial elections were not, the two figures equating to around 7% of registered voters. In response, anti-independence groups claimed that 4,000 Kanaks should be removed from the electoral roll, and that taking the issue to court would threaten a return to violence.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia's main tertiary education institution is the University of New Caledonia ("Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie"), which was founded in 1993 and comes under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It is based in Nouméa and offers a range of vocational, Bachelor, MA, and PhD programmes and courses. The University of New Caledonia consists of three academic departments, one institute of technology, one PhD school, and one teacher's college. As of 2013, the University has approximately 3,000 students, 107 academics, and 95 administrative and library staff. Many New Caledonian students also pursue scholarships to study in metropolitan France. As part of the Nouméa Accord process, a "Cadre Avenir" provides scholarships for Kanak professionals to study in France.
New Caledonia
The 28 Kanak languages spoken in New Caledonia are part of the Oceanic group of the Austronesian family. Kanak languages are taught from kindergarten (four languages are taught up to the bachelor's degree) and an academy is responsible for their promotion. The three most widely spoken indigenous languages are Drehu (spoken in Lifou), Nengone (spoken on Maré) and Paicî (northern part of Grande Terre). Others include Iaai (spoken on Ouvéa). At the 2009 census, 35.8% of people aged 15 or older reported that they could speak (but not necessarily read or write) one of the indigenous Melanesian languages, whereas 58.7% reported that they had no knowledge of any of them.
Kanak people
Fifty years later, the Protestants of London Missionary Society came to New Caledonia, which was followed by entry of the French Catholics to the island, in 1843. This resulted in a conflict between the two religious factions and eventually the French Catholics' control of the islands prevailed. The island nation was thereafter annexed by France, in 1853.
2018 New Caledonian independence referendum
Since 1986, the United Nations Committee on Decolonization has included New Caledonia on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The 1987 New Caledonia independence referendum, the first referendum on independence, was held the following year on 13 September 1987, but independence was rejected by a large majority, with 842 people (1.7%) voting for independence and 48,611 people (98.3%) voting to remain a part of France. Many pro-independence groups, such as the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), boycotted the vote. The participation was 59.10%.
Kanak Socialist Liberation
In the latest legislative elections of 9 May 2009, it won 1.92% of the popular vote, and 1 out of 54 seats in the Congress of New Caledonia. It has two seats in the Loyalty Islands.
Waamwang language
Waamwang (Wamoang) is an extinct Kanak language of New Caledonia, in the commune of Voh.
Sylviornis
The bird was hunted to extinction by the Lapita ancestors of the Kanak people, who settled New Caledonia around 1500 BC. Predation by feral dogs and pigs probably also played a part. The legacy of "Sylviornis" persists in Kanak oral history in the form of stories giving a rough description of the bird and some of its habits. The native name was "du".
Languages of New Zealand
An Eastern Polynesian language, Māori is closely related to Tahitian and Cook Islands Māori. After the Second World War, Māori were discouraged from speaking their language in schools and workplaces and it existed as a community language only in a few remote areas. Since the 1970s, the language has undergone a process of revitalisation and is spoken by a larger number of people. Of the 148,395 people (or 3.7 percent of the total New Zealand population) who claimed they could hold a conversation in Māori in 2013, 84.5 percent identified as Māori. No adult Māori alive in New Zealand today does not also speak English.
Jawe language
There are approximately 1,000 native or first language Jawe speakers, and they account for approximately 1 in 45 people in the northern province, 1 in 99 Kanak people, and 1 in 246 people overall amongst the population of New Caledonia, including the surrounding Loyalty Islands.
New Caledonia rain forests
New Caledonia is an ancient fragment of Gondwana, the southern supercontinent. It separated from Australia 85 million years ago, and remained attached to New Zealand until 55 million years ago. It has been islolated from other land masses since then, although a number of plants and animals have been able to cross the straits separating New Caledonia from neighboring islands.
New Caledonia
The official name of the territory, "Nouvelle-Calédonie", could be changed in the near future due to the accord, which states that "a name, a flag, an anthem, a motto, and the design of banknotes will have to be sought by all parties together, to express the Kanak identity and the future shared by all parties." To date, however, there has been no consensus on a new name for the territory, although "Kanak Republic" is popular among 40% of the population. New Caledonia has increasingly adopted its own symbols, choosing an anthem, a motto, and a new design for its banknotes. In July 2010, New Caledonia adopted the Kanak flag, alongside the existing French tricolor, as dual official flags of the territory. The adoption made New Caledonia one of the few countries or territories in the world with two official national flags. The decision to use two flags has been a constant battleground between the two sides and led the coalition government to collapse in February 2011.
Kanak people
After World War II, the Kanak independence movement again picked up momentum when the United Nations placed New Caledonia on its Decolonisation List of Non-Self-Governing Territories in 1946. A major progression occurred when Kanaks and French settlers in the country obtained voting rights in 1951, shortly before it became an overseas territory of France in 1956. The Kanaks were then also allowed to move out of their reserve areas. This was followed by the establishment of the Territorial Assembly in 1957, but this was short-lived; Charles de Gaulle abolished it after he became the President of France, in 1958.
New Zealand kaka
The New Zealand kaka lives in lowland and mid-altitude native forest. Its strongholds are currently the offshore reserves of Kapiti Island, Codfish Island and Little Barrier Island. It is breeding rapidly in the mainland island sanctuary at Zealandia with over 800 birds banded since their reintroduction in 2002. From their reintroduction in 2002 the North Island kaka continue to re-colonise Wellington and a recent report shows a significant increase in their numbers over the last 12 years.
Xârâcùù
Xârâcùù is considered a recognized teaching language, and is part of New Caledonian culture. It is predominantly used as the main language in the Nouméa area, and is not considered endangered by UNESCO due to it being one of the most spoken languages in the area, with more than 90% of Canala residents being able to speak some form of it. Xârâcùù is the fourth-most spoken language in New Caledonia Kanak, with a teaching school in the Canala area, although primary language use is at home. Xârâcùù is taught in the Canala area due to the EPK ("École Populaire Kanak"), founded by Marie-Adele Néchérö Jorédié. It is the only language that is being taught in the area and is taught in nursery, primary, two secondary schools, Thio (maternal Kouare village school and also in college) and in kindergartens in La Foa and Sarramea.
Jawe language
Jawe is one of the 33 Melanesian-Polynesian languages legally recognized by New Caledonia and the Kanak people but it is not one of the most widely used languages amongst the Kanak people, as French is the predominant and official language in New Caledonia.
List of birds of New Caledonia
This is a list of the bird species recorded in New Caledonia. The avifauna of New Caledonia include a total of 189 species, of which 23 are endemic, 14 have been introduced by humans and 48 are rare or accidental. Three species listed are extirpated in New Caledonia and are not included in the species count. Twelve species are globally threatened.
Communards
After Bloody Week, the government asked for an inquest into the causes of the uprising. The inquest concluded that the main cause of the insurrection was a lack of belief in God, and that this problem had to be corrected immediately. It was decided that a moral revival was needed, and a key part of this was deporting 4,500 Communards to New Caledonia. There was a two-part goal in this, as the government also hoped that the Communards would civilize the native Kanak people on the island. The government hoped that being exposed to the order of nature would return the Communards to the side of "good."
Nicobar pigeon
From subfossil bones found on New Caledonia and Tonga, an extinct species of "Caloenas", the Kanaka pigeon ("C. canacorum") was described. It was about one-quarter larger than the Nicobar pigeon. Considering that it must have been a good source of food, it was most likely hunted to extinction by the first human settlers of its home islands. It probably was extinct by 500 BC. The Spotted green pigeon ("C. maculata") is a more recently extinct species from an unknown Pacific locality; it probably disappeared in the 19th century and most likely succumbed to introduced European rats. It is placed in "Caloenas" as the least awkward possibility; its true affinities are presently indeterminate and it is perhaps more likely to represent a distinct genus of the Indopacific radiation of Columbidae.
Pwapwâ language
Pwapwa (Poapoa) is a nearly extinct Kanak language of New Caledonia, in the commune of Voh.
Drui
Drui is a dance practiced by the Kanak peoples of New Caledonia.
Nidoïsh Naisseline
Nidoïsh Naisseline (born in Guahma on Maré Island, June 27, 1945 – died June 3, 2015 in Nouméa) was a New Caledonian politician. A Kanak of the Nétché tribe, born on the island of Maré, he was an advocate of New Caledonian independence. He succeeded his father Henri as high chief of the Guahma district in 1973; on June 6, 2007, he stepped aside in favor of his son, Dokucas. He has also served in the Congress of New Caledonia. He was the leader of the Kanak Socialist Liberation.
Kanak people
Wooden carvings in the shape of hawks, ancient gods, serpents and turtles are also popular. The Grand Huts, also known as grande case (chef's hut), are decorated with the filial of "fleche faitiere" representing the ancestral spirits, symbolic of transition between the world of the dead and the world of the living. The wood carving is shaped like the spear-like carving that adorns the top of the "grande case". It comprises three parts; the flat crowned face representing the ancestor with a long, the rounded pole run through by conch shells mounted on it that represents the ancestor’s voice, and a base with the pole fixed to it to symbolise the link between the clan and the chief. The central piece is also flanked by wooden pieces with sharp points (facing downwards) that are intended to prevent bad spirits enveloping the ancestor in the central part. As it represented the power of the chiefs over their subjects, it was adopted as flag of the Kanaks by the organization leading the independent movement in New Caledonia. The arrow or the spear normally has a needle at the end to insert threaded shells from bottom to top. After the death of a Kanak chief, the "fleche faitière" is removed and his family takes it to their home. Though it was allowed to be used again as a sign of respect it is normally kept at burial grounds of noted citizens or at the mounds of abandoned grand houses.
Ouvéa
The native languages of Ouvéa are the Melanesian Iaai and the Polynesian Faga Uvea, which is the only Polynesian language that has taken root in New Caledonia. Speakers of Faga Uvea have fully integrated into the Kanak society and consider themselves Kanak.
Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre
The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre (), on the narrow Tinu Peninsula, approximately northeast of the historic centre of Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, celebrates the vernacular Kanak culture, the indigenous culture of New Caledonia, amidst much political controversy over the independent status sought by some Kanaks from French rule. It opened in June 1998 and was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano and named after Jean-Marie Tjibaou, the leader of the independence movement who was assassinated in 1989 and had had a vision of establishing a cultural centre which blended the linguistic and artistic heritage of the Kanak people.
Vamale language
Vamale (Pamale) is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia. Hmwaeke dialect is nearly extinct.
Bahá'í Faith in Oceania
The Bahá'í Faith in New Caledonia was first mentioned by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1916, though the first Bahá'í arrived in 1952 during a temporary visit because of restrictive policies on English-speaking visitors. In 1961 Jeannette Outhey was the first New Caledonian to join the religion and with other converts and pioneers elected the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Nouméa. The Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of New Caledonia was elected in 1977. Multiplying its involvements through to today, the 2001 population was reported at 1,070 and growing.
Languages of New Caledonia
New Caledonia, a part of the French Republic, uses French as its official language, following the constitutional law 92-554 (June 1992). The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks.