Motto "Terre de parole, terre de partage" (French)
Anthem
"Soyons unis, devenons frères"
Capital (and largest city)
Nouméa
Demonym
New Caledonian
Government
Unitary democracy under federal parliamentary monarchy
Legislature
Congress of New Caledonia
Governor
Louis Mapou
Minister-President
Roch Wamytan
Area
18,576 km²
Population
271,407
New Caledonia (/ˌkælɪˈdoʊniə/; French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a state of Melanesia, south of Vanuatu, about 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia. The archipelago, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. French people, especially locals, call Grande Terre Le Caillou ("the pebble").
New Caledonia has a land area of 18,576 km2 (7,172 sq mi) divided into three provinces. The North and South Provinces are on the New Caledonian mainland, while the Loyalty Islands Province is a series of islands off the mainland. New Caledonia's population of 271,407 (October 2019 census) consists of a mix of the original inhabitants, Kanaks, who are the majority in the North Province and in the Loyalty Islands Province, and people of European descent (Caldoches and Metropolitan French), Polynesians (mostly Wallisians), and Southeast Asians, as well as a few people of Pied-Noir and North African descent, who are the majority in the rich South Province. The capital of the territory is Nouméa.
