Home > Countries > Oceania > New Caledonia
Country Name
New Caledonia , or Nouvelle-Calédonie ( French).
Location
New Caledonia is an overseas territory of France and a part of Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is situated to the south of the Equator and the north of the Tropic of Capricorn and is geographically positioned in the Earth’s southern and eastern hemispheres. The archipelago is located east of Australia, north of New Zealand, and west of Fiji and Vanuatu. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, 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.
Capital
Nouméa.
Flag
The flag of New Caledonia was adopted on 13 July 2010. The flag of New Caledonia is composed of three horizontal stripes of blue, red, & green colors charged with a yellow disc outlined in black and defaced with a black flèche faîtière, representing the spirit of Kanak culture. The blue represents both the sky and the ocean surrounding New Caledonia; the red represents the blood shed by the Kanaks in their struggle for independence, socialism, and unity, and the green represents the land itself and, by extension, the ancestors buried within it. Up to 2010, the only flag used to describe New Caledonia was the flag of France, the French tricolor featuring three vertical stripes in blue, white, and red. However, in July 2010, the Congress of New Caledonia voted in favor of a wish to fly the Kanak flag of the independentist movement FLNKS alongside the French tricolor. This makes New Caledonia one of only a handful of countries with 2 national flags.
Language
French is the official language commonly used in New Caledonia, and most locals involved in the tourism industry speak English. The 28 Kanak languages spoken in New Caledonia are part of the Oceanic group of the Austronesian family. The three most widely spoken Indigenous languages are Drehu, Nengone, and Paicî. Others include Iaai.
Religion
The predominant religion is Christianity; the majority of New Caledonians are Catholics, but both the Protestant and Pentecostal churches are well-established locally. Other minority religions on the island are Islam & Buddhism. However, like most indigenous peoples, the cultural traditions of the Kanak people were inspired by animistic beliefs.
Currency
CFP franc (XPF).
Time Zone
+11:00 GMT.
Government Regime
Devolved parliamentary dependency.
Climate
In New Caledonia, the climate is tropical, influenced by the trade winds, with a hot and rainy season, a cooler and drier season, and two intermediate periods. – The hot season, humid and rainy, runs from late December to late March. The temperatures in this season are high, around 30/32 °C (86/90 °F) during the day, but with peaks of 35 °C (95 °F). – In the cool and relatively dry season, from June to August or September, average highs drop to around 23/24 °C (73/75 °F) and lows to 17/18 °C (63/64 °F), which are still acceptable temperatures, but they can sometimes drop below. Also, there can be some days with maximum temperatures around 20 °C (68 °F). – The two intermediate seasons, April-May and October-November, are characterized by comfortable temperatures, around 26/27 °C (79/81 °F) during the day. The best time to visit New Caledonia is in the spring (October and November) when the temperature is pleasant, the sun shines, and the rains are generally not extreme, especially on the southern side of the main island and on the smaller islands.
International Phone Code
+687
Internet Code
.nc
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