New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,210km east of Australia and east of Metropolitan France. 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. Locals refer to Grande Terre as Le Caillou .New Caledonia has a land area of 18,576km2. Its population of 268,767 consists of a mix of Kanak people, people of European descent, Polynesian people, and Southeast Asian people, as well as a few people of Pied-Noir and Maghreban descent. The capital of the territory is Nouméa.