New Caledonia Location:
New Caledonia[1] (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie; popular names: Kanaky, Le caillou), is a "sui generis collectivity" (in practice an overseas territory) of France, made up of a main island (Grande Terre) and several smaller islands. It is located in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. At about half the size of Taiwan, it has a land area of 18,575.5 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). The population was 236,528 inhabitants as of January 2006 official estimates. It has an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of .nc. The capital and largest city of the territory is Nouméa. The currency is the CFP franc.
New Caledonia Geography:
New Caledonia is located around 21°30'S, 165°30'E in the southwest Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,200 kilometres (746 mi) east of Australia and 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) northwest of New Zealand. The island nation of Vanuatu lies to the northeast.
New Caledonia is made up of a main island, the Grande Terre, and several smaller islands, the Belep archipelago to the north of the Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands to the east of the Grande Terre, the Île des Pins to the south of the Grande Terre, the Chesterfield Islands and Bellona Reefs further to the west.
The Grande Terre is by far the largest of the islands, and the only mountainous island. It has an area of 16,372 square kilometres (6,321 sq mi), and is elongated northwest-southeast, 350 kilometres (217 mi) in length and 50 to 70 kilometres (31–44 mi) wide. A mountain range runs the length of the island, with five peaks over 1,500 meters (4,900 ft). The highest point is Mont Panié at 1,628 meters (5,341 ft) elevation . The total area of New Caledonia is 19,060 square kilometers (7,359 sq mi), 18,575 square kilometers (7,172 sq mi) of those being land.
New Caledonian soils contain a considerable wealth of industrially-critical elements and minerals, including about one-quarter of the world's nickel resources. Mining is therefore a significant industry that greatly benefits the national economy. However, the country is also home to numerous, critically-important ancient ecosystems. Thus, widely-practiced and indiscriminate open-pit mining across much of New Caledonia, has been (and continues to be) responsible for severe deterioration of the nation's irreplaceable natural heritage.
New Caledonia is one of the northernmost parts of a (93%) submerged continent called Zealandia. It sank after rifting away from Australia 60–85 million years ago and from Antarctica between 130 and 85 million years ago. It is 3,500,000 square kilometers (1,351,358 sq mi) in area, almost half the size of Australia and is unusually long and narrow.
New Caledonia People:
Population
- Jan. 1, 2006 estimate 236,528 [2] (182nd)
- Aug./Sept. 2004 census 230,789
- Density 13 /km2 (200th)
34 /sq mi
New Caledonia Government:
Government Overseas territory of France
- President of France Nicolas Sarkozy
- President of New Caledonia Marie-Noëlle Thémereau
- High Commissioner Anne Bouquet
New Caledonia More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Caledonia | 
