colony · North America and Oceania
New Caledonia
Origins
James Cook named the main island in 1774, and Catholic and Protestant missions followed in the 1840s. France annexed New Caledonia in 1853 under Napoleon III, partly to establish a penal colony. Port-de-France, founded in 1854, was renamed Nouméa in 1866.
Rule and society
Between 1864 and 1897 France transported about 22,000 convicts, among them deported Communards such as Louise Michel. Nickel was discovered in 1864 and mining became the core of the economy. The indigenous Kanak were confined to reserves under the indigénat code, and they rose in major revolts in 1878, led by Ataï, and in 1917. The colony rallied to Free France in 1940 and was a major American base in the Pacific War.
To the present
It became an overseas territory in 1946 and the Kanak gained citizenship. Violent conflict in the 1980s ended with the Matignon Accords of 1988 and the Nouméa Accord of 1998. Referendums in 2018, 2020 and 2021 rejected independence, and deadly unrest broke out in 2024 over voting rights.
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- New Caledonia was a colony of French Empire1853 CE – 1946 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). New Caledonia. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-caledonia
- MLA
- “New Caledonia.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-caledonia. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “New Caledonia.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-caledonia.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘New Caledonia’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/new-caledonia (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻