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Population.—At the census of 1901 the population of New Caledonia numbered 51,415, consisting of 12,253 free Europeans (colonists, soldiers, officials), 29,106 natives, 10,056 convicts. In 1898, however, the introduction of convicts into the island ceased. The centres of population are Nouméa (Numea), the capital, on a fine harbour of the west coast near the southern extremity of the island, with 7000 inhabitants; Bourail, an agricultural penitentiary (1800); La Foa, in the centre of the coffee plantations; Moindu, St Louis and St Vincent.

The natives, whom the French call Kanakas (Canaques, a word meaning “man,” applied indiscriminately to many Pacific peoples), live on reservations. They are Melanesians of mixed blood, of two fairly distinct types, one sub-Papuan and the other Polynesian. Of the first the physical characteristics are a small, thin-limbed body, hair black, short and woolly, projecting jaws, rounded, narrow, retreating forehead, long and narrow head, enormous eyebrow ridges, flat nose and dark skin. The second type is characterized by a lighter skin, sometimes of a reddish-yellow, longer, less woolly hair, body taller with better-proportioned limbs, and head broader. This is the prevailing type in the east and south of the island. There is nowhere a real defining line between the two (many New Caledonians having black skins and woolly hair with Polynesian superiority of limb), but the Polynesian type is generally found among the chiefs and their kindred.

Administration and Industries.—The colony is administered by a governor, who exercises military power through a marine infantry colonel, and civil power with the assistance of a privy council, a director of the interior, a judicial head, and a director of the penitentiary administration. There is also an elective general council. Nouméa is the seat of a superior tribunal, a tribunal of first instance, and a tribunal of commerce. The island and its dependencies are divided into five arrondissements. Nouméa alone has (since 1879) a municipality, other localities being administered by commissions. There are about 1600 sq. m. of cultivable lands in the alluvial valleys, where. coffee, maize, tobacco, sugar-cane, the vine, vegetables, potatoes, and some of the cereals are grown with success. Coffee was introduced about 1870, and has prospered well. Cheap agricultural labour is supplied by the convicts, by the liberated convicts, the Kanakas, and (to some extent) labourers from the New Hebrides. The soil is in three domains: that of the state, for the working of which concessions may be granted; that of the penitentiary administration; and that of the native reserve. Many horses, cattle and sheep have been imported, and the meat-preserving industry is prosecuted. Gold is found in the valley of the Diahot, as well as lead and copper at Balade. Iron is found everywhere. The yearly output of nickel and chrome is considerable, and these minerals, with cobalt, constitute the characteristic wealth of the island. Coal has been worked near Nouméa, and kaolin is found in places. Gypsum and marble also deserve mention. The chief industrial establishments are smelting furnaces for cobalt, meat-preserving works at Ouaco, sugar-Works and distilleries at Nouméa and La Foa, tobacco, oil and soap factories at Nouméa. The commerce in 1888 amounted to £480,000, of which £200,000 represented the trade with France. In 1900 the total had risen to £820,000, of which £480,000 was for imports and £340,000 for exports, the share of France in that year having been 45% of imports and 47% of exports. The island imports wines, spirits, tissues, clothing and ironmongery; and exports ores, nickel, cobalt and chrome (which represent over three-quarters of the total exports in value), preserved meats and hides, coffee, copra and other colonial produce. There are about 150 m. of carriage roads, and in the mountainous regions there are many footpaths. A railway running north-westward from Nouméa to Dumbéa, &c., is designed to connect the capital with Bourail. The islands annexed to the colony of New Caledonia are the Isle of Pines, used as a place of detention for habitual criminals; the (q.v.), E. of New Caledonia; the Huon Islands, a practically barren group; the (q.v.); and Futuna and Alofa, S. of the Wallis group.

History.—New Caledonia was discovered by Captain Cook in 1774. He touched at the haven of Balade (the original name of the island) near the north-western extremity, as did d’Entrecasteaux in 1793, who closely explored the coast and surrounding seas. They subsequently became known to sealers and traders in sandalwood, who, however, established no friendly relations with the natives. In 1843 French missionaries arrived at the island, and it was claimed for France, but on British representations the claim was renounced. In 1851 a landing party from a French vessel lying at Balade was attacked by the natives, and massacred with the exception of a single member. France was now determined on the annexation, and the flag was raised at the same spot in 1853, but simultaneously the commander of a British vessel was in negotiation with the native chief of the Isle of Pines, and the British flag was hoisted there. The chief, however, subsequently sided with the French, and the British claim was finally withdrawn. The capital, Nouméa, was founded in 1854 (it was then called Port de France); in 1860 New Caledonia became a colony distinct from the French possessions in the Pacific at large; in 1864 the first penal settlement was made on Nou Island, off Nouméa. In 1878 there was a serious native insurrection, and another in 1881 was only put down after much bloodshed.

See H. Riviere, Souvenirs de la Nouvelle-Calédonie: l’insurrection canaque (Paris, 1881); Gallet, La Nouvelle-Calédonie (Nouméa, 1884); Cordeil, Origines et progrès de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (Nouméa, 1885); C. Lemire, La Colonisation en Nouvelle-Calédonie (Paris, 1878); Ibid. (Nouméa, 1893); Voyage à pied en Nouvelle-Calédonie (Paris, 1884); M. A. Legrand, Au pays des Canaques