New Caledonia, is a "sui generis collectivity" (in practice an overseas territory) of France, made up of a main island (Grande Terre), the Loyalty Islands, 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 240,400 inhabitants as of January 2007 official estimates.[1] It has an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of .nc. The capital and largest city of the territory is Nouméa.

Area
18,575 sq km (7172 sq miles).

Population
220,000 (official estimate 2000).

Population Density
10.6 per sq km.

Capital
Nouma. Population: 196,836 (1996).

Geography
New Caledonia consists of the Mainland, the Isle of Pines to the south of the Mainland, the Loyalty Islands to the east of the Mainland (Mar, Lifou, Tiga and Ouvéa), the Belep Archipelago in the northwest, and numerous islands and islets (Huon & Surprise, Christfield, Walpole, Beautémps-Beaupré, Astrolabe and the Bellona reef); a total surface area of 19,000 sq km (16,372 for the Mainland alone, which is 400km long). The Mainland is divided by a range of mountains (Chaine Centrale), the highest points of which are Mount Pancé in the north (1629m) and Mount Humboldt in the south (1618m). Various species of trees can be found here. This unusual relief divides the Grande Terre/Mainland into the East coast (humid and open to trade winds; fertile and exotic with lush tropical vegetation) from the West coast (dry and temperate; filled with niaouli trees, cattle and beautiful beaches).

Language
French is the official language, but there are approximately 30 different Melanesian languages. English and Japanese are also widely spoken.