Loyalty Islands

Loyalty Islands

Native name: Îles Loyauté
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates
Archipelago	Loyalty Islands
Major islands	Lifou Island, Maré Island, Tiga Island, Ouvéa Island, Mouli Island, Faiava Island
Area
Highest elevation	138 m (453 ft)
Country
France
Overseas territory	New Caledonia
Largest settlement	Wé
Demographics
Population	17,436 (as of 2009)
Density	8.80 /km2 (22.79 /sq mi)

The Loyalty Islands (French: Îles Loyauté) are an archipelago in the Pacific. They are part of the French territory of New Caledonia, whose mainland is 100 km (62 mi) away. They form the Loyalty Islands Province (province des îles Loyauté), one of the three provinces of New Caledonia. It has 17,000 people living on almost 2,000 km². The native inhabitants are the Kanak people and the Tavu'avua' people.

The first Western contact on record is attributed to British Captain William Raven of the whaler Britannia, who in 1793 was on his way from Norfolk Island to Batavia. It is very likely, however, that the discovery and name goes back to the London ship Loyalty (also Loyalist, Jethro Daggett master), on a South Sea trading voyage from 1789 till 1790.

Geography

The archipelago consists of six inhabited islands: Lifou Island, Maré Island, Tiga Island, Ouvéa Island, Mouli Island, and Faiava Island, as well as several smaller uninhabited islands and islets. Their combined land area is 1,981 km² (765 sq mi). The highest elevation is at 138 m (453 ft) above sea-level on Maré Island.

Loyalty Islands Province is divided into three communes (municipalities):

• Lifou (comprises Lifou Island, Tiga Island, and several islets)
• Maré (comprises Maré Island and Dudun Island)
• Ouvéa (comprises Ouvéa Island, Mouli Island, Faiava Island, and several nearby islands and islets)
• Walpole Island is geographically part of the Loyalty Islands, but administratively part of the commune of Île des Pins, South Province.

The people of the Loyalty Islands are of mixed Melanesian and Polynesian ancestry, with a small European minority. They numbered 17,436 at the 2009 census, a 7.9% reduction from the 22,080 as at the preceding 2004 census. Several thousands more natives live in Nouméa (New Caledonia's capital) and in the mining areas of New Caledonia's mainland. The chief export of the Loyalty Islands is copra. The islands are part of the New Caledonia rain forests ecoregion.

Provincial congress

Of 14 seats in the province's congress, the nationalist Caledonian Union holds four, the anti-independence Rally for Caledonia in the Republic holds two, and the National Union for Independence-Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, Socialist Kanak Liberation, Renewed Caledonian Union and Union of Pro-Independence Co-operation Committees each have two.

See also

• Politics of New Caledonia
• Collectivité territoriale
• Endemic Birds of New Caledonia

References

• Dunbabin, Thomas: William Raven, RN, and his 'Britannia', 1792–95; in: The Mariner's mirror, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Nov.); London [u.a.] 1960 (S. 297-303)
• Dunmore, John: Who's who in Pacific navigation; Carlton, Vic. 1992
• Henze, Dietmar: Enzyklopädie der Entdecker und Erforscher der Erde, Bd. 4; Graz 2000
• Jones, A. G. E.: Ships employed in the South Seas trade Vol. 1: 1775 - 1861; Canberra 1986 & Vol. 2: 1775 - 1859; Burwood, Vic. [1992]
• Parsons, Vivienne: 'Raven, William (1756–1814)'; in: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 2, Melbourne Univ. Press, 1967, S. 364-365
• Riesenberg, Saul H.: Six Pacific island discoveries; in: The American Neptune, Vol. 34; Salem, Mass. 1974 (S. 249-57)
• Sharp, Andrew: The discovery of the Pacific Islands; Oxford 1960