History of New Caledonia

The indigenous population was excluded from the French economy, even as workers in the mines, and they were ultimately confined to reservations. This sparked a violent reaction in 1878 as High Chief Atal of La Foa managed to unite many of the central tribes and launched a guerrilla war which cost 200 Frenchmen and 1,000 Kanaks their lives. The Europeans brought new diseases such as smallpox and measles. Many people died as a result of these diseases. The Kanak population declined from around 60,000 in 1878 to 27,100 in 1921, and their numbers did not increase again until the 1930s.

In June 1940, after the fall of France, the Conseil General of New Caledonia voted unanimously to support the Free French government, and in September the pro-Vichy governor was forced to leave for Indochina. In March 1942, with the assistance of Australia, the territory became an important Allied base, and Nouméa the headquarters of the United States Navy and Army in the South Pacific. The fleet which turned back the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was based at Noumea. American troops counted up to 50,000 men, the equivalent of the contemporary population. In 1946 New Caledonia became an overseas territory. By 1953 French citizenship had been granted to all New Caledonians, regardless of ethnicity.

The European and Polynesian populations gradually increased in the years leading to the nickel boom of 1969–72, and the Melanesians became a minority, though they were still the largest single ethnic group. Between 1976 and 1988, New Caledonia adopted five different statutes, with each proving to be a source of discontent and, at times, serious disorder, culminating in 1988 with a bloody hostage taking in Ouvéa. The Matignon Agreements, signed on 26 June 1988, ensured a