Geography of New Caledonia Ni-Vanuatu (1.2%), and various other groups (3.9%), Tamils, other South Asians, Berbers, Japanese, Chinese, Fijians, Arabs, West Indian (mostly from other French territories) and a small number of ethnic Africans. "Other microcontinental islands:" Geography of New Caledonia The geography of New Caledonia ("Nouvelle-Calédonie"), an overseas collectivity of France located in the subregion of Melanesia, makes the continental island group unique in the southwest Pacific. Among other things, the island chain has played a role in preserving unique biological lineages from the Mesozoic. It served as a waystation in the expansion of the predecessors of the Polynesians, the Lapita culture. Under
Governor of the South Pacific Mandate Nations placed the territory under the United States trusteeship as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The islands are now part of Palau, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Marshall Islands. The following is a list of the Governors the South Pacific Mandate, as well as their predecessors during the Japanese occupation of the territory between 1914 and 1922. Governor of the South Pacific Mandate The Governor of the South Pacific Mandate (officially known as the Director of the South Sea Agency) was an official who ruled the South Pacific Mandate, a League of Nations mandate in