Prostitution in Overseas France on prostitution, e.g. prohibition of purchasing sex, solicitation, pimping and brothels. There is one Overseas territory. The French Southern and Antarctic Lands consist of small islands off the coast of Madagascar, small isolated islands in the south Indian Ocean and France's claim in Antarctica. The islands are uninhabited, or sparsely inhabited (total population 150 in summer, 300 in winter), so there is no known prostitution. Following the 1998 Nouméa Accord, the islands of New Caledonia are moving from an overseas collectivity to a self-governing nation. On 12 December 2016, the government added the French Law of June 2016 that criminalised
History of the Pacific Islands now commonly known as New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands around 1500 BC. The Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific. From about the 11th century Polynesians also arrived and mixed with the populations of the archipelago. Europeans first sighted New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands in the late 18th century. The British explorer James Cook sighted Grande Terre in 1774 and named it "New Caledonia", Caledonia being the Latin name for Scotland. During the same voyage he also named the islands to the north of New Caledonia the New Hebrides