New Caledonia New Caledonia New Caledonia (; ) is a special collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. Locals refer to Grande Terre as "" ("the pebble"). New Caledonia has a land area of . Its population of 268,767 (August 2014 census) consists of a mix of Kanak people (the original inhabitants of New
Bahá'í Faith in New Caledonia formed their own National Assembly and the seat of the National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) of the South West Pacific Ocean was transferred from Honiara in the Solomon Islands to Nouméa. The same year pioneers for Tuamotus were identified. The NSA was composed of Bahá'ís from New Hebrides, New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. In 1977, the National Spiritual Assembly of New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands was elected. Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given