Isle of Pines (New Caledonia) Isle of Pines (New Caledonia) The Isle of Pines (; name in Kanak language Kwênyii: ') is an island located in the Pacific Ocean, in the archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France. The island is part of the commune (municipality) of L'Île-des-Pins, in the South Province of New Caledonia. The Isle of Pines is nicknamed ' ("the closest island to Paradise"). The island is around and measures by . It lies southeast of Grande Terre, New Caledonia's main island and is southeast of the capital Nouméa. There is one airport (code ILP) with a runway. The Isle
Geography of New Caledonia in Oman in the 1970s, New Caledonia has the planet's largest known outcrop of ultrabasic rock, derived not from the crust, but from an upthrust fold of the more deeply underlying mantle of the earth. These mineral-rich rocks are a source of nickel, chromium, iron, cobalt, manganese, silver, gold, lead and copper. The toxicity of the mineral-rich soil has helped preserve the endemic vegetation, which has long been adapted to it, from competition from would-be colonizers which find it unsuitable. Anthropologically, New Caledonia is considered the southernmost archipelago of Melanesia, grouping it with the more close-by islands to its north,