Known as the "paradise at the end of the world", New Caledonia, located near the Tropic of Cancer in Oceania, was discovered and named in September 1774 by the famous British navigator James Cook during a round-the-world expedition, Caledonia is the Latin name of Scotland, New Caledonia began to become an overseas territory of France in 1853, and also served as a french penal colony for criminals, which is as far away as 18,000 kilometers from mainland France.
New Caledonia consists mainly of the islands of New Caledonia and Loyati and the uninhabited Chesterfield Islands. The island is surrounded by coral reefs and virgin forests, and the most rare thing is that these places have pleasant temperatures of 20 to 28 degrees all year round. The inhabitants are mainly composed of indigenous Karnaks from East Africa, mainly melanesians, and descendants of French and European immigrants, and the indigenous Kanaks are not as politically and economically as European immigrants. New Caledonia's nickel ore reserves rank first in the world, accounting for about 25% of the world's reserves, and it is also the world's largest iron and nickel production area, so nickel mining and tourism are the two pillars of the country's economy, the economy is relatively developed, and the living standards of residents are relatively high.
Founded in 1854 and originally known as the "Port of France", Noumea is the capital and main port of New Caledonia, located at the southwestern tip of the island of New Caledonia, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side. There are reefs and islands as a barrier outside the port, the water inside the port is deep, the wind and waves are calm, and the port has large cruise ships berthed, which is one of the best ports in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The whole city is neat and stylish, with trendy architecture and more modern than Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu.
The most beautiful place in Noumea is in the bay, there are many bars and small shops on the bay street, when the morning light first appears, there are already many people in the bay area in the morning, running, cycling, dogs, kicking, and there are many people swimming in the sea, and most of them are elderly, and even see an old man with a half-foot white beard.
Take a slow walk along the bay, breathing in the refreshing fresh air, there is a green tree lawn on the edge of the bay, sitting on a bench on the grass, hearing the birdsong overhead, looking up and looking up, it turned out to be in the conifer tree, there were several beautiful green parrots were foraging for and nibbling on pine cones, and beautiful parrots were very common here.
There are many yachts moored in the bays of this area, and it seems that the people here are also very wealthy, living a stable and elegant life, and also full of French style.
The sunset begins at 5 p.m. and it is a great treat to sit on a bench in the bay and enjoy the glorious sunset of the South Pacific. The sunset here is particularly brilliant, the sky and the sea are red, lined with swimming or stationary sailing ships, especially artistic, beautiful and picturesque. On the days of traveling in the South Pacific island countries, you can see the sunrise and sunset almost every day, and each time there is a different landscape.
As the capital of Noumea, the city preserves much of New Caledonia's unique culture and French culture. It is said that New Caledonia is the place with the most plant species in Oceania, Noumea Park is its representative, this park occupies a large area, one of which is similar to Guangzhou Baiyun Mountain Song Spring Valley, birds are free-range, in the dense woods inhabited by a lot of beautiful birds, from time to time to hear the sound of birdsong, but to find and use the camera to shoot down is not easy, the result is really "hit" 2-3 kinds of beautiful birds, walk to the park gate, and happen to meet and "hit" a blue kingfisher.
Another tourist attraction is the Nouméa National Culture Museum in the so-called Turk Village, which, according to sources, is the site of the Melanesian Festival held in 1975, named in honor of Jean-Marietjihqou, the leader of the Karnak National Independence Movement, which was originally a three-way village of the Kanak people, and now houses of chiefs with large shells on the top of the spires. As the main building of the National Culture Museum, it is a group of 10 large, medium, and small arc wood and metal together with a special shape, a bit like the shape of the musical instrument Lusheng used by ethnic minorities in southwest China, which makes people never forget and especially want to know its meaning and content, this external image of the Kanak unfinished family house image, it is said that this group of architectural designers is Italian, the design plan is still the former French Prime Minister Mitterrand and Jean a maritjihqou's widow jointly finalized.
Blue River National Park is one of New Caledonia's most famous sights and one of the highlights of sightseeing tours, leaving the city by car and heading south, 60 kilometres from Noumea to Blue River National Park. Tens of millions of years ago, the earth's crust plate moved, New Caledonia separated from the continental shelf, becoming an isolated island, because of this, the original flora and fauna of New Caledonia was preserved and continued to thrive, endemic species abound, into the Blue River National Park, as if going back in time to the Jurassic period. Because it is rich in iron, manganese, nickel and other minerals, the blue river area is red land, the color is very clear and eye-catching, the red land green plants, blue sky blank clouds, composed of a very bright watercolor painting.
There are rivers and lakes in Blue River Park, and what is rare is that many trees grow in the water, and even a lonely tree stands in the middle of the lake, giving people a feeling of loneliness. I also saw strange-looking flowers, which are unique to the Blue River. In a dense forest, I saw a towering tree that had a thousand-year-old lifespan, the treetops pointed directly into the blue sky, and the trunk was as large as a tabletop.
The most exciting thing is to see the national bird of New Caledonia twice in the forest, the French name is very long and difficult to remember, the black fat driver said that the natives call it "Gagu", this bird is light gray blue in appearance, the male has a crown on the head, but it cannot fly, and the open wings have black patterns, which is also very good-looking. There is also an exhibition hall in the park, which shows the historical geography and ecological environment of Blue River Park with text pictures.
Although it is no longer called a colony, france still has a large number of overseas provinces and overseas territories, and the French way of life has also profoundly affected these places, and these places have become the back garden of the French vacation, and the French are the most aware of enjoying life.
New Caledonia is a special administrative unit of France (statut spécifique), and the indigenous Kanaks of New Caledonia have long been fighting for independence from France, and on November 4, 2018, an independence referendum was held, in which 56.4% of the voters opposed independence from France. Most of France's overseas territories are small islands, because the area is relatively small, so the economy is not developed, after independence, the economy may be very backward, so it must be dependent on France, because of years of dependence, so that people already have a sense of identity in their hearts. Legally, these islands are treated as part of France, and these overseas territories will send representatives to the French parliament to run for the European parliament, and overseas residents have the right to immigrate to the French mainland, and they are treated the same as the native citizens, and it is these policies that give the overseas territories during the colonial period a sense of belonging.
In the colonial period, France because of the implementation of a unified centralized state system, so they adopted a policy of eliminating indigenous culture, mandatory literacy education, christianity, the current local residents will be French, psychological and cultural identity are also French, so although the descendants of French descendants are less than the indigenous people, but after more than 100 years of edification, the indigenous people have also been largely French, although the Kanak people, compared with the whites, live in poverty, education and employment rate is low. But the Kanaks make up less than half of the electorate, and a portion of the Kanaks value the benefits of the 1.3 billion euros that France allocates to New Caledonia each year, and believe that continuing to be a French dependency is a better option.
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Lotto Travel Network and Lotto Inspiration Traveler: Dreaming of a Distant Morning Sleeper Update: 2019.11.01