Isle of Pines (New Caledonia)

The Isle of Pines (French, literally meaning " Pine Island "; Kanak Kunyié ) is an island that belongs to the French overseas territory of New Caledonia.

Geography

L' Ile des Pins is around 130 km ² ( the exact square footage of 141.4 km ² includes the south upstream side island Koutoumo a ) and in 2009 had a population of 1969. It belongs to the Southern Province of New Caledonia and is the commune of L' Île - des-Pins, which also includes the almost 150 km further east Walpole island belongs. The capital and administrative seat is Vao ( Isle of Pines ), the largest town, the second largest city and main port is Kuto ( Isle of Pines ). Longest river is the Ouro in the west of the island. The highest elevation, the 262 -meter-high Pic Nga, located in the southwest of the island.

Economy and Tourism

Tourism is by far the most important industry of L' Ile des Pins. The island has a nickname in French: l' île la plus proche du paradis, which means as much as " the closest island to paradise ." Among the tourists who visit the island are also numerous recreational divers, who come for the beautiful lagoon, which is home to numerous fish and coral species. It is often visited by cruise ships. Most of the accommodations are part of the upper price category. Although many of the local families to plant on their property for their own use some vegetables and fruits, but agriculture only of secondary importance. Fields or fields were not created on the Ile des Pins, and there are few cows on the island. In Vao, capital of the Isle of Pines, the traditional canoes are still being built. Near the village Koéville vanilla is grown to a limited extent. About 300 residents of the Isle of Pines to work on the main island of New Caledonia and return only for occasional visits to the island back.

History

James Cook discovered the Isle of Pines in the Western world on his second circumnavigation of the world in 1774 and gave it its name because of the dense forest cover with araucaria Araucaria columnaris the way. Cook's expedition made ​​no landfall. The island was inhabited, however, which was derived from the numerous columns of smoke were seen.

1840 met the first Protestant and 1848, the first Catholic missionaries on the island. Most inhabitants of the Ile des Pins were converted to the Catholic faith. On September 29, 1853 Kaoua Vendegou, the most important chief agreed to the Ile des Pins, a possession of the island by France and joined with the French Admiral Febvrier - Despointes a contract.

The hydrographer Henry Mangles Denham surveyed the island in 1853 on one of his expeditions.

1858 lived around 700 people on the island, and a little later here were a further 900 residents of the island of Maré down, who had been expelled from there because of their Catholic faith.

1860 began in the south of the island with the construction of the Catholic church of Notre Dame de l' Assomption, grew up around it, the village Vao. Here is also the most powerful chief of the Ile des Pins moved on. Before that, he lived in Gadji in the north of the island, so that was originally the most important town of the Isle of Pines.

After the suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871, many of the condemned to exile were spent on the Isle of Pines. Of the five convict colonies in the west of the island, only a water tower and some overgrown ruins of Bagno were visible in 2010.

Traffic

From Noumea from the island is by ferry and three times a day to reach by plane three times a week. The airfield is located approximately in the middle of the island. Public transportation is not available on the island, but rental cars are available. The island is accessible by a well-developed ring road, branching off from the numerous access roads to individual houses, towns and attractions. Some particularly important points, such as to the Pic Nga, trails lead.

Attractions

In Ouro, a small scattered settlement in the west of the island, the ruins of one of the five convict colonies are obtained, as well as the 1874/75 built by prisoners and renovated in 2005, the water tower, which still serves its purpose. The representative steps of the administration building is well preserved, as well as 42 prison cells that were freed as well as the perimeter of the plant from the tropical vegetation. The penal colony stretched out on either side of the present-day main street of Ouro.

Not far north of Ouro the cemetery Cimetière des Déportés is worth a visit, are buried in the 240 deceased 1872-1880 prisoners of the Paris Commune. A monument in the form of a pyramid, which was built by prisoners, reminiscent of the deceased. Between the town of Ouro and the cemetery extends along the Ouro, the longest river of the island jungle.

In the interior of the island are located in an uninhabited area about 400 heavily overgrown with plants and rich vegetation in the landscape difficult auszumachende grave mound of unknown age, each having a diameter of 7 to 8 m and a height of up to 1.20 m. The fact that it is grave mound, was determined in 1959 by archaeological excavations.

The scattered settlement Koéville, is grown in the vicinity of vanilla, is known by the cave Grotte de la Troisième that sometimes Grotte de Diable (Devil's Cave) is called.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the small town in the north of the island Gadji was the capital of the Isle of Pines, as the most important chief lived here. Its built wooden residence fell in 1910 to a major fire victims. Today Gadji is known for its location at the Baie de Gadji that is popular with divers and in the several islands of coral sticking out of the sea.

In the north- east of the island is at the Baie des Crabes the fringed by coconut palms and sea araucaria Piscine naturelle a much visited attraction.

The lagoon surrounding the Isle of Pines, is particularly protected as a natural heritage by UNESCO