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Nouméa
Location of the commune (in red) within New Caledonia
Administration
Country	France
Sui generis collectivity	New Caledonia
Province	South Province (provincial seat)
Mayor	Jean Lèques (1986–present)
Statistics
Elevation	0–167 m (0–548 ft) (avg. 20 m or 66 ft)
Land area1	45.7 km2 (17.6 sq mi)
Population2	97,579  (2009 census)
- Density	2,135 /km2 (5,530 /sq mi)
- Ethnic distribution   (1996 census)	Europeans 50.9% Kanaks 22.9% Polynesians 12.3% Other 13.9%
INSEE/Postal code	98818/ 98800
1 New Caledonia Land Register (DITTT) data, which exclude lakes and ponds larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 22°16′33″S 166°27′29″E / 22.2758°S 166.4580°E / -22.2758; 166.4580

Nouméa (French pronunciation: [numeˈa]) is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian (Wallisians, Futunians, Tahitians), Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and Kanaks that work in one of the South Pacific's most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour which serves as the chief port for New Caledonia.

The population of the city (commune) at the 2009 census was 97,579 inhabitants (up from 76,293 inhabitants at the 1996 census). Including the suburbs of Nouméa, the population of the Greater Nouméa metropolitan area (French: agglomération du Grand Nouméa) at the 2009 census was 163,723 inhabitants (up from 118,823 inhabitants in 1996, equating to a 2.4% population increase per year). 66.7% of the population of New Caledonia live in Greater Nouméa, which covers the communes of Nouméa, Le Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta.

History[link]

The first European to establish a settlement in the vicinity was British trader James Paddon in 1851. Anxious to assert control of the island, the French established a settlement nearby three years later in 1854, moving from Balade in the north of the island. This settlement was initially called Port-de-France and was renamed Nouméa in 1866. The area served first as a penal colony, later as a centre for the exploitation of the nickel and gold that was mined nearby.

During World War II, Nouméa served as the headquarters of the United States military in the South Pacific. The five-sided U.S. military headquarters complex was adopted after the war as the base for a new regional intergovernmental development organisation: the South Pacific Commission, later known as the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

The city maintains much of New Caledonia's unique mix of French and old Melanesian culture. Even today the U.S. wartime military influence lingers, both in the warmth that many New Caledonian people feel towards the United States after experiencing the relative friendliness of American soldiers, and also in the names of several of the quarters in Nouméa. Districts such as "Receiving" and "Robinson", or even "Motor Pool", strike the anglophone ear strangely, until the historical context becomes clear.

References in Popular Culture[link]

• New Caledonia is the favorite liberty port in the Pacific of the crew of the PT-73 in the American television series, McHale's Navy.^[1]

Geography[link]

The city is situated on an irregular, hilly peninsula near the southeast end of New Caledonia, which is in the south-west Pacific Ocean.^{[citation needed]}

Neighbourhoods of Nouméa include:^[2]

• Rivière-Salée
• 6e km, 7e km, Normandie, and Tina
• Ducos peninsula:
  • Ducos, Ducos industriel, Kaméré, Koumourou, Logicoop, Numbo, Tindu
• 4e Km, Aérodrome, Haut Magenta, Magenta, Ouémo, and Portes de fer
• Faubourg Blanchot and Vallée des Colons
• Doniambo, Montagne coupée, Montravel, and Vallée du tir
• Artillerie Nord, Centre Ville, Nouville, Quartier Latin, Vallée du Génie
• Anse Vata, Artillerie Sud, Baie des Citrons, Motor Pool, N'géa, Orphelinat, Receiving, Trianon, and Val Plaisance

Demography[link]

Historical population[link]

Climate[link]

Noumea features a tropical wet and dry climate with hot summers and warm winters. Temperatures are warmer in the months of January, February and March with average highs hovering around 30 degrees Celsius and cooler during the months of July and August where average high temperatures are around 23 degrees Celsius. The capital’s dry season months are September and October. The rest of the year is noticeably wetter. Noumea on average receives roughly 1100 mm of precipitation annually.

Economy[link]

Head office of Aircalin

Nouméa is the most "westernised" city in the Pacific Islands region,^{[citation needed]} and is a complete contrast to the rest of New Caledonia's wide open spaces, bare jagged hills, and largely Kanak population (although there also exist important concentrations of Europeans on the north-western coast of New Caledonia's mainland, particularly around Bourail, Pouembout, and Koumac).

Although Nouméa has more sunshine days than any other Pacific Island capital, and some excellent beaches not far from the city centre, it is not currently a major tourist destination. The cost of living is high, and there is no cheap air travel from the Pacific Rim.^{[citation needed]}

Nouméa is, as of 2007, one of the most rapidly growing cities in the Pacific, and has experienced a major housing construction boom within the past decade. The installation of amenities has kept pace, and the municipality boasts a public works programme. Much of this construction is apparently fuelled by investment from France. It is the hope of the government that this investment, over the lifetime of the multi-decade track towards increasing autonomy planned under the Matignon Agreements and now the Nouméa Accord, will eventually become fully sustainable.^{[citation needed]}

Aircalin, the international airline of New Caledonia,^[6] and Air Calédonie (Aircal), the domestic airline, have their headquarters in the city.^[7] Aircal's headquarters are on the grounds of Magenta Airport.^[8] IBM has an office in Nouméa.^[9]

Transport[link]

Nouméa Magenta Airport

Nouméa Magenta Airport, within the city, serves local routes. Nouméa's international airport is La Tontouta International Airport, 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the city.

Education[link]

The Bibliothèque Bernheim ("Bernheim Library") is located in Nouméa.^[10]

The University of New Caledonia (UNC) goes back to 1987 when the Université Française du Pacifique (French University of the Pacific) was created, with two centres, one in French Polynesia and the other in New Caledonia. In 1997 the decision was made to split the two parts into separate universities, and so it came about that in 1999 the Université de la Nouvelle Calédonie and the Université de la Polynésie Française were formed.

UNC welcomes around 3,000 local and international students and 100 professors and researchers each year. ^[11]

Sister cities[link]

• Gold Coast (Australia)
• Nice (Metropolitan France)

Photogallery[link]

• 

  Coat of arms of the city of Nouméa.

• 

  Nouméa and suburbs, photographed from the International Space Station. Courtesy of NASA.

• 

  Nouméa Cathedral

• 

  Woman at Nouméa market.

References[link]

External links[link]

France portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nouméa

• Nouméa travel guide from Wikitravel
• Tourism New Caledonia (South)
• (French) Nouméa's official municipal website
• (French) Nouméa: Commune Française du Bout du Monde – a school project on the geography and history of Nouméa

v t e   Administrative divisions of New Caledonia Provinces Loyalty Islands Province North Province South Province Communes Belep Bouloupari Bourail Canala Dumbéa Farino Hienghène Houaïlou L'Île-des-Pins Kaala-Gomen Koné Kouaoua Koumac La Foa Lifou Maré Moindou Le Mont-Dore Nouméa Ouégoa Ouvéa Païta Poindimié Ponérihouen Pouébo Pouembout Poum Poya Sarraméa Thio Touho Voh Yaté

Pierre Vernier (19 August 1580 at Ornans, Franche-Comté, Spanish Habsburgs (now France) – 14 September 1637 same location) was a French mathematician and instrument inventor. He was inventor and eponym of the vernier scale used in measuring devices.

He was born in Ornans, France, in 1580, he was taught science by his father. He later became captain and castellan of the castle at Ornans, for the King of Spain. He was also later councillor and director general of moneys in the County of Burgundy.

At Brussels, in 1631, he published, his treatise "La construction, l'usage, et les propriétés du quadrant nouveau de mathematiques", and dedicated it to the Infanta. In it he described the ingenious device which now bears his name, the Vernier scale.

To a quadrant with a primary scale in half degrees Vernier proposed to attach a movable sector, thirty-one half degrees in length but divided into thirty equal parts (each part consisting then of a half degree plus one minute). In measuring an angle, minutes could be easily reckoned by noticing which division line of the sector coincided with a division line of the quadrant.

Christopher Clavius had earlier mentioned the idea but had not proposed to attach the scale permanently to the instrument.

The name vernier is now applied to the small movable scale attached to a caliper, sextant, barometer, or other graduated instrument and was given by Jérôme Lalande. Lalande showed that the previous name, nonius after Pedro Nunes, belonged more properly to a different contrivance. The name nonius continued to be applied to the vernier until the beginning of the 19th century.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Entry at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Biography at MacTutor