Lifou
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Commune of Lifou |
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| Location | |
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| Location of the commune (in red) within New Caledonia | |
| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Sui generis collectivity | New Caledonia |
| Province | Loyalty Islands (provincial seat) |
| Mayor | Neko Hnepeune |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0 m–104 m (avg. 30 m) |
| Land area¹ | 1,207.1 km² |
| Population² (2004 census) |
10,320 |
| - Density | 8.5/km² (2004 census) |
| - Ethnic distribution (1996 census) |
Kanaks 96.9% Europeans 2.6% Polynesians 0.1% Other 0.4% |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 98814/ 98820 |
| 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 sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
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Lifou is a commune in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean.
The commune of Lifou is made up of Lifou Island, the largest and most heavily populated of the Loyalty Islands, its smaller neighbour Tiga Island, and several uninhabited islets in between these two. All these islands lie among the Loyalty Islands, 190 km to the northeast of New Caledonia's mainland.
The town of Wé (pronounced "weh"), on Lifou Island, is the administrative centre of the commune of Lifou as well as the provincial seat of the Islands Province.
Lifou Island is a popular cruise port with many cruises leaving from Australia calling into port at Easo (pronounced "e-show"). The ships anchor up just off the island and tender passengers ashore.
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[edit] Geography
Like Maré and Ouvéa, the two others Loyalty islands, Lifou is made of fossil coral. Lifou is a makatea, an ancient lagoon slowly raised by geological processes. Due to the uplift, Lifou consists of a wide-flat centre surrounded by cliffs which correspond to the ancient recifal cliffs. The coral rock exhibits high porosity and hence, Lifou does not have any rivers, but does have a large fresh water reservoir which can be accessed through caves. In the past the caves were used when searching for fresh water, and subsequently now have a great importance in local island mythologies.
[edit] History
The first Europeans to have contact with Lifouians were whalers in the early 1800s. Sandalwood traders came and stripped Lifou of its forests. By the mid 1800s Missionaries almost had an inter-tribal religious war on their hands. At Lifou now there is still traces of their European contact, most villages have a Church and Western inventions such as electricity, cars, and other inventions are common.
[edit] Famous people
Christian Karembeu, French footballer, won the FIFA World Cup 1998 with the French National side
[edit] Images of Lifou
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[edit] External Links
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