Discovery of New Caledonia

Date: September 4, 1774 • Location: Poindimié, New Caledonia

New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook.

New Caledonia is a French territory consisting of a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 220 km (140 mi) southwest of Vanuatu and 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia. Located 16,100 km (10,000 mi) from Metropolitan France, it forms a sui generis collectivity of the French Republic, having a unique legal status enshrined in a dedicated chapter of the French Constitution.