L'Île-des-Pins
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Commune of L'Île-des-Pins |
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| Baie de Saint-Joseph in L'Île-des-Pins. | |
| 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 | South Province |
| Mayor | Hilarion Vendegou |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0 m–262 m (avg. 20 m) |
| Land area¹ | 152.3 km² |
| Population² (2004 census) |
1,840 |
| - Density | 12.1/km² (2004 census) |
| - Ethnic distribution (1996 census) |
Kanaks 93.9% Europeans 4.9% Polynesians 0.7% Other 0.5% |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 98809/ 98832 |
| 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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L'Île-des-Pins is a commune in the South Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. L'Île-des-Pins is made up of the Isle of Pines, the smaller Kôtomo Island, and several islets around these two. The Isle of Pines and adjacent islands are located to the south of New Caledonia's mainland. The settlement of Vao, on the Isle of Pines, is the administrative centre of the commune of L'Île-des-Pins.
L'Île-des-Pins is one of the main tourist attractions in New Caledonia. The Isle of Pines itself is nicknamed l'île la plus proche du paradis ("the closest island to Paradise"). L'Île-des-Pins can be reached by boat or plane from Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia. It is renowned for the intense blue colors of its waters and for the ancient pine tree groves spread throughout the Isle of Pines and the neighboring islands.
After the Paris Commune (1871), about 2,800 Parisian insurgents were deported to L'Île-des-Pins, a part of whose territory was turned into a penal settlement where the convicts lived for several years.
In 2005 L'Île-des-Pins gained national attention when season 5 of French reality show Les Aventuriers de Koh-Lanta ("The Adventurers of Koh Lanta"), the French version of Survivor, was set on several small islands off the Isle of Pines.
[edit] External links
- Audio interview (in English) with Isle of Pines resident available at ULiveWhere.com
- Jane's Isle of Pines Page
- Map of L'Île-des-Pins
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