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Loyalty Islands Province (French: Province des îles Loyauté, pronounced [pʁɔvɛ̃s dez‿il lwajote]) is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands ( French : Îles Loyauté ) archipelago in the Pacific Ocean , located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre .
All these islands lie among the Loyalty Islands, 190 kilometres (105 nautical miles) northeast of New Caledonia's mainland. At 1,146 km 2 (442 sq mi), Lifou Island is the largest atoll in the world. [4] The town of Wé, on Lifou Island, is the administrative centre of the commune of Lifou as well as the provincial seat of the Loyalty Islands ...
With a total of 19 different tribes inhabiting the three Loyalty Islands, six of which are on Lifou. The current traditional high chief of the island is Evanès Boula, who in total is chief of 13 of these 19 Loyalty Islands tribes, [7] succeeding Henri Boula on 13 June 1999. To the natives of the island, his word is law, and his power is absolute.
Under the Free French it was a vital naval base for Allied Forces during the War in the Pacific. The archipelago is located east of Australia, north of New Zealand, south of the Equator, and just west of Fiji and Vanuatu. New Caledonia comprises a main island, Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands.
Raven encountered the island, then named Britania, and today known as Maré (Loyalty Is.), in November 1793. [16] From 1796 until 1840, only a few sporadic contacts with the archipelago were recorded. About 50 American whalers left record of being in the region (Grande Terre, Loyalty Is., Walpole and Hunter) between 1793 and 1887.
The Loyalty Islands Province has its seat at Wé in the commune of Lifou, and the provincial seat of the North Province is at Koné (although physically located closer to the town of Pouembout). The South Province has its provincial seat at Nouméa, although La Foa also serves as the seat of some administrations (see subdivisions section below).
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As the easternmost island of the Loyalty Islands arc, Walpole is located 180 km (95 nmi) east of New Caledonia (168° 57' E, 22° 36' S). It is 4 km (2 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi) long north–south, and 0.5–1 km (5 ⁄ 16 – 5 ⁄ 8 mi) wide with an area of about 2.0 km 2 (3 ⁄ 4 sq mi). Walpole is a coral island of volcanic origin.