Global InformationKanak people information
 One of the flags of New Caledonia and the cultural flag of the Kanak community, showing a flèche faîtière (a spear-like wooden totem monument placed atop traditional dwellings) | |
 Kanak women talking in New Caledonia | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 111,856 (2019) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| New Caledonia | 111,856[1] |
| Metropolitan France | A few thousand |
| Languages | |
| French • New Caledonian languages | |
The Kanaks (French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. Kanak peoples traditionally speak diverse Austronesian languages, that belong to the New Caledonian branch of Oceanic. According to the 2019 census,[1] the Kanaks make up 41.2% of New Caledonia's total population — corresponding to around 112,000 people.
The Kanak population is traditionally contrasted with two other groups of European descent: (1) the Caldoche, who were born in New Caledonia; and (2) the Zoreille, who live in the territory yet were born in metropolitan France.
The earliest traces of human settlement in New Caledonia go back to Lapita culture, about 3000 BP, i.e. 1000 BCE.[2][3] In addition, Polynesian seafarers have intermarried with the Kanaks over the last centuries.[4][5]
New Caledonia was annexed to France in 1853, and became an overseas territory of France in 1956. An independence movement, which led to a failed revolt in 1967, was restarted in 1984, pursuing total independence from French rule. When the 1988 Matignon agreements were signed between the representatives of France and New Caledonia to decide on holding the referendum for independence, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, the Kanak leader of the independence movement, had mooted a proposal to set up an Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture (ADCK). After Tjibaou's assassination in 1989, the French President François Mitterrand ordered that a cultural centre on the lines suggested by Tjibaou be set up in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia; it was to be the last of Mitterrand's Grands Projets.[6] The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre was formally established in May 1998.[7]
Although ancient Lapita potteries date back to 1000 BC, and the people of the island have long been involved in the arts, since the establishment of the ADCK, Kanak arts and crafts have become more popular in New Caledonia. Wooden carvings in the shape of hawks, ancient gods, serpents and turtles are popular as is flèche faîtière, a carving which resembles a small totem pole with symbolic shapes. Music, dance and singing are part of many a Kanak ceremonial function and dances are performed during the traditional Kanak gatherings with the objective of cementing relationships within the clan and with ancestors.
- ^ a b "Communities". Institut de la Statistique et des études économiques Nouvelle-Calédonie (in French). Institut de la Statistique et des études économiques Nouvelle-Calédonie. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ^ Bedford, Stuart; Spriggs, Matthew; Burley, David V.; Sand, Christophe; Sheppard, Peter; Summerhayes, Glenn R. (2019). "Distribution, chronology, society and subsistence". In Bedford, Stuart; Spriggs, Matthew (eds.). Debating Lapita. Australia: ANU Press. pp. 5–34. ISBN 9781760463304. JSTOR j.ctvtxw3gm.7.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Sand1998was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "We Are Kanaks". New International Magazine. July 1981. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "Pacific Islands Report". Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ Weston, Richard (2004). Plans, sections and elevations: key buildings of the twentieth century. Laurence King Publishing. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-85669-382-0.
- ^ "The Tjibaou Cultural Centre and ADCK". Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture (ADCK). 4 June 2011.