 Caldoche "bushmen" cavaliers carrying the 2011 Pacific Games flame in Bourail | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 73,199 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| New Caledonia (24.1% of total population) Mainly in Nouméa, Bourail, Boulouparis, La Foa, Le Mont-Dore, Farino | |
| Languages | |
| French | |
| Religion | |
| Mainly Catholicism, Protestantism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| French people |
Caldoche (French pronunciation: [kaldɔʃ] ) is the name given to inhabitants of the French overseas collectivity of New Caledonia of European ethnic origin who have settled in New Caledonia since the 19th century. The formal name to refer to this particular population is Calédoniens, short for the very formal Néo-Calédoniens, but this self-appellation technically includes all inhabitants of the New Caledonian archipelago, not just the Caldoche.
Another European demographic within the population of New Caledonia are expatriates from metropolitan France who have arrived recently or live there temporarily as French government civil servants and contract workers. Caldoche emphasise their own distinct identity and position as permanent locals who have lived in New Caledonia for several generations by referring to the temporary French expatriates as métros (short for métropolitains) or as Zoreilles (informally zozos) in local slang.
A majority of the Caldoche are of French descent and have their origins as free colonial or penal settlers, with smaller but significant numbers of Caldoche being of Italian, German, British, Polish, Belgian and Irish heritage. French is the main language spoken by the Caldoche.
New Caledonia was used as a penal colony from 1854 to 1922 by France. From this period and on, many Europeans (particularly of French and, to some extent, German origin) settled in the territory and they intermingled with Asian and Polynesian settlers. Code de l'indigénat, introduced in 1887, provided the free settler population with an advantageous status over the indigenous Melanesian peoples, known collectively as Kanak. Caldoches settled and gained property on the dry west coast of the main island Grande Terre where the capital Nouméa is also located, pushing the Kanaks onto small reservations in the north and east. With the superior position, they constituted the ruling class of the colony and they were the ones who widened the usage of the word Canaque as a pejorative.