- Contested territories
- Capital Nouméa
- Population (as of 2019) 271,407
- Area 18,575
- Currency CFP franc (Franc pacifique)
New Caledonia is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean and an overseas territory of France. Before 1946, is was a French colony, annexed by France on 24 September 1853. In 1946 it became a so called Territoire d'outre-mer. Officially it is part of France, and thus also the European Union, although it's not part of the Schengen Agreement and it doesn't have the Euro either. The French flag, the Tricolour, is the official one, and only one raised up to 2010, when some room was made for the Kanak flag of the independence movement FLNKS alongside the French Tricolour.
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Abkhazia
Abkhazia lies on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, flanked by Russia to the North and Georgia to the South. In 1990, just before the dissolution of the USSR, Abkhazia declared its sovereignty. This was not accepted by neighbor state Georgia nor the government in Moscow and led to an armed conflict in 1992 which lasted for 14 months. The Georgian troops were forced to leave Abkhazia and in 1994 a new constitution was drawn. It was adopted by popular referendum in 1999 after which Abkhazia once again declared its State Sovereignty. However, it was only after Abkhazian forces fought against Georgian forces during the Russo-Georgian War in 2008 that Abkhazia was formally recognized by Russia. It is also recognized as an independent state by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Syria, Nauru, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh. The Parliament of Georgia still considers Abkhazia as an autonomous republic within its territory.
