La Nouvelle-Calédonie : 1853-1920 : naissance d'une société coloniale

New caledonia 1853-1920. The birth of a colonial society

• Auteur / Autrice : Isabelle Merle
• Direction : Denys Lombard
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Histoire
• Date : Soutenance en 1993
• Etablissement(s) : Paris, EHESS

Mots clés

Mots clés contrôlés

1900-1945

19e siècle

Conditions sociales

Résumé

La colonisation francaise en nouvelle-caledonie s'appuie sur un projet ideologique original reposant sur un peuplement d'originemixte, penal et libre. Au nom de la "regeneration" de l'individu "vicie" par le crime, l'ile accueille, entre 1864 et 1897, une population nombreuse qui mele condamnes aux travaux forces, relegues et deportes. Charges de creer, dans la colonie, les infrastructures necessaires au developpement futur, ces hommes sont censes s'enraciner aux antipodes grace aux lopins de terre que l'etat leurs promet. Parallelement a ce courant d'emigration contraint, la france espere attirer en nouvelle-caledonie, un peuplement "honnete" issue des classes laborieuses. Le reve d'une "petite france australe", fonde sur un ideal de "ruralite", avorte dans les annees 1900, laissant cependant derriere lui, une societe coloniale etonnante. Face aux kanaks impuissants, refoules dans leurs reserves, les petits colons penaux ou libres qui sont parvenus a "creer" leur propriete, se distinguent soigneusement des liberes du bagne, vagabonds et misereux, des grands proprietaires et des "gens de noumea". La lecture de ce monde social complexe, resultant d'une utopie coloniale francaise, permet de mieux comprendre le passe d'un pays qui pese encore aujourd'hui dans les consciences.

French colonisation of new caledonia was based on a unique ideological programme of both penal and free settlement. With the aim of "regenerating" persons "hardened" by crime, a large population of convicts sentenced to forced labour, recidivists and political prisoners were sent to the island from 1864 to 1897. Given the task of building the necessary infrastructure for the future development of the colony, these people were also supposed to become attached to this antipodean territory thanks to the allotments of land the state promised to them. But, parallel to this current of forced migrants, france wanted to attract to new caledonia "honorable" settlers from the working classes. This project of an "austral france", founded on a rural ideal, was aborted after 1900, but left behind a remarkable colonial society. Coexisting with the kanaks confined to reservations, there were groups which sharply distinguished themselves from each other : the penal or free settlers who had managed to carve out their forms, the freed convicts, often itinerant and impoverished ; the great land owners, and the city dwellers of noumea. The study of this complex society makes it possible to understand the historical contradiction which continue to weigh on new caledonia today.