Nengone

The Nengone are the indigenous Kanak people of Maré, the second-largest of the Loyalty Islands in New Caledonia, and of the smaller neighbouring island of Tiga. Their Austronesian language is one of the Kanak languages of New Caledonia; the name Nengone denotes both Maré Island itself and the tongue spoken there.

Maré is a raised coral atoll, its former lagoon lifted more than a hundred metres above the sea. The first recorded European to sight the island was William Raven, master of the Britannia, who passed in August 1793 on a voyage from Sydney to Batavia.