Yuanga

The Yuanga are a Kanak people of the far north of Grande Terre in New Caledonia. Their language belongs to the extreme-northern group of New Caledonian languages and was spoken around Kaala-Gomen and the inland districts of Bondé and Paimboa. These tongues share the Austronesian inheritance of Lapita navigators, whose pottery first appears on Grande Terre around 1100 BC.

Yuanga clans grew taro and yam on the ridges, gathered shellfish and speared fish along the reef, and bound rival lineages through ceremonial exchanges under their chiefs.

James Cook reached northern Grande Terre in September 1774, anchoring near Balade among neighbouring Kanak clans and trading before sailing on. Later visitors such as the Comte de Lapérouse in 1788 were rare, and the Yuanga hills kept their customary clan life intact through 1837.