New Caledonia had been the object of armed struggle by Oceanykan refugees and exiles against local Melanesian and Maori settlers, forming a distinct culture. In 1853 a French naval squadron under orders of Napoleon III took control of the islands by force, setting up a penal colony. French prisoners housed in New Caledonia immediately formed a bond with the very free-minded locals and, through extensive contact with northern Australian traders, developed a unique Franco-Oceanykan culture. Pirate bands from this region also set up in New Caledonia, taking advantage of its trade links with metropolitan France to enrich themselves.
Following the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, in which the professional French Army was defeated by the Viet Minh, France entered a deep political crisis. This year two more conflicts began; the Algerian War and the New Caledonian Insurrection, of which this article focuses on the latter. As soon as the French military defeat was acknowledged by the international press, regional leaders called for a war of independence. Even though French citizenship had been granted to all inhabitants of New Caledonia the prior year, colonial rule was still harsh, and the scars of 100 years of French colonisation had not yet healed. French forces were put on a backfoot by a large number of Oceanykan volunteers, many of which had expressed a historical empathy in their own prior struggle against the British Empire. In July, the French parliament admitted defeat and granted New Caledonia independence. The island fragmented into a number of spheres of influence, kingdoms, republics and statelets which were admitted collectively into the Oceanykan Federation as its youngest members, and so the Subregion of New Caledonia was established.