The oldest indisputable traces of human presence in New Caledonia are currently dated to around 1100 BC. Exactly where the population and migrations originated is not yet well known. The Loyalty Island tribes are a mixture of Melanesians and Polynesians. Ouvéa experienced several waves of Polynesian migration in the 16th and 17th centuries. According to oral tradition, they came mainly from Wallis Island, which is called "Uvéa" in the local language.

The Loyalty Islands were discovered by Europeans in 1793. Raven, the captain of an English merchant ship, was on his way from New Zealand and taking a shortcut to the south when he discovered a group of islands that he named the "Loyalty Islands" for reasons still unknown. According to some historians, the islands earned this name because of the "loyal" character of their inhabitants.

From the start of the 19th century, whale hunters became interested in the rich cetacean resources of the South Seas. From 1810-1820, ships put into port in the Loyalty Islands and the north of New Caledonia’s main island to stock up on provisions and water. A whale oil extraction plant even operated on Lifou. But after 1860 the replacement of whale oil by petroleum and depletion of the pods of whales put an end to this activity in New Caledonia.

The mapping and charting of the Loyalty Islands were carried out in 1827 and 1840 by Jules Sébastien Dumont D’Urville, one of the greatest explorers of the Pacific, who was fascinated by astronomy and natural sciences.

In 1840 the London Missionary Society (LMS) sent teachers to the Loyalty Islands to preach the Gospel to the natives and convert them to Protestantism. On 20 December 1843, the French Marist Mission, with support from the French Government and Army, also settled in the islands, to try to convert the natives to Catholicism. The Loyalty Islands then became the often bloody scene of intense power struggles between Protestant pastors and Catholic missionaries. The conversion to Protestantism of Chiefs Naisseline on Maré (1848) and Boula on Lifou (1851) allowed two LMS teachers, Tataïo and Fao, to settle permanently. Later, in 1856, European pastors settled on Ouvéa.
At this time, the indigenous people used their own language and, when necessary, Bichlamar, an English-Melanesian pidgin used to communicate with traders and between the various Melanesian peoples. The Protestant missionaries promoted use of some indigenous languages in order to bring the Gospel to the island "natives", as the Kanaks were called at the time: Drehu on Lifou, Nengone on Maré and Iaaï on Ouvéa, while Catholic missionaries preferred French.

The success of the Protestant missionaries explains why the Loyalty Islands still have a strong Protestant majority and why many traditions remain alive (religious, culinary, sociological, English words in the island languages, cricket etc).

The Loyalty Islands comprise three main islands organised as local government areas: Lifou, Maré and Ouvéa, as well as a smaller island, Tiga. The administrative centre for the Province is located at Wé (Lifou). Since 1989, the whole area has formed a Province, with a Provincial Assembly of 14 members elected by universal suffrage, seven of whom sit in the New Caledonian Congress. Members of the Provincial Assemblies are elected for five years by proportional representation. The Provinces have general law jurisdiction.

The Loyalty Islands Province is made up of three custom areas: Iaaï (Ouvéa), Drehu (Lifou), Nengone (Maré), which each has a Customary Council, the composition of which is determined according to custom practices.
The Customary Council may be consulted by the Customary Senate on any question referred to the latter. It may also be consulted by the French High Commission, the Government, the President of a Provincial Assembly or a mayor. It may be consulted by any administrative or jurisdictional authority as to the interpretation of custom rules.

Two representatives of each custom area sit in the Customary Senate, which has its office in Noumea. The Customary Senate is an assembly of the various customary councils of this Kanak country. It must be consulted on New Caledonian or Province draft resolutions concerning "Kanak identity", within the meaning of the Noumea Accord. A new president is appointed each year in August or September, according to the principle of a rotating presidency among eight custom areas.

The Hnakudotit site on Maré: In the Maré language, Nengone, this site is called "where they stumbled on the rocks". It is a monumental structure made from blocks of coral, construction of which dates back two thousand years. The site, called "Hnakudotit", is an open quadrilateral of impressive size. The walls of this structure, nearly four metres high, are on average ten metres thick. The entire site, which is made up of a large U-shaped wall and two L-shaped extensions, is 180 metres long and 145 metres wide.
Located near La Roche, Hnakudotit is the product of a worksite that must have been very organised. Near the present Yeiwéné Yeiwéné Cultural Centre, the walker will notice paths that have been used to transport the coral blocks, some of which weighed up to several tonnes. The walls were also arranged according to an internal architecture. The largest coral blocks are placed on the inner sides of the building’s four gates. In the same way, coarse cut stones can be seen on the external walls. The size of the blocks in these places can be interpreted as a mark of prestige intended to impress the new arrival.

Pieces of pottery brought to light: Until the start of the 1990s, the site had not undergone any restoration. The stone blocks were crumbling, the vegetation was gaining ground and cultivated fields were flourishing inside the enclosure. In 1993 and 1994, the New Caledonian Department of Archeology carried out its first studies and partly renovated this monumental structure. Archeologists found the remains of human skeletons, pieces of pottery and shellfish middens. Dating of some shell remains made it possible to go back in history as far as 1,000 BC. According to the results of the excavation, this monumental construction must have had a defensive role in a plain where no natural shelter existed. As well as fortified walls, the archeologists uncovered a ditch a dozen metres wide, running the length of the open part of the quadrilateral.
Science and history thus agree with the oral tradition. On Maré at least two accounts explain that these stonewalls were used as refuges in times of war. They are said to have been created by spirits who apparently engaged in a competition, the La Roche spirits prevailing over their adversaries. The Hnakudotit building is indeed more imposing than "Waninetit" or "the right-hand wall". This neighbouring construction has two enclosures with walls that are not as high or as thick.

The Jokin cliffs on Lifou: Except for Maré and these monumental constructions, the Loyalty Islands’ archeological heritage is not easily accessible to tourists. However, the traces of history can be detected by looking at the islands in a different way. Ancient burial places can be found in openings in the raised coral plateaus, such as in the Jokin cliffs on Lifou. Mortal remains were also sometimes left inside caves. They were placed on a raft or inside the hull of an outrigger canoe. This funeral tradition, which developed during the second millenium AD, is still visible today in the Loyalty Islands.
The Loyalty Islands caves are important archeological sites. Visited often in times past, perhaps for initiation rites, they contain traces of prehistory. This is true of Wanaham Cave on Lifou. In this cave, which occupies an important place in the oral tradition, traces of human presence have been found that go back to 700 BC. Two caverns are crammed with drawings done with orange-coloured coral and charcoal. The walls are decorated with more than two hundred hands, not to mention depictions of fish, turtles and birds. Engravings with stars and geometrical designs have also been found in Wanaham Cave, which is located just beneath Lifou’s only aircraft runway.