The rugged coastline of New Caledonia allegedly reminded Captain Cook (whose father was a Scot) of Scotland, and he thus named it New Caledonia. In French, Nouvelle-Calédonie is the official name, but the territory is often called only Calédonie in colloquial use, as in l'histoire de la Calédonie 6 - . The adjective néo-calédonien(ne) is seldom used;calédonien(ne) is the term most often used, even by official institutions, as in l'économie calédonienne 7 - ("the New Caledonian economy").The nickname (le) Caillou (literally "the stone" or "the pebble") is used as an endearing term by the European community of New Caledonia to designate the territory. It allegedly refers to the main island of New Caledonia which is a nickel-rich, long rock formation emerging from the Pacific Ocean. Another nickname, (la) Kanaky , is also used in by independence movements, and the indigenous languages. This name is favored by Melanesian nationalists. The word comes from kanaka , a Hawaiian word (elsewhere tangata and variants) meaning "human/person/people", used by Polynesians to refer to themselves. The word was later used by the French to refer to all the indigenous inhabitants of the South Pacific Ocean, including the Melanesian (non-Polynesian) native inhabitants of New Caledonia. The word, turned into Canaque in French, became derogatory. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the Melanesian native inhabitants started to organize themselves into political parties and call for independence, the word was transformed into a symbol of political emancipation and pride. In 1983, during the period of political turmoil, the terms Kanak and Kanaky became political brand names and colonial whites realized the name had changed into a political statement. The official name of the territory, Nouvelle-Calédonie , could be changed in the near future due to the Nouméa Accord of 1998 which stated that "a name, a flag, an anthem, a motto, and the design of banknotes will have to be sought by all parties together, to express the Kanak identity and the future shared by all parties."8 - To date, however, there has been no consensus on a new name for the territory.9 -