Captain James Cook was the first European to sight New Caledonia in 1774 on his second voyage. He felt that the northeast coast of the island resembled Scotland, hence the name. Four years later the similarly accomplished French explorer La Perouse sailed past the island group before mysteriously disappearing.
It was in 1853 that the emperor Napoleon 111 ordered a French naval fleet to take possession of the island group and established a penal colony there until 1880. The effect of European colonisation had an all too familiar impact on the local, indigenous, Kanak population which was decimated by outbreaks of measles and smallpox.
After the second world war New Caledonia became an overseas French colony and all citizens were granted French citizenship. The decades since has seen uneasy relations between the Kanaks and the French with several uprisings. Nonetheless multiple referendums to gain independence have failed and the country is very much French.
Noumea, the capitol is a quiet little town. Our Saturday morning 1 hour stroll was more than enough time to “see the sights”
The afternoon has us driving through the mountainous spine of the island into the countryside. While there is certainly much similarity with other tropical Pacific islands with mountains, palm trees and tropical rainforest, there are also vast tracts lightly forested hillsides, grasslands and even massive lakes that contrast this pretty island from others.
