The British-sounding name was given by Royal Navy explorer Captain James Cook was saw similarities with the Scottish highlands. Both the British and French settled New Caledonia in the erly 19th century. They began seizing land from the native Melanesian people, called Kanaks. The French seized control (1853). It was part of Emperor Napoleon III's effort to compete with the Britishbin colonial possessions. The French at first used it largely as a penal colony. They are believed to have sent about 22,000 convicted felons to penal colonies along the south-west coast of New Caledonia. This included both criminals in addition to a small number of political prisoners. This included Parisian socialists and Kabyle nationalists. A Kanak revolt in 1878 claimed more than 1,000 lives and heralded further repressve measures by the French colonial officials. Gradually the penal transports declined. Some free European settlers as well as the former convicts settled on the island. The French also cotracted Asian contract workers, including some Japanese. The indigenous Kanak populations was substantially reduced by lack of resistance to European disases. The French established an apartheid-like system called Code de l'Indigénat. This severly restricted their life style, freedom of movement, and land ownership. France after falling to the NAZIS (June 1940) became a neutral under the Vichy regime. By the time of Pearl Harbor, however, the French South Pacific colonies of New Caledonia, French Polynesia and the New Hebrides had joined the Free French. They thus become vital Allied bases. New Caledonia was particularly important because of its size and the fact the capital and main port of Nomea had facilities built to servive the substantial vessels carrying nickel ore. These proved vital to service hard-pressed Allied naval vessels during the bloody naval battles fought in and around the southern Solomons.
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