v26_1626 - TROISIÈME RÉPUBLIQUE - NOUVELLE CALÉDONIE Épreuve de 10 centimes Nouvelle-Calédonie 1881 Paris

FRENCH THIRD REPUBLIC - NEW CALEDONIA

Discovered on September 4, 1774 by James Cook, New Caledonia has only been French since September 24, 1853 when Admiral Febvrier Des Pointes seizes the island in the name of Napoleon III, declaring: "From this day, this land is French and national property". Penal colonization from 1872 to 1894 (political deportees from the Paris commune and deportees under common law) was followed by free colonization (from 1895) which saw the arrival of many candidate colonists initially with the aim of realizing in New -Caledonia a settlement.