Noumea, New Caledonia
February 3rd 2010 New Caledonia was discovered by Captain James Cook in 1774, and though he dropped anchor and named the island after a part of Scotland, he never claimed it for his sovereign. Instead, it was left to the French who officially annexed New Caledonia in 1853, when a penal colony was set up here. Convict labor was instrumental in helping to erect many of the colonial-style buildings, and the convicts c
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