There is also a community of about 2,000 pieds noirs , descended from European settlers in France 's former North African colonies ; some of them are prominent in anti-independence politics , including Pierre Maresca , a leader of the RPCR.A 2015 documentary by Al Jazeera English asserted that up to 10 % of New Caledonia 's population is descended from around 2,000 Arab-Berber people deported from French Algeria in the late 19th century to prisons on the island in reprisal for the Mokrani Revolt in 1871 .
Al Jazeera reported that New Caledonia 's population descended from Arab-Berber people who were imprisoned on the island due to their resistance to French colonial rule .