Kanak people
The earliest history of Europeans arriving on these islands is when Captain Cook of the United Kingdom landed in these islands in 1775 at a time when there were reportedly 70,000 Kanaks living in the archipelago. Cook gave the name "New Caledonia" to these islands, after Caledonia, his Scottish highlands.
Languages of New Caledonia
New Caledonia, a part of the French Republic, uses French as its official language, following the constitutional law 92-554 (June 1992). The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages. Their speakers are known as Kanaks.