It was on the island of Nou - in the foreground of this aerial view of Anse Kuendu - that the British trader James Paddon, the first European to take up a position in the region of Nouméa, settled in 1851 following the signing of an agreement with the local clan chief. Three years later, Nouméa became the administrative center of the French colony of New Caledonia under the name of Port-de-France. As for the island of Nou, it housed the French penitentiary in the 19th century before becoming the Nouville peninsula.