The lagoon and the ocean harbour very dangerous currents, as here around Shabadran Bay, which made migratory access to the island of Maré more difficult. Between the 11th and the 18th century, the original Melanesian population, the Elétoke, was however absorbed by Polynesian migrants pushed west by the prevailing winds. Then from 1840 until the end of the 19th century, the island saw successive European pastors and governors and was at the heart of a war of influence between English Protestantism and French Catholicism.