Far East Kingdoms

French New Guinea (Independent) (Oceania)
AD 1880 - 1882

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The watery continent of Oceania starts where South-East Asia ends, to the south-east of Indonesia and East Timor. Its territory is somewhat debatable within Melanesia, which itself neighbours Australasia to the north and east, and incorporates islands between New Guinea and Tonga. New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, located at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, to the north of Australia and separated from it by the Torres Strait.

Yñigo Ortiz de Retez of Spain in 1545 was the first European to spot New Guinea, at the mouth of the River Mamberano on the northern coast of the island's western part. He named it Nueva Guinea and claimed it for Spain. However, the Dutch moved in to obtain exclusive trading rights by recognising in 1660 the sultan of Tidore's suzerainty over the 'Papuan islands'. They added western New Guinea to the Dutch East Indies in 1828.

Captain Charles Bampfield Yule claimed the southern coast in 1846 for the United Kingdom, but the British did not settle the place. The British also did not follow up on a second annexation by Captain John Moresby. Instead a French adventurer called Charles Marie Bonaventure attempted to establish himself as the king of 'New France' in unclaimed New Ireland. This French New Guinea is not to be confused with the much larger - and official - New France in North America which had fallen to the British in the preceding century.

Also known as 'La colonie chrétienne et libre de Port-Breton', or 'The Christian and free colony of Port-Breton', the colony was a money-making venture gone wrong. Charles Marie Bonaventure was in fact Charles du Breil, marquis de Rays. He had never visited New Guinea, and had developed nothing there, but the proclamation of his grand project in France attracted a good many subscribers who fancied the profits which Charles was offering. Overall he managed to raise over nine million francs.

(Information by John De Cleene & Peter Kessler, with additional information from the John De Cleene Archive, from The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Peter Bellwood, James J Fox, & David Tryon (ANU Press, 2006), from National Geographic Atlas of the World, 10th Ed (National Geographic Society, 2015), and from External Links: Destination Papua New Guinea, and Early humans Lived in PNG highlands 50,000 years ago (Reuters), and Papua New Guinea (Rulers.org), and Papua New Guinea (Destination PNG), and Papua New Guinea (Flags of the World), and Papua (Zárate's Political Collections (ZPC)), and Was Papua New Guinea an Early Agriculture Pioneer, John Roach (National Geographic Society, 23 June 2003, and available via the Internet Archive), and The New Nation: Bougainville's Struggle for Independence, Skyler Bohnert (McGill International Review), and Papua New Guinea (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and Papua New Guinea (World Statesmen), and Plant Cultures: Exploring plants & people (Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, dead link), and McNicoll, Sir Walter Ramsey (1877-1947), Ronald McNicoll (Australian Dictionary of Biography).)

1880 - 1881

Charles Marie Bonaventure refers to himself as King Charles I of New France in 1877 (not to be confused with the now-lost New France colony in North America). His 'kingdom' consists of eastern New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, territory which for the most part has remained unclaimed by European powers.

Having raised over nine million francs through investors, he establishes a utopian colony at Cape Breton in 1882, located near modern Kavieng on New Ireland. The land proves to be hostile, as do the native Papuans in the area when the first hundred colonists arrive to find absolutely no infrastructure at Port-Breton.

Papuans in this photo wear traditional dress in the highlands of Papua New Guinea on the island's independence day which celebrates the attainment of self-government in 1975

1880 - 1882

Self-proclaimed king of French New Guinea. Imprisoned.

1880

Governor. Baron de Villeblanche.

1880

Acting governor. First name unavailable.

1880

Governor.

1880 - 1881

Acting governor.

1880 - 1881

The second ship delivers settlers from Barcelona, while the third offloads three hundred Italians. The New Britain tops up the total number of settlers to five hundred and seventy, although people are already dying of exhaustion, hunger, and disease.

The titled adventurer, Charles-Bonaventure Marie du Breil, marquis of Rays, had already travelled to America, Senegal (as director of a failed oil business), and Indochina, and each time his ambitions failed to be realised

1881

Provisional governor.

1881 - 1882

Provisional governor.

1882

The colony of New France fails just two years into its establishment. Those who are unable to leave the area on their own are evacuated to Australia in February 1882 by the British. Charles de Rays is arrested in July 1882, in Spain, and is sentenced in 1884 to six years in prison and a fine of three thousand francs.

The site of his attempted colony is abandoned for around two years before German imperial interest in the region prompts the formation of German New Guinea (otherwise known as Kaiser Wilhelmsland).