ISLAND HISTORY
Isle of Pines is approximately 18km long and 14km wide and as its name implies has a prominently pine tree skyline, set against white sand beaches and turquoise lagoons. Known as Kunie to its Melanesian inhabitants, the island is part of the French-Pacific territory, New Caledonia. Situated at the southern tip of this archipelago, it sits almost astride the tropic of Capricorn at 21.25° South, 167.25° East. It became known as “the closest island to Paradise’’ thanks to a film based on a book written by Japanese writer Katsura Morimura in 1964. The history of its real name can be traced back to Captain James Cook, who in 1774 on his second voyage to New Zealand gave the island its name after seeing the tall native pines. He never disembarked onto the island, but as he saw smoke, assumed it was inhabited. The French took possession of the island in 1853 from the native Kunies and later the island became a French penal colony, home to 3,000 political deportees from Paris.