The Nanto-Bordelaise Company — formally ''La Compagnie de Bordeaux et de Nantes pour la Colonisation de l’Île du Sud de la Nouvelle Zélande et ses Dépendances'' — was a French company inaugurated in 1839 by a group of merchants from the cities of Nantes and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, with the purpose of founding a French colony in the South Island of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The company was formed after negotiations in August 1838 between

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

boat captain Jean-François Langlois and several

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point ...

Māori chiefs for the purchase of several thousand acres of land on Banks Peninsula, for which Langlois promised to pay a total of 1,000 francs. Upon returning to France in 1839, Langlois set about founding a company with the help of several financial backers, the eventual aim of which was to claim the entirety of the South Island for France.The Banks Peninsula Purchases Summary
, Ngāi Tahu Land Report 1991, Waitangi Tribunal. Retrieved 5 June 2013. Government support was obtained in December of the same year via King

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

to transport 80 settlers to Port Louis-Philippe (now Akaroa). A warship, the corvette ''Aube'', would travel to New Zealand, followed a month later by the colonists aboard . ''Aube'' left for the Pacific in February 1840, captained by Charles François Lavaud, who had been appointed as Commissaire du Roi.Foster, B. J.
Akaroa, French settlement at
, ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' 1966. Updated 22 April 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2013. Aware of the potential threat of losing sovereignty of parts of the New Zealand island chain to the French, during early 1840, Lieutenant-Governor

William Hobson Captain William Hobson (26 September 1792 – 10 September 1842) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New Zealand. He was a co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi. Hobson was dispatched from London in July 1 ...

was tasked with securing the whole of the country for the British Government. To this end, the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

was signed as an agreement between the British Crown and the indigenous Māori population. By the time ''Aube'' arrived at the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for it ...

in June 1840, the acquisition of the country by Britain was effectively complete. Faced with no prospect of anything more than a small colonial settlement, Lavaud left for Banks Peninsula to oversee the arrival of ''Comte de Paris''. Hobson also sent a ship, HMS ''Britomart'', on board which were colonial magistrates. AkaroaFRNames

On arriving at Akaroa, Lavaud discovered that the agreement between Langlois and the local Māori was not as clear-cut as had been promised. Despite this, the founding of the colony went ahead, under an amalgam of French and British jurisdiction. C.B. Robinson, one of the magistrates sent on ''Britomart'', worked alongside Lavaud in the organisation of the settlement. Lavaud retired in 1843, and was succeeded as Commissaire du Roi by Post-Captain A. Bérard, who remained in this position until 1846, when formal agreements between the French government and the Nanto-Bordelaise Company settlement ended. The question of sovereignty remained a complex one, which the local colonial authorities were unable to solve. Eventually, the British Government resolved that the company would be awarded four acres of land for every £1 they could prove to have spent on the settlement. On 30 June 1849, the company's remaining New Zealand properties were bought by the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

for the sum of £4,500. A second ship carrying more French settlers, ''Monarch'', arrived at Akaroa in 1850. Akaroa and the nearby smaller settlement of

Duvauchelle Duvauchelle Bay ( mi, Kaitouna) is a small town situated at the head of Akaroa Harbour on Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. State Highway 75 passes through the town. The Onawe Peninsula separates Duvauchelle bay from Barry's Bay. Duvauchelle i ...

both retain a pride in their French history, with many of the local streets having French names. A biennial French festival is held in odd-numbered years in Akaroa.Piper Heidsieck French Festival 2013
/ref>

References

{{reflist History of Canterbury, New Zealand Banks Peninsula 1840s in New Zealand Treaty of Waitangi Government of New Zealand Former French colonies French colonisation in Oceania History of European colonialism French companies established in 1839 Chartered companies Immigration to New Zealand France–New Zealand relations French-New Zealand culture Companies disestablished in 1849 Companies disestablished in 1856 Akaroa Trading companies established in the 19th century Trading companies of France Trading companies disestablished in the 19th century