| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 7,677 (born in France, 2018)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Auckland Wellington Canterbury | |
| Languages | |
| New Zealand English · French | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (mainly Roman Catholicism) · Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| French Australians • French British |
| Part of a series of articles on the |
| French people |
|---|
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French New Zealanders are New Zealanders who are of French ancestors or a French-born person who resides in New Zealand.
The French were among the earlier European settlers in New Zealand, and established a colony at Akaroa in the South Island.[2]
Captain Jean-François-Marie de Surville is the first known Frenchman to have visited New Zealand,[3] in 1769, and by the 1830s, French whalers were operating off the Banks Peninsula.[3][4]
French missionaries and priests also had a significant effect on Catholicism in New Zealand. In 1835, Jean-Baptiste Pompallier was the first bishop of any denomination in New Zealand and was known to be sympathetic to Māori interests at the time.[5] Suzanne Aubert came to New Zealand from France in 1860, and founded the Sisters of Compassion in 1892, a religious order of nuns. The cause for her canonization is ongoing,[6] meaning she may become New Zealand's first saint.
