New Zealanders in the 1830s feared foreign intervention, especially from France or the United States. In 1837, a Frenchman named Baron Charles de Thierry arrived in Northland and claimed land, declaring himself ruler of New Zealand. A Catholic mission established by Jean Baptiste Pompallier added to concerns about French influence. In 1838, Captain Jean-François Langlois purchased land on Banks Peninsula from Māori and established a French settlement there, though the 63 French settlers who arrived in 1840 discovered that area had been claimed by the British and instead founded the settlement of Akaroa.