French colonial empire

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Empire Français
French Colonial Empire

←
1534–1977 →
←

Flag Imperial Coat of arms

Anthem
La Marseillaise
Imperial anthem
Vive Henry IV

Anachronous map of French Colonial Empire (1534 -1977)

Capital Paris

Language(s) French

Roman Catholic to 1905

Religion
/ Afterward, secular

Absolute Monarchy,
Government
Empire, Republic

Emperor

- 1804–1815 Napoleon I

Napoleon II

- 1852-1870 Napoleon III

King of France

- 1643-1715 Louis XIV

History

- Established 1534

- Disestablished 1977

23,500,000 km2
Area
(9,073,401 sq mi)

Today part of
Algeria

Benin

Burkina Faso
 Cambodia

Cameroon
Canada

Central African
Republic

Chad

Comoros

Djibouti

Dominican
Republic

France

Gabon

Guinea

Haiti

India

Ivory Coast

Laos

Lebanon
Libya

Madagascar

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mali

Morocco

Niger

Senegal

Syria
 Togo

Tunisia

Vietnam

United States

Animated map showing the growth and decline of the First and Second French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French
rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial
empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French
colonial empire extended over 12,347,000 km² (4,767,000 sq. miles) of land at its height in the
1920s and 1930s. Including metropolitan France, the total amount of land under French
sovereignty reached 13,018,575 km² (4,980,000 sq. miles) at the time, which is 8.7% of the
Earth's total land area. Its influence made French a widely-spoken colonial European language,
along with English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
France, in rivalry with Britain for supremacy, began to establish colonies in North America, the
Caribbean and India, following Spanish and Portuguese successes during the Age of Discovery.
A series of wars with Britain during the 18th century and early 19th century, which France lost,
ended its colonial ambitions in these places, and with it what some historians term the "first"
French colonial empire. In the 19th century, France established a new empire in Africa and
Southeast Asia.
Following World War I and especially World War II, anti-colonial movements began to
challenge French authority. France unsuccessfully fought bitter wars in Vietnam and Algeria to
keep its empire intact. By the end of the 1960s, many of France's colonies had gained
independence, although some territories - especially islands and archipelagos - were integrated
into France as overseas departments and territories. These total altogether 123,150 km² (47,548
sq. miles), which amounts to only 1% of the pre-1939 French colonial empire's area, with
2,685,705 people living in them in 2011. All of them enjoy full political representation at the
national level, as well as varying degrees of legislative autonomy. (See Administrative divisions
of France.)
Contents
[hide]
• 1 First French colonial empire
○ 1.1 The Americas
○ 1.2 Africa and Asia
• 2 Colonial conflict with Britain
• 3 Second French colonial empire
• 4 Decolonisation
• 5 Demographics
○ 5.1 Population between 1919 and 1940
○ 5.2 French settlers
• 6 See also
• 7 Footnotes
• 8 References
• 9 External links

First French colonial empire

The Americas

Québec was known as 'Nouvelle France' or New France

Excursions of Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in the early 16th century, as well as
the frequent voyages of French boats and fishermen to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland
throughout that century, were the precursors to the story of France's colonial expansion. But
Spain's jealous protection of its foreign monopoly, and the further distractions caused in France
itself in the later 16th century by the French Wars of Religion, prevented any constant efforts by
France to settle colonies. Early French attempts to found colonies in 1612 at São Luís ("France
Équinoxiale"), and in Brazil, in 1555 at Rio de Janeiro ("France Antarctique") and in Florida
(including Fort Caroline in 1562) were not successful, due to a lack of official interest and to
Portuguese and Spanish vigilance.
The story of France's colonial empire truly began on July 27, 1605, with the foundation of Port
Royal in the colony of Acadia in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. A few
years later, in 1608, Samuel De Champlain founded Quebec, which was to become the capital of
the enormous, but sparsely settled, fur-trading colony of New France (also called Canada).
New France had a rather small population, which resulted from more emphasis being placed on
the fur trade rather than agricultural settlements. Due to this emphasis, the French relied heavily
on creating friendly contacts with the local Indians. Without the appetite of New England for
land, and by relying solely on Indians to supply them with fur at the trading posts, the French
composed a complex series of military, commercial, and diplomatic connections. These became
the most enduring alliances between the French and the Indians. The French were, however,
under pressure from religious orders to convert the Indians to Catholicism.

Extent of New France, French Louisiana, Haiti Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Tobago and
French Guyana.
Although, through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a
loose control over much of the North American continent, areas of French settlement were
generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to the establishment of the 1663
Sovereign Council, the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies. It is
only after the arrival of intendant Jean Talon in 1665 that France gave its American colonies the
proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British. But there was
relatively little interest in colonialism in France, which concentrated rather on dominance within
Europe, and for most of its history, New France, was far behind the British North American
colonies in both population and economic development. Acadia itself was lost to the British in
the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded still further, with the foundation of
Louisiana in the basin of the Mississippi River. The extensive trading network throughout the
region connected to Canada through the Great Lakes, was maintained through a vast system of
fortifications, many of them centred in the Illinois Country and in present-day Arkansas.
As the French empire in North America grew, the French also began to build a smaller but more
profitable empire in the West Indies. Settlement along the South American coast in what is today
French Guiana began in 1624, and a colony was founded on Saint Kitts in 1625 (the island had to
be shared with the English until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, when it was ceded outright). The
Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique founded colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1635, and
a colony was later founded on Saint Lucia by (1650). The food-producing plantations of these
colonies were built and sustained through slavery, with the supply of slaves dependent on the
African slave trade. Local resistance by the indigenous peoples resulted in the Carib Expulsion
of 1660.
France's most important Caribbean colonial possession was established in 1664, when the colony
of Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti) was founded on the western half of the Spanish island of
Hispaniola. In the 18th century, Saint-Domingue grew to be the richest sugar colony in the
Caribbean. The eastern half of Hispaniola (today's Dominican Republic) also came under French
rule for a short period, after being given to France by Spain in 1795.
Africa and Asia
French colonial expansion was not limited to the New World. In Senegal in West Africa, the
French began to establish trading posts along the coast in 1624. In 1664, the French East India
Company was established to compete for trade in the east. Colonies were established in India in
Chandernagore (1673) and Pondicherry in the Southeast (1674), and later at Yanam (1723),
Mahe (1725), and Karikal (1739) (see French India). Colonies were also founded in the Indian
Ocean, on the Île de Bourbon (Réunion, 1664), Île de France (Mauritius, 1718), and the
Seychelles (1756).
Colonial conflict with Britain
Further information: France in the Seven Years War and France in the American Revolutionary
War

Carte de L'Indoustan. Bellin, 1770

In the middle of the 18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and
Britain, which ultimately resulted in the destruction of most of the first French colonial empire.
These wars were the War of the Austrian Succession (1744–1748), the Seven Years' War (1756–
1763), the War of the American Revolution (1778–1783), the French Revolutionary Wars
(1793–1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). It may even be seen further back in time to
the first of the French and Indian Wars. This cyclic conflict is known as the Second Hundred
Years' War.
Although the War of the Austrian Succession was indecisive — despite French successes in
India under the French Governor-General Joseph François Dupleix and Europe under Marshal
Saxe — the Seven Years' War, after early French successes in Minorca and North America, saw
a French defeat, with the numerically superior British (over one million to about 50 thousand
French settlers) conquering not only New France (excluding the small islands of Saint-Pierre and
Miquelon), but also most of France's West Indian (Caribbean) colonies, and all of the French
Indian outposts. While the peace treaty saw France's Indian outposts, and the Caribbean islands
of Martinique and Guadeloupe restored to France, the competition for influence in India had
been won by the British, and North America was entirely lost — most of New France was taken
by Britain (also referred to as British North America, except Louisiana, which France ceded to
Spain as payment for Spain's late entrance into the war (and as compensation for Britain's
annexation of Spanish Florida). Also ceded to the British were Grenada and Saint Lucia in the
West Indies. Although the loss of Canada would cause much regret in future generations, it
excited little unhappiness at the time; colonialism was widely regarded as both unimportant to
France, and immoral.[citation needed]

Ratification of the treaty of Paris, 1783. The British delegation refused to pose for the picture.
Some recovery of the French colonial empire was made during the French intervention in the
American Revolution, with Saint Lucia being returned to France by the Treaty of Paris in 1783,
but not nearly as much as had been hoped for at the time of French intervention. True disaster
came to what remained of France's colonial empire in 1791 when Saint Domingue (the Western
third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola), France's richest and most important colony, was
riven by a massive slave revolt, caused partly by the divisions among the island's elite, which
had resulted from the French Revolution of 1789. The slaves, led eventually by Toussaint
Louverture and then, following his capture by the French in 1801, by Jean-Jacques Dessalines,
held their own against French, Spanish, and British opponents, and ultimately achieved
independence as Haiti in 1804 (Haiti became the first black republic in the world, much earlier
than any of the future African nations although it was not until the 19th century that Europeans
began establishing colonies in Africa). In the meanwhile, the newly resumed war with Britain by
the French, resulted in the British capture of practically all remaining French colonies. These
were restored at the Peace of Amiens in 1802, but when war resumed in 1803, the British soon
recaptured them. France's repurchase of Louisiana in 1800 came to nothing, as the final success
of the Haitian revolt convinced Bonaparte that holding Louisiana would not be worth the cost,
leading to its sale to the United States in 1803 (the Louisiana Purchase). The French attempt to
establish a colony in Egypt in 1798–1801 was not successful.
Second French colonial empire
At the close of the Napoleonic Wars, most of France's colonies were restored to it by Britain,
notably Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies, French Guiana on the coast of South
America, various trading posts in Senegal, the Île Bourbon (Réunion) in the Indian Ocean, and
France's tiny Indian possessions; though Britain finally annexed Saint Lucia, Tobago, the
Seychelles, and the Île de France (Mauritius). In 1825 Charles X sent an expedition to Haïti,
resulting in the Haiti indemnity controversy.
The true beginnings of the second French colonial empire, however, were laid in 1830 with the
French invasion of Algeria, which was conquered over the next 17 years. During the Second
Empire, headed by Napoleon III, an attempt was made to establish a colonial-type protectorate in
Mexico, but this came to little, and the French were forced to abandon the experiment. This
French intervention in Mexico lasted from 1861 to 1867. In southeast Asia Napoleon III also
established French control over Cochinchina (the southernmost part of modern Vietnam
including Saigon) in 1867 and 1874, as well as a protectorate over Cambodia in 1863.
Additionally, France had a sphere of influence during the 19th century and early 20th century in
southern China, including a naval base at Kuangchow (Guangzhou) Bay.[1]
It was only after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and the founding of the Third Republic
(1871–1940) that most of France's later colonial possessions were acquired. From their base in
Cochinchina, the French took over Tonkin (in modern northern Vietnam) and Annam (in modern
central Vietnam) in 1884-1885. These, together with Cambodia and Cochinchina, formed French
Indochina in 1887 (to which Laos was added in 1893, and Kwang-Chou-Wan[2] in 1900). In
1849, the French concession in Shanghai was established, lasting until 1946.
French colonies in 1891 (from Le Monde Illustré).
1. Panorama of Lac-Kaï, French outpost in China.
2. Yun-nan, in the quay of Hanoi.
3. Flooded street of Hanoi.
4. Landing stage of Hanoi
In China proper, French leased Guangzhouwan (in 1898), and had enclaves in Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Hangzhou.[3]
Influence was also expanded in North Africa, establishing a protectorate on Tunisia in 1881
(Bardo Treaty). Gradually, French control was established over much of Northern, Western, and
Central Africa by the turn of the century (including the modern nations of Mauritania, Senegal,
Guinea, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo),
and the east African coastal enclave of Djibouti (French Somaliland). The explorer Colonel
Parfait-Louis Monteil traveled from Senegal to Lake Chad in 1890-1892, signing treaties of
friendship and protection with the rulers of several of the countries he passed through, and
gaining much knowledge of the geography and politics of the region.[4]
The Voulet-Chanoine Mission, a military expedition, was sent out from Senegal in 1898 to
conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa. This expedition operated
jointly with two other expeditions, the Foureau-Lamy and Gentil missions, which advanced from
Algeria and Middle Congo respectively. With the death of the Muslim warlord Rabih az-Zubayr,
the greatest ruler in the region, and the creation of the Military Territory of Chad in 1900, the
Voulet-Chanoine Mission had accomplished all its goals. The ruthlessness of the mission
provoked a scandal in Paris. As a part of the Scramble for Africa, France had the establishment
of a continuous west-east axis of the continent as an objective, in contrast with the British north-
south axis. This resulted in the Fashoda incident, where an expedition led by Jean-Baptiste
Marchand was opposed by forces under Lord Kitchener's command. The resolution of the crisis
had a part in the bringing forth of the Entente Cordiale. During the Agadir Crisis in 1911, Britain
supported France and Morocco became a French protectorate.
At this time, the French also established colonies in the South Pacific, including New Caledonia,
the various island groups which make up French Polynesia (including the Society Islands, the
Marquesas, the Tuamotus), and established joint control of the New Hebrides with Britain.
The French made their last major colonial gains after World War I, when they gained mandates
over the former Turkish territories of the Ottoman Empire that make up what is now Syria and
Lebanon, as well as most of the former German colonies of Togo and Cameroon. A hallmark of
the French colonial project in the late 19th century and early 20th century was the civilizing
mission (mission civilisatrice), the principle that it was Europe's duty to bring civilization to
benighted peoples. As such, colonial officials undertook a policy of Franco-Europeanization in
French colonies, most notably French West Africa. Africans who adopted French culture,
including fluent use of the French language and conversion to Christianity, were granted equal
French citizenship, including suffrage. Later, residents of the "Four Communes" in Senegal were
granted citizenship in a program led by the Afro-French politician Blaise Diagne.
Decolonisation

A poster for the French colonial empire titled: "Three colours, one flag, one empire"
The French colonial empire began to fall during the Second World War, when various parts were
occupied by foreign powers (Japan in Indochina, Britain in Syria, Lebanon, and Madagascar, the
US and Britain in Morocco and Algeria, and Germany and Italy in Tunisia). However, control
was gradually reestablished by Charles de Gaulle. The French Union, included in the 1946
Constitution of 1946, replaced the former colonial Empire.
France was immediately confronted with the beginnings of the decolonisation movement. Paul
Ramadier's (SFIO) cabinet repressed the Malagasy Uprising in 1947. In Asia, Ho Chi Minh's
Vietminh declared Vietnam's independence, starting the First Indochina War. In Cameroun, the
Union of the Peoples of Cameroon's insurrection, started in 1955 and headed by Ruben Um
Nyobé, was violently repressed.
When the Indochina War ended with defeat and withdrawal in 1954, France became almost
immediately involved in a new, and even harsher conflict in Algeria, the oldest major colony.
Ferhat Abbas and Messali Hadj's movements had marked the period between the two wars, but
both sides radicalised after the Second World War. In 1945, the Sétif massacre was carried out
by the French army. The Algerian War started in 1954. Algeria was particularly problematic, due
to the large number of European settlers (or pieds-noirs) who had settled there in the 125 years
of French rule. Charles de Gaulle's accession to power in 1958 in the middle of the crisis
ultimately led to the independence of Algeria with the 1962 Evian Accords. The Suez crisis in
1956 also displayed the limitations of French power, as its attempt to retake the canal along with
the British was stymied when the United States did not back the plan.
The French Union was replaced in the new 1958 Constitution of 1958 by the French Community.
Only Guinea refused by referendum to take part to the new colonial organisation. However, the
French Community dissolved itself in the midsts of the Algerian War; almost all of the other
African colonies were granted independence in 1960, following local referendums. Some few
colonies chose instead to remain part of France, under the statuses of overseas départements
(territories). Critics of neocolonialism claimed that the Françafrique had replaced formal direct
rule. They argued that while de Gaulle was granting independence on one hand, he was creating
new ties through Jacques Foccart's help, his counsellor for African matters. Foccart supported in
particular the Nigerian Civil War during the late 1960s.
Demographics
Population between 1919 and 1940

Population of the French Empire between 1919 and 1940

 1921 1926 1931 1936 1940

Metropolitan France 39,140,000 40,710,000 41,550,000 41,500,000 41,835,000

Colonies, protectorates, and

55,556,000 59,474,000 64,293,000 69,131,000 68,888,000
mandates

Total 94,696,000 100,184,000 105,843,000 110,631,000 110,723,000

Percentage of the world

5.02% 5.01% 5.11% 5.15% 4.81%
population

Sources: INSEE,[5] SGF[6]

French settlers
Unlike elsewhere in Europe, France experienced relatively low levels of emigration to the
Americas, with the exception of the Huguenots in British or Dutch colonies. However,
significant emigration of mainly Roman Catholic French populations led to the settlement of the
provinces of Acadia, Canada and Louisiana, both (at the time) French possessions, as well as
colonies in the West Indies, Mascarene islands and Africa.
On December 31, 1687 a community of French Huguenots settled in South Africa. Most of these
originally settled in the Cape Colony, but have since been quickly absorbed into the Afrikaner
population. After Champlain's founding of Quebec City in 1608, it became the capital of New
France. Encouraging settlement was difficult, and while some immigration did occur, by 1763
New France only had a population of some 65,000.[7] From 1713 to 1787, 30,000 colonists
immigrated from France to the St. Domingue. In 1805, when the French were forced out of St.
Domingue (Haiti) 35.000 French settlers were given lands in Cuba.[8] Out of the 40,000
inhabitants on Guadeloupe, at the end of the 17th century, there were more than 26,000 blacks
and 9,000 whites.[9]
French law made it easy for thousands of colons, ethnic or national French from former colonies
of North and West Africa, India and Indochina to live in mainland France. It is estimated that
20,000 colons were living in Saigon in 1945. 1.6 million European pieds noirs migrated from
Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.[10] In just a few months in 1962, 900,000 French Algerians left
Algeria in the largest relocation of population in Europe since World War II. In the 1970s, over
30,000 French colons left Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime as the Pol Pot government
confiscated their farms and land properties. In November 2004, several thousand of the estimated
14,000 French nationals in Ivory Coast left country after days of anti-white violence.[11]
Apart from French-Canadians (Québécois and Acadians), Cajuns, and Métis other populations of
French ancestry outside metropolitan France include the Caldoches of New Caledonia and the
so-called Zoreilles and Petits-blancs of various Indian Ocean islands.
In China proper, French leased Guangzhouwan (in 1898), and had enclaves in Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Hangzhou.[3] Influence was also expanded in North Africa, establishing a
protectorate on Tunisia in 1881 (Bardo Treaty). Gradually, French control was established over
much of Northern, Western, and Central Africa by the turn of the century (including the modern
nations of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Niger, Chad, Central African
Republic, Republic of Congo), and the east African coastal enclave of Djibouti (French
Somaliland). The explorer Colonel Parfait-Louis Monteil traveled from Senegal to Lake Chad in
1890-1892, signing treaties of friendship and protection with the rulers of several of the countries
he passed through, and gaining much knowledge of the geography and politics of the region.[4]
The Voulet-Chanoine Mission, a military expedition, was sent out from Senegal in 1898 to
conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa. This expedition operated
jointly with two other expeditions, the Foureau-Lamy and Gentil missions, which advanced from
Algeria and Middle Congo respectively. With the death of the Muslim warlord Rabih az-Zubayr,
the greatest ruler in the region, and the creation of the Military Territory of Chad in 1900, the
Voulet-Chanoine Mission had accomplished all its goals. The ruthlessness of the mission
provoked a scandal in Paris. As a part of the Scramble for Africa, France had the establishment
of a continuous west-east axis of the continent as an objective, in contrast with the British north-
south axis. This resulted in the Fashoda incident, where an expedition led by Jean-Baptiste
Marchand was opposed by forces under Lord Kitchener's command. The resolution of the crisis
had a part in the bringing forth of the Entente Cordiale. During the Agadir Crisis in 1911, Britain
supported France and Morocco became a French protectorate. At this time, the French also
established colonies in the South Pacific, including New Caledonia, the various island groups
which make up French Polynesia (including the Society Islands, the Marquesas, the Tuamotus),
and established joint control of the New Hebrides with Britain. The French made their last major
colonial gains after World War I, when they gained mandates over the former Turkish territories
of the Ottoman Empire that make up what is now Syria and Lebanon, as well as most of the
former German colonies of Togo and Cameroon. A hallmark of the French colonial project in the
late 19th century and early 20th century was the civilizing mission (mission civilisatrice), the
principle that it was Europe's duty to bring civilization to benighted peoples. As such, colonial
officials undertook a policy of Franco-Europeanization in French colonies, most notably French
West Africa. Africans who adopted French culture, including fluent use of the French language
and conversion to Christianity, were granted equal French citizenship, including suffrage. Later,
residents of the "Four Communes" in Senegal were granted citizenship in a program led by the
Afro-French politician Blaise Diagne....
See also
• Evolution of the French Empire
• Overseas departments and territories of France
• Decolonization
• Global empire
• Francization
• French law on colonialism (2005 law, repealed in 2006)
• Franco-Trarzan War of 1825
• French colonial forces
• French colonisation of the Americas
• French Colonial Union
• French Equatorial Africa
• French Empire (disambiguation) (for the European based empires)
• French West Africa
 • Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
• Franco-Mauritian
• French Canadian
• Pied-noir
• Caldoche
• Postage stamps of the French Colonies
• French India
• Guangzhouwan a small French territory in China
• List of French possessions and colonies
Footnotes
1. ^ "Protectorates and Spheres of Influence - Spheres of influence prior to world war II"
Encyclopedia of the New American Nation http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-
W/Protectorates-and-Spheres-of-Influence-Spheres-of-influence-prior-to-world-war-ii.html
2. ^ Foreign Concessions and Colonies
3. ^ Robert Aldrich, Greater France: a history of French overseas expansion, Palgrave Macmillan,
1996, ISBN 0312160003, Google Print, p. 83.
4. ^ Claire Hirshfield (1979). The diplomacy of partition: Britain, France, and the creation of
Nigeria, 1890-1898. Springer. p. 37ff. ISBN 9024720990. http://books.google.ca/books?
id=vDGCuqGon0gC&pg=PA37. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
5. ^ (French) INSEE. "TABLEAU 1 - ÉVOLUTION GÉNÉRALE DE LA SITUATION
DÉMOGRAPHIQUE". http://www.insee.fr/fr/ppp/bases-de-
donnees/irweb/sd2008/dd/excel/sd2008_t1_fm.xls. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
6. ^ (French) Statistique générale de la France. "Code Officiel Géographique - La IIIe République
(1919-1940)". http://projetbabel.org/gl/cog49d.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
7. ^ "British North America: 1763-1841". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31.
http://www.webcitation.org/5kwpWziLb.
8. ^ Hispanics in the American Revolution
9. ^ Guadeloupe : the mosaic island
10.^ For Pieds-Noirs, the Anger Endures
11.^ France, U.N. Start Ivory Coast Evacuation, FOXNews.com

References
• Andrew, C. M.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1976), "French Business and the French
Colonialists", The Historical Journal 19 (4): 981–1000,
doi:10.1017/S0018246X00010803 .
• Burrows, Mathew (1986), "'Mission civilisatrice': French Cultural Policy in the Middle
East, 1860-1914", The Historical Journal 29 (1): 109–135,
doi:10.1017/S0018246X00018641 .
• Confer, Vincent (1964), "French Colonial Ideas before 1789", French Historical Studies
3 (3): 338–359, doi:10.2307/285947 .
 • Emerson, Rupert (1969), "Colonialism", Journal of Contemporary History 4 (1): 3–16,
doi:10.1177/002200946900400101 .
• Martin, Guy (1985), "The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases of France's African
Policy", The Journal of Modern African Studies 23 (2): 189–208,
doi:10.1017/S0022278X00000148 .
• Newbury, C. W.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1969), "French Policy and the Origins of the
Scramble for West Africa", The Journal of African History 10 (2): 253–276,
doi:10.2307/179514 .
• Pakenham, Thomas (1991), The Scramble for Africa, 1876–1912, New York: Random
House, ISBN 0394515765 .
• Petringa, Maria (2006), Brazza, A Life for Africa, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse,
ISBN 1425911986 .
External links
• L'Afrique francophone
• Threats to the national independence of Thailand, from Thailand's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
• French Colonialism, lecture on the colonial period 1871 to 1914, via Open Yale Courses
(45-min audio/video/text)
• Area Of French Empire in 1940
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[show]v · d · eFormer French colonies in the Americas

New France (Acadia • Louisiana • Canada • Terre Neuve) 1655 – 1763

Inini · Berbice · Saint-Domingue (Haiti) · Tobago · Virgin Islands · France Antarctique ·
Equinoctial France

French West India Company

[show]v · d · eFormer French colonies in Asia and Oceania

F
r
e
n
c
h Chandernagor · Coromandel Coast · Madras · Malabar · Mahé · Pondichéry ·
Karaikal · Yanaon
I
n
d
i
a

F
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e
n
c
h

I
n Cambodia · Laos · Vietnam (Annam • Cochinchina • Tonkin)
d
o
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i
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F (Alawite State • Greater Lebanon • Jabal al-Druze • State of Damascus • State of Aleppo • Sanjak of
r
e Alexandretta)
n
c
h

M
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d
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f
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a
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L
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b
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O
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r
Kwangchowan
A
s
i
a
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O
c New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
e
 a
n
i
a

France-Asia relations · French East India Company

[show]v · d · e Overseas departments and territories of France

[hide] Inhabited areas

French Guiana ·
Guadeloupe ·
Overseas departments Martinique ·
1

Réunion · Mayotte
2

French Polynesia ·
St. Barthélemy ·
St. Martin · St.
Overseas collectivities
P Pierre and
r Miquelon · Wallis
e
s and Futuna
e
n Special statusNew Caledonia
t
[show] Uninhabited areas

Pacific Ocean Clipperton Island

Île Amsterdam · Île Saint-Paul · Crozet Islands ·

Kerguelen Islands · Adélie Land

French Southern and Banc du Geyser4 · Bassas da

Antarctic Lands India4 · Europa Island4 ·
Scattered islands in
the Indian OceanGlorioso Islands · Juan
3, 4, 5

de Nova Island4 · Tromelin

Island5, 6
 1
Also known as overseas regions. 2 Claimed by Comoros. 3 Claimed by Madagascar.
4
Claimed by Seychelles. 5 Claimed by Mauritius.

[show]v · d · eColonialism

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[show]v · d · eA history of empires

A
n
c
i
e
n
Akkadian · Egyptian · Kushite · Puntite · Azanian · Assyrian · Babylonian · Aksumite ·
t
Hittite · Armenian · Persian (Medes · Achaemenid · Parthian · Sassanid) · Macedonian (Ptolemaic ·
Seleucid) · Indian (Maurya · Kushan · Gupta) · Chinese (Qin · Han · Jin) · Roman (Western · Eastern) ·
e
Teotihuacan
m
p
i
r
e
s

M Byzantine · Hunnic · Arab (Rashidun · Umayyad · Abbasid · Fatimid · Caliphate of Córdoba ·

e Ayyubid) · Moroccan (Idrisid · Almoravid · Almohad · Marinid) · Persian (Tahirid · Samanid · Buyid ·
d Sallarid · Ziyarid) · Ghaznavid · Bulgarian (First · Second) · Benin · Great Seljuq · Oyo · Bornu ·
i Khwarezmian · Aragonese · Timurid · Indian (Chola · Gurjara-Pratihara · Pala · Eastern Ganga
e dynasty · Delhi) · Mongol (Yuan · Golden Horde · Chagatai Khanate · Ilkhanate) · Kanem · Serbian ·
v Songhai · Khmer · Carolingian · Holy Roman · Angevin · Mali · Chinese (Sui · Tang · Song ·
a Yuan) · Wagadou · Aztec · Inca · Srivijaya · Majapahit · Ethiopian (Zagwe · Solomonic) ·
l Somali (Ajuuraan · Warsangali) · Adalite

e
m
p
i
r
e
s

M
o
d
e
r
n Tongan · Indian (Maratha · Sikh · Mughal) · Chinese (Ming · Qing) · Ottoman · Persian (Safavid ·
Afsharid · Zand · Qajar · Pahlavi) · Moroccan (Saadi · Alaouite) · Ethiopian · Somali (Dervish ·
e Gobroon · Hobyo) · French (First · Second) · Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) · German · Russian ·
m Swedish · Mexican (First · Second) · Brazil · Korea · Japan · Haitian (First · Second)
p
i
r
e
s

C
o
l
o
n
i
a
l
Portuguese · Spanish · Danish · Dutch · British · French · German · Italian
e
m
p
i
r
e
s

[show]v · d · eTopics of New France

S Acadia (1604–1713) • Canada (1608–1763) • Louisiana (1699–1763, 1800–1803) •

u Newfoundland (1662–1713) • Île Royale (1713–1763)
b
d
i
v
i
s
i
o
n
s

T
o Acadia (Port Royal) • Canada (Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Détroit) • Île Royale
w (Louisbourg) • Louisiana (Mobile, New Orleans) • Newfoundland (Plaisance) • List of
n towns
s

F
o
Fort Rouillé • Fort Michilimackinac • Fort de Buade;• Fort de Chartres • Fort Detroit • Fort
r
Carillon • Fort Condé • Fort Duquesne • Fortress of Louisbourg • Castle Hill • List of Forts
t
s

G
o
v
e Canada (Governor General, Intendant, Sovereign Council, Bishop of Quebec, Governor of
r Trois-Rivières, Governor of Montreal) • Acadia (Governor, Lieutenant-General) •
n Newfoundland (Governor, Lieutenant-General) • Louisiana (Governor, Intendant, Superior
m Council) • Île Royale (Governor, Intendant, Superior Council)
e
n
t

J
u
s
Intendancy • Superior Council • Admiralty court • Provostship • Officiality • Seigneurial
t
court • Attorney • Bailiff • Maréchaussée • Code Noir
i
c
e

E
c
o Seigneurial system • 1666 census • Fur trade • Company of 100 Associates • Crozat's
n Company • Mississippi Company • Compagnie de l'Occident • Chemin du Roy • Coureur
o des bois • Voyageurs
m
y

S Habitants • King's Daughters • Métis • Amerindians

 o
c
i
e
t
y

R
e
l
i
g Jesuit missions • Récollets • Grey Nuns • Ursulines • Sulpicians
i
o
n
s

W
a
r

&
Intercolonial Wars • French and Iroquois Wars • Great Upheaval • Great Peace of
Montreal • Schenectady massacre • Deerfield massacre
P
e
a
c
e

R
e
l French colonization of the Americas • French colonial empire • History of Quebec •
a History of the Acadians • History of Louisiana • French West Indies • Carib Expulsion •
t African slave trade
e
d

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: French colonial empire

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire"

Categories: Former countries in Europe | Former empires | States and territories established in
1534 | States and territories disestablished in 1977 | French colonial empire | Colonialism |
Former colonies of France | Overseas empires
Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from January 2009 | All articles
needing additional references | Former country articles requiring maintenance | All articles with
unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2010 | Articles
containing French language text
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