Everything about French Colonial Empires totally explained
France had
colonial possessions, in various forms, from the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, its
global colonial empire was the third largest behind the
British Empire and
Spanish Empire. At its peak, between 1919 and 1939, the second French colonial empire extended over 12,347,000 km² (4,767,000 sq. miles) of land. Including
metropolitan France, the total area of land under French
sovereignty reached 12,898,000 km² (4,980,000 sq. miles) in the 1920s and 1930s, which is 8.6% of the world's land area.
Currently, the remnants of this large
empire are various islands and
archipelagos located in the
North Atlantic, the
Caribbean, the
Indian Ocean, the
South Pacific, the
North Pacific, and the
Antarctic Ocean, as well as one mainland territory in
South America, totaling altogether 123,150 km² (47,548 sq. miles), which amounts to only 1% of the pre-1939 French colonial empire's area, with 2,564,000 people living in them in 2007. All of these enjoy full political representation at the national level, as well as varying degrees of legislative . (See
Administrative divisions of France.)
First French colonial empire
The early voyages of
Giovanni da Verrazzano and
Jacques Cartier in the early 16th century, as well as the frequent voyages of French 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 American monopoly, and the disruptions caused in France itself by the
Wars of Religion in the later 16th century, prevented any consistent efforts by France to establish colonies. Early French attempts to found colonies in
Brazil, in 1555 at
Rio de Janeiro ("
France Antarctique") and in 1612 at
São Luís ("
France Équinoxiale"), and in
Florida (including
Fort Caroline in 1562) were not successful, due 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).
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 the history of New France, even Canada 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 centered 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.
The most important Caribbean colonial possession didn't come until 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.
French colonial expansion wasn't limited to the
New World, however. 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
In the mid-18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and
Britain, which would ultimately result in the demise 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), and the
French Revolution (1793–1802) and
Napoleonic (1803-1815) Wars. It may even be seen further back in time to the first of the
French and Indian Wars. This recurrent conflict is known as the so-called
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 — 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.
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 (comprised of 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). 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 wouldn't be worth the cost, leading to its sale to the
United States in 1803 (the
Louisiana Purchase). Nor was the French attempt to establish a colony in
Egypt in 1798–1801 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. Britain finally annexed
Saint Lucia,
Tobago,
the Seychelles, and the
Île de France (
Mauritius), however.
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 after the end of the
American Civil War, when the American president,
Andrew Johnson, invoked the
Monroe Doctrine. This
French intervention in Mexico lasted from 1861 to 1867. 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.
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 in 1900). In 1849, the French concession in
Shanghai was established, lasting until 1946.
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), as well as the east African coastal enclave of
Djibouti (
French Somaliland). 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, were 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 the
First World War, 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 programme led by the Afro-French politician
Blaise Diagne.
Collapse of the empire
The French colonial empire began to fall apart during the
Second World War, when various parts of their empire were occupied by foreign powers (
Japan in Indochina, Britain in
Syria,
Lebanon, and
Madagascar, the
US and
Britain in
Morocco and
Algeria, and
Germany in
Tunisia). However, control was gradually reestablished by
Charles de Gaulle. The
French Union, included in the 1946
Constitution, replaced the former colonial Empire.
However, France was immediately confronted with the beginnings of the
decolonization movement.
Paul Ramadier (
SFIO)'s cabinet repressed the
Malagasy insurrection in 1947. In Asia,
Ho Chi Minh's
Vietminh declared
Vietnam's independence, starting the
Franco-Vietnamese 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 this ended with French defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam in 1954, the French almost immediately became involved in a new, and even harsher conflict in their oldest major colony,
Algeria.
Ferhat Abbas and
Messali Hadj's movements had marked the period between the two wars, but both sides radicalized after the Second World War. In 1945, the
Sétif massacre was carried on by the French army. The
Algerian War started in 1954. Algeria was particularly problematic for the French, 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 independence for
Algeria with the 1962
Evian Accords.
The
French Union was replaced in the new 1958
Constitution by the
French Community. Only
Guinea refused by referendum to take part to the new colonial organization. However, the French Community dissolved itself in the midsts of the Algerian War; 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
Biafra secession (or Nigerian civil war) during the late 1960s.
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