French colonial empire

The French colonial empire constituted the

French colonial empire
overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate
territories that came under French rule from Empire colonial français
the 16th century onward. A distinction is 1534–1980[1][2]
generally made between the "first colonial
empire," that existed until 1814, by which time
most of it had been lost, and the "second
colonial empire", which began with the
conquest of Algiers in 1830. The second
colonial empire came to an end after the loss in Left: Royal Standard of France (before 1792)
Right: Flag of the French Empire
later wars of Indochina (1954) and Algeria
(1962), and relatively peaceful decolonizations
elsewhere after 1960.

The main competition included Spain,

Portugal, the Dutch United Provinces and later
Kingdom of Britain . France began to establish
colonies in North America, the Caribbean and
India in the 17th century. A series of wars with
Britain and others resulted in France losing All territories that were ever part of the French colonial
nearly all of its conquests by 1814. France empire
rebuilt a new empire mostly after 1850, France
concentrating chiefly in Africa as well as First colonial empire (after 1534)
Indochina and the South Pacific. Republicans, Second colonial empire (after 1830)
at first hostile to empire, only became
Status Colonial empire
supportive when Germany after 1880 started to
build its own colonial empire. As it developed, Capital Paris
the new French empire took on roles of trade History
with the motherland, supplying raw materials • Cartier claimed Gaspé 1534
and purchasing manufactured items. Bay
Rebuilding an empire rebuilt French prestige, • Sale of Louisiana 1803
especially regarding international power and • Conquest of Algeria 1830–1852
• French Union 1946
spreading the French language and the Catholic
• French Community 1958
religion. It also provided manpower in the • Independence of Vanuatu 1980[1][2]
World Wars.[5]
Area
A major goal was the Mission civilisatrice or
1670 (first colonial empire 3,400,000 km2
peak)[3] (1,300,000 sq mi)
"The Civilizing Mission". 'Civilizing' the 1920 (second colonial 11,500,000 km2
populations of Africa through spreading empire peak)[4] (4,400,000 sq mi)
language and religion, were used as Currency Franc and various other
justifications for many of the brutal practices currencies
that came with the French colonial project.[6][7]
ISO 3166 code FR
In 1884, the leading proponent of colonialism,
Jules Ferry, declared; "The higher races have a Succeeded by
right over the lower races, they have a duty to Overseas departements
civilize the inferior races." Full citizenship Overseas territory (France)
rights – assimilation – were offered, although
in reality "assimilation was always receding [and] the colonial populations treated like subjects not
citizens."[8] France sent small numbers of settlers to its empire, with the notable exception of Algeria,
where the French settlers took power while being a minority.

At its apex, it was one of the largest empires in history. Including metropolitan France, the total
amount of land under French sovereignty reached 11,500,000 km2 (4,400,000 sq mi) in 1920, with a
population of 110 million people in 1939. In World War II, Charles de Gaulle and the Free French took
control of the overseas colonies one-by-one and used them as bases from which they prepared to
liberate France. Historian Tony Chafer argues: "In an effort to restore its world-power status after the
humiliation of defeat and occupation, France was eager to maintain its overseas empire at the end of
the Second World War."[9] However, after 1945 anti-colonial movements began to challenge
European authority. Major revolts in Vietnam and Algeria proved very expensive and France lost
both. The French constitution of 27 October 1946 (Fourth Republic), established the French Union
which endured until 1958. Newer remnants of the colonial empire were integrated into France as
overseas departments and territories within the French Republic. These now total altogether
119,394 km² (46,098 sq. miles), with 2.7 million people in 2013. By the 1970s, says Robert Aldrich,
the last "vestiges of empire held little interest for the French." He argues, "Except for the traumatic
decolonization of Algeria, however, what is remarkable is how few long-lasting effects on France the
giving up of empire entailed."[10]

Contents
First French colonial empire
The Americas
Africa and Asia
Colonial conflict with Britain
Second French colonial empire (after 1830)
Franco-Tahitian War (1842–47)
Napoleon III: 1852–70
New Caledonia becomes a French possession (1853–54)
Colonization of Senegal (1854–65)
Intervention in China (1858–60)
France in Korea and Japan (1866–68)
France in Indochina and the Pacific (1858–70)
Intervention in Syria and Lebanon (1860–61)
Algeria
French intervention in Mexico (1862–67)
French–British relations
French–U.S. relations
1870–1939
 Asia
Africa
Pacific islands
Leeward Islands (1880–1897)
Final gains
Civilising mission
Revolt in North Africa Against Spain and France
World War II
Decolonization
Conflict
Demographics
French settlers
See also
References
Further reading
Policies and colonies
Decolonization
Images and impact on France
Historiography and memoir
External links

First French colonial empire

The Americas
During the 16th century, the French colonization of the
Americas began. 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.[11] But
Spain's defense of its American monopoly, and the further
Map of the first (green) and second (blue)
distractions caused in France itself in the later 16th century French colonial empires
by the French Wars of Religion, prevented any constant
efforts by France to settle colonies. Early French attempts to
found colonies in Brazil, in 1555 at Rio de Janeiro ("France Antarctique") and in Florida (including
Fort Caroline in 1562), and in 1612 at São Luís ("France Équinoxiale"), were not successful, due to a
lack of official interest and to Portuguese and Spanish vigilance.[12]

The story of France's colonial empire truly began on 27 July 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).[13]
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 First Nations community. Without the appetite of New
England for land, and by relying solely on Aboriginals 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 First Nation
community. The French were, however, under pressure from
religious orders to convert them to Catholicism.[14]

Through alliances with various Native American tribes, the The French colonial empire in the
Americas comprised New France
French were able to exert a loose control over much of the
(including Canada and Louisiana),
North American continent. Areas of French settlement were French West Indies (including Saint-
generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to Domingue, Guadeloupe, Martinique,
the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, Tobago
territories of New France were developed as mercantile and other islands) and French Guiana.
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. Acadia itself was lost to the British in the Treaty
of Utrecht in 1713. Back in France there was relatively little
interest in colonialism, 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.[15][16]

In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded

still further, with the foundation of Louisiana in the basin of
French North America was known as
the Mississippi River. The extensive trading network 'Nouvelle France' or New France.
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.[17]

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.[18] 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.[19]

Africa and Asia

1767 Louis XV Colonies Françoises

(West Indies) 12 Diniers copper Sous
(w/1793 "RF" counterstamp)

French colonial expansion was not limited to the New World.

With the end of the French Wars of Religion, King Henry IV

encourage various enterprises, set up to develop trade with Arrival of Marshal Randon in Algiers in
1857 by Ernest Francis Vacherot
faraway lands. In December 1600, a company was formed
through the association of Saint-Malo, Laval, and Vitré to
trade with the Moluccas and Japan.[20] Two ships, the Croissant and the Corbin, were sent around
the Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. One was wrecked in the Maldives, leading to the adventure of
François Pyrard de Laval, who managed to return to France in 1611.[20][21] The second ship, carrying
François Martin de Vitré, reached Ceylon and traded with Aceh in Sumatra, but was captured by the
Dutch on the return leg at Cape Finisterre.[20][21] François Martin de Vitré was the first Frenchman to
write an account of travels to the Far East in 1604, at the request of Henry IV, and from that time
numerous accounts on Asia would be published.[22]

From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry developed a strong
enthusiasm for travel to Asia and attempted to set up a French East India Company on the model of
England and the Netherlands.[21][22][23] On 1 June 1604, he issued letters patent to Dieppe merchants
to form the Dieppe Company, giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years. No ships were
sent, however, until 1616.[20] In 1609, another adventurer, Pierre-Olivier Malherbe, returned from a
circumnavigation of the globe and informed Henry of his adventures.[22] He had visited China and
India, and had an encounter with Akbar.[22]

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.

With the decay of the Ottoman Empire, in 1830 the French seized Algiers, thus beginning the
colonization of French North Africa.

During the First World War, after France had suffered heavy casualties on the Western Front, they
began to recruit soldiers from their African empire. By 1917, France had recruited 270,000 African
soldiers.[24] Their most decorated regiments came from Morocco, but due to the ongoing Zaian War
they were only able to recruit 23,000 Moroccans. African soldiers had success in the Battle of Verdun
and failure in the Nivelle Offensive, but in general regardless of their usefulness, French generals did
not think highly of their African troops.[24]
After the First World War, France's African war aims were not being decided by her cabinet or the
official mind of the colonial ministry, but rather the leaders of the colonial movement in French
Africa. The first occasion of this was in 1915–1916, when Francois Georges-Picot (both a diplomat and
part of a colonial dynasty) met with the British to discuss the division of Cameroon.[24] Picot
proceeded with negotiations with neither the oversight of the French president nor the cabinet. What
resulted was Britain giving nine tenths of Cameroon to the French. Picot emphasized the demands of
the French colonists over the French cabinet. This policy of French colonial leaders determining
France's African war aims can be seen throughout much of France's empire.[25]

Colonies were established in India's Chandernagore (1673) and Pondichéry in the south east (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), Isle de France (Mauritius, 1718),
and the Seychelles (1756).

Colonial conflict with Britain

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
and the near-complete expulsion of France from the
Americas. These wars were the War of the Austrian
Succession (1740–1748), the Seven Years' War (1756–1763),
the American Revolution (1765–1783), the French
Revolutionary Wars (1793–1802) and the Napoleonic Wars
(1803–1815). It may even be seen further back in time to the French and other European settlements
in Colonial India
first of the French and Indian Wars. This cyclic conflict is
sometimes 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 Menorca 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. The British invasion of Martinique in 1809

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.[26]

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 L'Ouverture and then, following his capture by the French in
1801, by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, held their own against French and British opponents, and
ultimately achieved independence as Empire of Haiti in 1804 (Haiti became the first black republic in
the world, followed by Liberia in 1847).[27] The black and mulatto population of the island (including
the Spanish east) had declined from 700,000 in 1789 to 351,819 in 1804. About 80,000 Haitians died
in the 1802–03 campaign alone. Of the 55,131 French soldiers dispatched to Haiti in 1802–03,
45,000, including 18 generals, had died, along with 10,000 sailors, the great majority from
disease.[28] Captain [first name unknown] Sorrell of the British navy observed, "France lost there one
of the finest armies she ever sent forth, composed of picked veterans, the conquerors of Italy and of
German legions. She is now entirely deprived of her influence and her power in the West Indies."[29]

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 Treaty 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 success of the Haitian Revolution convinced Napoleon that holding
Louisiana would not be worth the cost, leading to its sale to the United States in 1803. The French
attempt to establish a colony in Egypt in 1798–1801 was not successful. Battle casualties for the
campaign were at least 15,000 killed or wounded and 8,500 prisoners for France; 50,000 killed or
wounded and 15,000 prisoners for Turkey, Egypt, other Ottoman lands, and Britain.[30]

Second French colonial empire (after 1830)

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; however,
Britain finally annexed Saint Lucia, Tobago, the
Animated map showing the growth and
Seychelles, and the Isle de France (now Mauritius). decline of the first and second French colonial
empires
In 1825 Charles X sent an expedition to Haïti, resulting
in the Haiti indemnity controversy.[31]
The beginnings of the second French colonial empire were laid in 1830 with the French invasion of
Algeria, which was conquered over the next 17 years. One authority counts 825,000 Algerian victims
of the French conquest.[32]

Franco-Tahitian War (1842–47)

In 1838, the French naval commander Abel Aubert Dupetit
Thouars responded to complaints of the mistreatment of French
Catholic missionary in the Kingdom of Tahiti ruled by Queen
Pōmare IV. Dupetit Thouars forced the native government to pay
an indemnity and sign a treaty of friendship with France
respecting the rights of French subjects in the islands including
any future Catholic missionaries. Four years later, claiming the
Tahitians had violated the treaty, a French protectorate was
Queen Pōmare IV in 1860. Tahiti
forcibly installed and the queen made to sign a request for French was made a French protectorate in
protection.[33][34] 1842, and annexed as a colony of
France in 1880.
Queen Pōmare left her kingdom and exiled herself to Raiatea in
protest against the French and tried to enlist the help of Queen
Victoria. The Franco-Tahitian War broke out between the Tahitian people and the French from 1844
to 1847 as France attempted to consolidate their rule and extend their rule into the Leeward Islands
where Queen Pōmare sought refuge with her relatives. The British remained officially neutral during
the war but diplomatic tensions existed between the French and British. The French succeeded in
subduing the guerilla forces on Tahiti but failed to hold the other islands. In February 1847, Queen
Pōmare IV returned from her self-imposed exile and acquiesced to rule under the protectorate.
Although victorious, the French were not able to annex the islands due to diplomatic pressure from
Great Britain, so Tahiti and its dependency Moorea continued to be ruled under the protectorate. A
clause to the war settlement, known as the Jarnac Convention or the Anglo-French Convention of
1847, was signed by France and Great Britain, in which the two powers agreed to respect the
independence of Queen Pōmare's allies in Leeward Islands. The French continued the guise of
protection until the 1880s when they formally annexed Tahiti with the abdication of King Pōmare V
on 29 June 1880. The Leeward Islands were annexed through the Leewards War which ended in 1897.
These conflicts and the annexation of other Pacific islands formed French Polynesia.[34][35]

Napoleon III: 1852–70

Napoleon III doubled the area of the French overseas Empire; he established French rule in New
Caledonia, and Cochinchina, established a protectorate in Cambodia (1863); and colonized parts of
Africa. He joined Britain in sending an army to China during Second Opium War and the Taiping
Rebellion (1860), but French ventures to establish influence in Japan (1867) and Korea (1866) were
less successful. His attempt to impose a European monarch, Maximilian I of Mexico on the Mexicans
ended in a spectacular failure in 1867. To restore the Mexican Republic, 31,962 Mexicans died
violently, including over 11,000 executed by firing squads, 8,304 were seriously wounded and 33,281
endured captivity in prisoner of war camps. Those Mexicans who fought for the monarchy sacrificed
5,671 of their number killed in combat, 2,159 badly wounded, and 4,379 taken prisoner. The French
suffered 1,729 battle deaths, including 549 who died of wounds, 2,559 wounded, and 4,925 dead from
disease.[36]
To carry out his new overseas projects, Napoleon III created a new
Ministry of the Navy and the Colonies, and appointed an energetic
minister, Prosper, Marquis of Chasseloup-Laubat, to head it. A key
part of the enterprise was the modernization of the French Navy; he
began the construction of fifteen powerful new battle cruisers
powered by steam and driven by propellers; and a fleet of steam
powered troop transports. The French Navy became the second most
powerful in the world, after Britain's. He also created a new force of
colonial troops, including elite units of naval infantry, Zouaves, the
Chasseurs d'Afrique, and Algerian sharpshooters, and he expanded
the Foreign Legion, which had been founded in 1831 and won fame
in the Crimea, Italy and Mexico. By the end of Napoleon III's reign
the French overseas territories had tripled in area; in 1870 they
covered a million square kilometers, with more than five million
inhabitants.[37]
The last photograph of Napoleon
III (1872)
New Caledonia becomes a French possession (1853–
54)
On 24 September 1853, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia and
Port-de-France (Nouméa) was founded 25 June 1854. A few dozen free settlers settled on the west
coast in the following years, but New Caledonia became a penal colony and, from the 1860s until the
end of the transportations in 1897, about 22,000 criminals and political prisoners were sent to New
Caledonia.[38]

Colonization of Senegal (1854–65)

At the beginning of Napoleon III's reign, the presence of
France in Senegal was limited to a trading post on the island
of Goree, a narrow strip on the coast, the town of Saint-Louis,
and a handful of trading posts in the interior. The economy
had largely been based on the slave trade, carried out by the
rulers of the small kingdoms of the interior, until France
abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848. In 1854, Napoleon
III named an enterprising French officer, Louis Faidherbe, to
govern and expand the colony, and to give it the beginning of
a modern economy. Faidherbe built a series of forts along the French trading post on Gorée
Senegal River, formed alliances with leaders in the interior,
and sent expeditions against those who resisted French rule.
He built a new port at Dakar, established and protected telegraph lines and roads, followed these with
a rail line between Dakar and Saint-Louis and another into the interior. He built schools, bridges, and
systems to supply fresh water to the towns. He also introduced the large-scale cultivation of Bambara
groundnuts and peanuts as a commercial crop. Reaching into the Niger valley, Senegal became the
primary French base in West Africa and a model colony. Dakar became one of the most important
cities of the French Empire and of Africa.[39]
Intervention in China (1858–60)
In 1857, after the murder of a French priest and the arrest by the Chinese police of the crew of a
British merchant ship, Napoleon III joined together with Great Britain to form a military expedition
to punish the Chinese government. The object of his policy was not to take territory, but to assure that
the vast and lucrative Chinese market was open to French commerce, and not the exclusive trading
partner of Britain. In January 1858 a combined British and French fleet bombarded and occupied
Canton, and landed troops at the mouth of the Hai River in northern China. In June 1858 the Chinese
government in Peking was forced to sign the Treaty of Tientsin with Britain, France, Russia and the
United States. This treaty opened six additional Chinese ports to European merchant ships, allowed
Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium into China.

The Chinese government was reluctant to observe the treaty,

so Napoleon III and the British Prime Minister Lord
Palmerston decided to take more forceful action, in what
became known in history as the second phase of the Second
Opium War. A joint French-British expeditionary force of
8,000 men was created under a French general, Charles
Cousin-Montauban, who had commanded French forces in
Algeria. At the beginning of 1860 the French-British fleet
sailed from Europe, and in the spring of 1860 landed the
army in China. The Anglo-French army force, led by Cousin- The Anglo-French forces pillage China's
Montauban, captured Tientsin, and then marched on the Summer Palace, October 1860
capital. On 21 September 1860 it defeated the army of the
Chinese emperor at the Battle of Palikao and seized the
capital Beijing. At the orders of the British commander Lord Elgin, the British and French forces
burned and pillaged the Old Summer Palace of the Chinese Emperor. On 25 October 1860, the
Chinese Emperor was obliged to accept a second treaty of Tientsin, opening an additional eleven new
ports to European trade, making westerners immune to prosecution by Chinese courts, and
establishing western diplomatic missions in Beijing. Some of the art objects taken from the looted
Summer Palace were carried to France, where the Empress used them to decorate a Chinese-themed
salon at the Palace of Fontainebleau, where they can be seen today.[40]

France in Korea and Japan (1866–68)

In 1866, French diplomats in China learned that French priests had been arrested and executed in
Korea, a country which had had no diplomatic or commercial contact with Europe or America. Twelve
Catholic priests at the time were living in Korea, with an estimated 23,000 Korean converts,
belonging to churches founded by French missionaries in the 18th century. In January 1866, King
Gojong and his father, the regent, ordered the execution of most of the French priests, and ten
thousand converts. A squadron of French ships, carrying eight hundred naval infantry, attempted
retaliation but made little headway.[41]

In Japan the Meiji Emperor, and his enemies, the Tokugawa shogunate, both sought French military
training and technology in their battle for power, known as the Boshin War. In 1867, a military
mission to Japan played a key role in modernizing the troops of the shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu,
and even participated on his side against Imperial troops during the Boshin war. The European
representative of the Shogunate, Shibata Takenaka, approached both Britain and France, asking
assistance to build a modern shipyard and to train the Shogunate army in modern western warfare.
The shipyard, which became the naval base of Yokosuka, was designed by the French engineer Leonce
Verny. The British, who supported the imperial faction, declined to provide trainers, but Napoleon III
agreed, and in 1867 dispatched a delegation of nineteen French military experts in the fields of
infantry, cavalry and artillery to Japan. They trained an elite corps, called the Denshutai, to fight on
the side of the shōgun.

On the other side, the Emperor purchased from the United States a French-built ironclad warship,
renamed the Kotetsu (literally "ironclad"). It played an important role in the first modern naval battle
fought in Japan. By 1868, the Imperial forces had won a decisive victory. French influence in the
Japanese navy remained strong.[42]

France in Indochina and the Pacific (1858–70)

Napoleon III also acted to increase the French presence in Indochina. An important factor in his
decision was the belief that France risked becoming a second-rate power by not expanding its
influence in East Asia. Deeper down was the sense that France owed the world a civilizing mission.[43]

French missionaries had been active in Vietnam since the 17th century, when the Jesuit priest
Alexandre de Rhodes opened a mission there. In 1858 the Vietnamese emperor of the Nguyen
Dynasty felt threatened by the French influence and tried to expel the missionaries. Napoleon III sent
a naval force of fourteen gunships, carrying three thousand French and three thousand Filipino troops
provided by Spain, under Charles Rigault de Genouilly, to compel the government to accept the
missionaries and to stop the persecution of Catholics. In September 1858 the expeditionary force
captured and occupied the port of Da Nang, and then in February 1859 moved south and captured
Saigon. The Vietnamese ruler was compelled to cede three provinces to France, and to offer protection
to the Catholics. The French troops departed for a time to take part in the expedition to China, but in
1862, when the agreements were not fully followed by the Vietnamese emperor, they returned. The
Emperor was forced to open treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina became a
French territory in 1864.

In 1863, the ruler of Cambodia, King Norodom, who had been placed in power by the government of
Thailand, rebelled against his sponsors and sought the protection of France. The Thai Emperor
granted authority over Cambodia to France, in exchange for two provinces of Laos, which were ceded
by Cambodia to Thailand. In 1867, Cambodia formally became a protectorate of France.
 Capture of Saigon Napoleon III
by Charles Rigault receiving the
de Genouilly on 18 Siamese embassy
February 1859, at the palace of
painted by Antoine Fontainebleau in
Morel-Fatio 1864

Intervention in Syria and Lebanon (1860–61)

In the spring of 1860, a war broke out in Lebanon, then part of
the Ottoman Empire, between the quasi-Muslim Druze
population and the Maronite Christians. The Ottoman authorities
in Lebanon could not stop the violence, and it spread into
neighboring Syria, with the massacre of many Christians. In
Damascus, the Emir Abd-el-Kadr protected the Christians there
against the Muslim rioters. Napoleon III felt obliged to intervene The French expedition in Syria led
by General Beaufort d'Hautpoul,
on behalf of the Christians, despite the opposition of London,
landing in Beyrouth on 16 August
which feared it would lead to a wider French presence in the 1860
Middle East. After long and difficult negotiations to obtain the
approval of the British government, Napoleon III sent a French
contingent of seven thousand men for a period of six months. The troops arrived in Beirut in August
1860, and took positions in the mountains between the Christian and Muslim communities. Napoleon
III organized an international conference in Paris, where the country was placed under the rule of a
Christian governor named by the Ottoman Sultan, which restored a fragile peace. The French troops
departed in June 1861, after just under one year. The French intervention alarmed the British, but
was highly popular with the powerful Catholic political faction in France, which had been alarmed by
Napoleon's dispute with the Pope over his territories in Italy.[44]

Algeria
Algeria had been formally under French rule since 1830, but only in 1852 was the country entirely
conquered. There were about 100,000 European settlers in the country, at that time, about half of
them French. Under the Second Republic the country was ruled by a civilian government, but Louis
Napoleon re-established a military government, much to the annoyance of the colonists. By 1857 the
army had conquered Kabyle Province, and pacified the country. By 1860 the European population had
grown to 200,000, and lands of native Algerians were being rapidly bought and farmed by the new
arrivals.[45]
Between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Algerians, out of a total of 3
million, were killed within the first three decades of the conquest
as a result of war, massacres, disease and famine.[46][47] French
losses from 1830–51 were 3,336 killed in action and 92,329 dead
in the hospital.[48][49]

In the first eight years of his rule Napoleon III paid little attention
to Algeria. In September 1860, however, he and the Empress
Eugénie visited Algeria, and the trip made a deep impression
upon them. Eugénie was invited to attend a traditional Arab
wedding, and the Emperor met many of the local leaders. The
Emperor gradually conceived the idea that Algeria should be The French conquest of Algeria

governed differently from other colonies. in February 1863, he

wrote a public letter to Pelissier, the Military Governor, saying:
"Algeria is not a colony in the traditional sense, but an Arab kingdom; the local people have, like the
colonists, a legal right to my protection. I am just as much the Emperor of the Arabs of Algeria as I am
of the French." He intended to rule Algeria through a government of Arab aristocrats. Toward this end
he invited the chiefs of main Algerian tribal groups to his chateau at Compiegne for hunting and
festivities.[50]

Compared to previous administrations, Napoleon III was far more sympathetic to the native
Algerians.[51] He halted European migration inland, restricting them to the coastal zone. He also freed
the Algerian rebel leader Abd al Qadir (who had been promised freedom on surrender but was
imprisoned by the previous administration) and gave him a stipend of 150,000 francs. He allowed
Muslims to serve in the military and civil service on theoretically equal terms and allowed them to
migrate to France. In addition, he gave the option of citizenship; however, for Muslims to take this
option they had to accept all of the French civil code, including parts governing inheritance and
marriage which conflicted with Muslim laws, and they had to reject the competence of religious
Sharia courts. This was interpreted by some Muslims as requiring them to give up parts of their
religion to obtain citizenship and was resented.

More importantly, Napoleon III changed the system of land tenure. While ostensibly well-
intentioned, in effect this move destroyed the traditional system of land management and deprived
many Algerians of land. While Napoleon did renounce state claims to tribal lands, he also began a
process of dismantling tribal land ownership in favour of individual land ownership. This process was
corrupted by French officials sympathetic to the French in Algeria who took much of the land they
surveyed into public domain. In addition, many tribal leaders, chosen for loyalty to the French rather
than influence in their tribe, immediately sold communal land for cash.[52]

His attempted reforms were interrupted in 1864 by an Arab insurrection, which required more than a
year and an army of 85,000 soldiers to suppress. Nonetheless, he did not give up his idea of making
Algeria a model where French colonists and Arabs could live and work together as equals. He traveled
to Algiers for a second time on 3 May 1865, and this time he remained for a month, meeting with
tribal leaders and local officials. He offered a wide amnesty to participants of the insurrection, and
promised to name Arabs to high positions in his government. He also promised a large public works
program of new ports, railroads, and roads. However, once again his plans met a major natural
obstacle' in 1866 and 1867, Algeria was struck by an epidemic of cholera, clouds of locusts, draught
and famine, and his reforms were hindered by the French colonists, who voted massively against him
in the plebiscites of his late reign.[53]

French intervention in Mexico (1862–67)

In December 1862, the conservative Mexican government was
overthrown by Benito Juarez, who established a secular state and
refused to pay the internal and external debts of the old
government. France was the largest owner of the debt, owed 135
million gold francs of the 260 million francs total. The rest of the
debt was owed to Britain (85 million francs) and Spain (40
million). Under an 1861 agreement, France, Britain and Spain
organized a joint military force to compel the Mexican
government to pay. A British-French flotilla of ships arrived at
VeraCruz in December 1861 and landed 7500 French soldiers and
700 British soldiers, joined later by 6000 Spanish soldiers from
Cuba.

Juarez opened negotiations with the international force, but it

soon became evident that the French expedition had a more
ambitious objective than debt repayment. Napoleon III and the Napoleon III tried unsuccessfully to
Empress had been intensively lobbied by Mexican émigrés in place Maximilian I, brother of the
Austrian Emperor, on the throne of
Europe, who proposed that France establish a new conservative
Mexico. Portrait by Franz Xaver
and Catholic government in Mexico, under a European monarch. Winterhalter in Chapultepec Castle,
Napoleon III was told that the new monarch would be welcomed Mexico
by the entire Mexican population. He consented to launch the
operation if the new monarch would be approved by a national
plebiscite, as he had been. The monarch selected for this task was the Archduke Maximilian, the
brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph II, and husband of Carlota of Mexico, daughter of the
King of Belgium.

When the British and Spanish realized the French goals, they withdrew from the expedition, but the
French marched on Mexico City. The first attempt by General Lorencez was repulsed by the forces of
General Ignacio Zaragoza at Puebla on 5 May 1862, the first defeat of a French Army since Waterloo.
Napoleon III appointed a new commander, General Forey, one of the victors of Solferino, and sent
23,000 fresh soldiers. Napoleon III believed that the Mexican people would embrace the new
government. He also knew that the government of the United States would be unable to prevent it,
even though it was in contravention of the Monroe Doctrine, because of the American Civil War then
underway, and the implicit support provided by the neighboring Confederate States of America.[54]

The reinforced French army under Forey launched a new offensive from March to June 1863. After
bitter resistance, the defenders of Mexico City surrendered on 7 June 1863. Forey, disregarding
Napoleon III's instructions not to install a monarch without a popular plebiscite, organized an
assembly of Mexican notables who proclaimed the Mexican Empire and invited Maximilian I of
Mexico to rule. Ruling President Benito Juárez and his Republican forces retreated to the countryside
and fought against the French troops and the Mexican monarchists.
Maximilian was a reluctant Emperor, not arriving in Mexico until
June 1864. One of his first acts was to sign an agreement that
Mexico would repay France the entire cost of the war. The
combined Mexican monarchist and French forces won victories
up until 1865, but then the tide began to turn against them, in
part because the American Civil War had ended. The U.S.
government demanded that France withdraw its soldiers from
Mexico. Facing a guerilla war and a financial catastrophe, the
Emperor Maximilian became more and more depressed, leaving
French chasseurs d'Afrique taking
the capital for long periods and allowing the Empress Carlota to the standard of the Durango lancers
reign. Not willing to have a war with the United States, Napoleon at the Battle of San Pablo del Monte
III decided at the beginning of 1866 to withdraw French troops
from Mexico. In 1863 Maximilian had sent Carlota to Europe to
appeal for funds and support. She appealed to Napoleon III, but he refused to provide more troops or
money. During her tour of European courts, she lost and never regained her sanity. Maximilian
refused pleas that he depart, and fought against the growing partisan army of Juarez. He was
captured, judged, and shot on 19 June 1867.

The misadventure in Mexico cost the lives of six thousand French soldiers and 336 million francs, in a
campaign originally designed to collect 60 million francs. It also aroused the hostility of both the
United States and Austria, which had lost a member of its royal family. It was also a distraction to
Napoleon III, on the eve of his coming confrontation with Prussia.[55]

The Siege of Puebla The execution of

by the French Army Maximilian I on 19
June 1867, as
painted by Édouard
Manet. The
intervention in
Mexico was a
disaster for French
foreign policy.

French–British relations
Despite the signing of the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier Treaty, a historic free trade agreement between
Britain and France, and the joint operations conducted by France and Britain in the Crimea, China
and Mexico, diplomatic relations between Britain and France never became close during the colonial
era. Lord Palmerston, the British foreign minister from 1846 to 1851 and prime minister from 1855 to
1865, sought to maintain the balance of power in Europe; this rarely involved an alignment with
France. In 1859 there were even briefly fears that France might try to invade Britain.[56] Palmerston
was suspicious of France's interventions in Lebanon, Southeast Asia and Mexico. Palmerston was also
concerned that France might intervene in the American Civil War (1861–65) on the side of the
South.[57] The British also felt threatened by the construction of the Suez Canal (1859–1869) by
Ferdinand de Lesseps in Egypt. They tried to oppose its completion by diplomatic pressures and by
promoting revolts among workers.[58]

The Suez Canal was successfully built by the French, but became a joint British-French project in
1875. Both nations saw it as vital to maintaining their influence and empires in Asia. In 1882, ongoing
civil disturbances in Egypt prompted Britain to intervene, extending a hand to France. France's
leading expansionist Jules Ferry was out of office, and Paris allowed London to take effective control
of Egypt.[59]

French–U.S. relations
During 1861 to 1862, at the beginning of the American Civil War, Napoleon III considered recognizing
the Confederacy in order to protect his operations in Mexico. Washington repeatedly warned that this
meant war but the emperor kept this option open, hoping to get Britain as an ally. The Union
blockade of southern ports stopped the supply of cotton to textile mills in France, and caused
unemployment. The Confederacy had put their faith in "King Cotton" diplomacy, expecting that the
cutoff of cotton supplies would cause Britain and France to declare war to reopen the trade. Through
1862, Napoleon III met unofficially with Confederate diplomats, raising their hopes that he would
unilaterally recognize the Confederacy. France was reluctant to act without collaboration with the
British, who after much wavering finally rejected intervention as not worth the heavy risk of losing
American food exports. Napoleon realized that a war with the U.S. without allies "would spell
disaster" for France.[60] In 1863 the Confederacy realized there was no longer any chance of
intervention, and expelled the French and British consuls, who were advising their citizens not to
enlist in the Confederate Army. In 1865, the United States stationed a large combat Army near the
Mexican border as a warning sign. Napoleon III pulled the French troops out, and the "emperor" he
had imposed on Mexico was captured and shot.[61][62][63]

1870–1939
Most Frenchmen ignored foreign affairs and colonial issues. In 1914 the chief pressure group was the
Parti colonial, a coalition of 50 organizations with a combined total of only 5000 members.[64]

Asia
It was only after its defeat in 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 Guangzhouwan[65] in 1900). In 1849, the
French concession in Shanghai was established, lasting until 1946.[66] The French also had
concessions in Guangzhou and Hankou (now part of Wuhan).[67]
Africa
France also extended its influence in North Africa
after 1870, establishing a protectorate in Tunisia in
1881 with the Bardo Treaty. Gradually, French control
crystallised over much of North, West, and Central
Africa by around the start of the 20th century
(including the modern states of Mauritania, Senegal,
Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Benin, Niger, Chad, Central
African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon,
Cameroon, the east African coastal enclave of Djibouti
(French Somaliland), and the island of Madagascar).
The Presidential Palace of Vietnam, in Hanoi, was
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza helped to formalise built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French
French control in Gabon and on the northern banks of Governor-General of Indochina.
the Congo River from the early 1880s. 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.[68]

The Voulet–Chanoine Mission, a military expedition, set

out from Senegal in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and
to 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 (April 1900) of the Muslim warlord Rabih az-
Zubayr, the greatest ruler in the region, and the creation
of the Military Territory of Chad (September 1900), the
Voulet-Chanoine Mission had accomplished all its goals.
The ruthlessness of the mission provoked a scandal in
Paris.[69]

As a part of the Scramble for Africa, France aimed to

establish a continuous west-east axis across the
continent, in contrast with the proposed British north-
south axis. Tensions between Britain and France French colonies in 1891 (from Le Monde
heightened in Africa. At several points war seemed illustré)
1. Panorama of Lac-Kaï, French outpost in
possible, but no outbreak occurred.[70] The most serious
China.
episode was the Fashoda Incident of 1898. French troops 2. Yun-nan, in the quay of Hanoi.
tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan, and a 3. Flooded street of Hanoi.
British force purporting to act in the interests of the 4. Landing stage of Hanoi
Khedive of Egypt arrived to confront them. Under heavy
pressure the French withdrew, implicitly acknowledging
Anglo-Egyptian control over the area. An agreement between the two states recognised the status
 quo: acknowledging British control over Egypt
while France became the dominant power in
Morocco, but France suffered a humiliating
defeat overall.[71][72]

During the Agadir Crisis in 1911 Britain

supported France against Germany, and
Morocco became a French protectorate.

Pacific islands
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
Central and east Africa, 1898, during the Fashoda Incident
Society Islands, the Marquesas, the Gambier
Islands, the Austral Islands and the Tuamotus),
and established joint control of the New Hebrides with Britain.

Leeward Islands (1880–1897)

In contravention of the Jarnac Convention of 1847, the French
placed the Leeward Islands under a provisional protectorate by
falsely convincing the ruling chiefs that the German Empire
planned to take over their island kingdoms. After years of
diplomatic negotiation, Britain and France agreed to abrogate the
convention in 1887 and the French formally annexed all the
Leeward Islands without official treaties of cession from the
islands' sovereign governments. From 1888 to 1897, the natives of
the kingdom of Raiatea and Tahaa led by a minor chief,
The captured rebels of Raiatea,
Teraupo'o, fought off French rule and the annexation of the 1897
Leeward Islands. Anti-French factions in the kingdom of Huahine
also attempted to fight off the French under Queen Teuhe while
the kingdom of Bora Bora remained neutral but hostile to the French. The conflict ended in 1897 with
the capture and exile of rebel leaders to New Caledonia and more than one hundred rebels to the
Marquesas. These conflicts and the annexation of other Pacific islands formed French
Polynesia.[34][35]

Final gains
The French made their last major colonial gains after World War I, when they gained mandates over
the former 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.

Civilising mission
A hallmark of the French colonial project in the
late 19th century and early 20th century was
the civilising mission (mission civilisatrice),
the principle that it was Europe's duty to bring
civilisation to benighted peoples.[73] As such,
colonial officials undertook a policy of Franco-
Europeanisation in French colonies, most
notably French West Africa and Madagascar.
During the 19th century, French citizenship
along with the right to elect a deputy to the Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913
French Chamber of Deputies was granted to
the four old colonies of Guadeloupe,
Martinique, Guyanne and Réunion as well as to the residents of the "Four Communes" in Senegal. In
most cases, the elected deputies were white Frenchmen, although there were some blacks, such as the
Senegalese Blaise Diagne, who was elected in 1914.[74]

Elsewhere, in the largest and most populous colonies, a strict separation between "sujets français" (all
the natives) and "citoyens français" (all males of European extraction) with different rights and duties
was maintained until 1946. As was pointed out in a 1927 treatise on French colonial law, the granting
of French citizenship to natives "was not a right, but rather a privilege".[75] Two 1912 decrees dealing
with French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa enumerated the conditions that a native had to
meet in order to be granted French citizenship (they included speaking and writing French, earning a
decent living and displaying good moral standards). From 1830 to 1946, only between 3,000 and
6,000 native Algerians were granted French citizenship. In French West Africa, outside of the Four
Communes, there were 2,500 "citoyens indigènes" out of a total population of 15 million.[76]

French conservatives had been denouncing the assimilationist

policies as products of a dangerous liberal fantasy. In the
Protectorate of Morocco, the French administration attempted to
use urban planning and colonial education to prevent cultural
mixing and to uphold the traditional society upon which the
French depended for collaboration, with mixed results. After
World War II, the segregationist approach modeled in Morocco
had been discredited by its connections to Vichyism, and
assimilationism enjoyed a brief renaissance.[74]

In 1905, the French abolished slavery in most of French West

Africa.[77] David P. Forsythe wrote: "From Senegal and
French colonial troops, led by
Mauritania in the west to Niger in the east (what became French
Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds, a
Africa), there was a parallel series of ruinous wars, resulting in Senegalese mulatto, conquered and
tremendous numbers of people being violently enslaved. At the annexed Dahomey in 1894.
beginning of the twentieth century there may have been between
3 and 3.5 million slaves, representing over 30 percent of the total
population, within this sparsely populated region."[78]
Critics of French colonialism gained an international audience in the 1920s, and often used
documentary reportage and access to agencies such as the League of Nations and the International
Labour Organization to make their protests heard. The main criticism was the high level of violence
and suffering among the natives. Major critics included Albert Londres, Félicien Challaye, and Paul
Monet, whose books and articles were widely read.[79]

While the first stages of a takeover often involved the destruction of historic buildings in order to use
the site for French headquarters, archaeologists and art historians soon engaged in systematic effort
to identify, map and preserve historic sites, especially temples such as Angkor Wat, Champa ruins and
the temples of Luang Prabang.[80] Many French museums have collections of colonial materials.
Since the 1980s the French government has opened new museums of colonial artifacts including the
Musée du Quai Branly and the Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration, in Paris; and the Maison
des Civilisations et de l’Unité Réunionnaise in Réunion.[81]

Revolt in North Africa Against Spain and France

The Berber independence leader Abd el-Krim (1882–1963) organized armed resistance against the
Spanish and French for control of Morocco. The Spanish had faced unrest off and on from the 1890s,
but in 1921 Spanish forces were massacred at the Battle of Annual El-Krim founded an independent
Rif Republic that operated until 1926 but had no international recognition. Paris and Madrid agreed
to collaborate to destroy it. They sent in 200,000 soldiers, forcing el-Krim to surrender in 1926; he
was exiled in the Pacific until 1947. Morocco became quiet, and in 1936 became the base from which
Francisco Franco launched his revolt against Madrid.[82]

World War II
During World War II, allied Free France, often
with British support, and Axis-aligned Vichy
France struggled for control of the colonies,
sometimes with outright military combat. By
1943, all of the colonies, except for Indochina
under Japanese control, had joined the Free
French cause.[83]
The gradual loss of all Vichy territory to Free France
The overseas empire helped liberate France as and the Allies by 1943. Legend.
300,000 North African Arabs fought in the ranks
of the Free French.[84] However Charles de Gaulle
had no intention of liberating the colonies. He assembled the conference of colonial governors
(excluding the nationalist leaders) in Brazzaville in January 1944 to announce plans for postwar
Union that would replace the Empire.[85] The Brazzaville manifesto proclaimed:

the goals of the work of civilization undertaken by France in the colonies exclude all idea of
autonomy, all possibility of development outside the French block of the Empire; the possible
constitutional self-government in the colonies is to be dismissed.[86]

The manifesto angered nationalists across the Empire, and set the stage for long-term wars in
Indochina and Algeria that France would lose in humiliating fashion.
Decolonization
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
United States 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
Constitution of 1946, nominally replaced the former colonial empire, but officials in Paris remained in
full control. The colonies were given local assemblies with only limited local power and budgets. There
emerged a group of elites, known as evolués, who were natives of the overseas territories but lived in
metropolitan France.[87]

Conflict
France was immediately confronted with the beginnings of the decolonisation movement. In Algeria
demonstrations in May 1945 were repressed with an estimated 6,000 Algerians killed.[88] Unrest in
Haiphong, Indochina, in November 1945 was met by a warship bombarding the city.[89] Paul
Ramadier's (SFIO) cabinet repressed the Malagasy Uprising in Madagascar in 1947. French officials
estimated the number of Malagasy killed from a low of 11,000 to a French Army estimate of
89,000.[90]

Also in Indochina, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh, which was backed by the Soviet Union and China,
declared Vietnam's independence, which starting the First Indochina War. The war dragged on until
1954, when the Viet Minh decisively defeated the French at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ in northern
Vietnam, which was the last major battle between the French and the Vietnamese in the First
Indochina War.

Following the Vietnamese victory at Điện Biên Phủ and the

signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords, France agreed to withdraw
its forces from all its colonies in French Indochina, while
stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th
parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and the
south becoming the State of Vietnam.[91] However, in 1955, the
State of Vietnam's Prime Minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, toppled Bảo
Captured French soldiers from Dien
Đại in a fraudulent referendum and proclaimed himself president
Bien Phu, escorted by Vietnamese
of the new Republic of Vietnam. The refusal of Ngô Đình Diệm, troops, walk to a prisoner-of-war
the US-supported president of the first Republic of Vietnam camp
[RVN], to allow elections in 1956, as had been stipulated by the
Geneva Conference, eventually led to the Vietnam War.

In France's African colonies, the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon's insurrection, which started in
1955 and headed by Ruben Um Nyobé, was violently repressed over a two-year period, with perhaps
as many as 100 people killed. However, France formally relinquished its protectorate over Morocco
and granted it independence in 1956.
French involvement in Algeria stretched back a century. The movements of Ferhat Abbas and Messali
Hadj had marked the period between the two world 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. Atrocities characterized both sides, and the number killed became highly controversial
estimates that were made for propaganda purposes.[92] Algeria was a three-way conflict due to the
large number of "pieds-noirs" (Europeans who had settled there in the 125 years of French rule). The
political crisis in France caused the collapse of the Fourth Republic, as Charles de Gaulle returned to
power in 1958 and finally pulled the French soldiers and settlers out of Algeria by 1962.[93][94]

The French Union was replaced in the Constitution of 1958 by the French Community. Only Guinea
refused by referendum to take part in the new colonial organisation. However, the French Community
dissolved itself in the midst 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 status 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 with the help of Jacques Foccart, his counsellor
for African matters. Foccart supported in particular the Nigerian Civil War during the late 1960s.[95]

Robert Aldrich argues that with Algerian independence in 1962, it appeared that the Empire
practically had come to an end, as the remaining colonies were quite small and lacked active
nationalist movements. However, there was trouble in French Somaliland (Djibouti), which became
independent in 1977. There also were complications and delays in the New Hebrides Vanuatu, which
was the last to gain independence in 1980. New Caledonia remains a special case under French
suzerainty.[96] The Indian Ocean island of Mayotte voted in referendum in 1974 to retain its link with
France and forgo independence.[97]

Demographics
French census statistics from 1931 show an imperial population, outside of France itself, of 64.3
million people living on 11.9 million square kilometers. Of the total population, 39.1 million lived in
Africa and 24.5 million lived in Asia; 700,000 lived in the Caribbean area or islands in the South
Pacific. The largest colonies were Indochina with 21.5 million (in five separate colonies), Algeria with
6.6 million, Morocco, with 5.4 million, and West Africa with 14.6 million in nine colonies. The total
includes 1.9 million Europeans, and 350,000 "assimilated" natives.[98]
 Population of the French Empire between 1919 and 1939

1921 1926 1931 1936

Metropolitan France 39,140,000 40,710,000 41,550,000 41,500,000
Colonies, protectorates, and mandates 55,556,000 59,474,000 64,293,000 69,131,000
Total 94,696,000 100,184,000 105,843,000 110,631,000
Percentage of the world population 5.02% 5.01% 5.11% 5.15%

Sources: INSEE,[99] SGF[100]

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. France generally had close to the slowest
natural population growth in Europe, and emigration pressures were
therefore quite small. A small but significant emigration, numbering
only in the tens of thousands, 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. In New France,
Huguenots were banned from settling in the territory, and Quebec was
one of the most staunchly Catholic areas in the world until the Quiet
Revolution. The current French Canadian population, which numbers in
the millions, is descended almost entirely from New France's small The deportation order is
read to a group of Acadians
settler population.
in 1755
On 31 December 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.[101]
In 1787, there were 30,000 white colonists on France's colony of Saint-Domingue. In 1804 Dessalines,
the first ruler of an independent Haiti (St. Domingue), ordered the massacre of whites remaining on
the island.[102] 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.[103] Bill Marshall wrote, "The first French effort to
colonize Guiana, in 1763, failed utterly when tropical diseases and climate killed all but 2,000 of the
initial 12,000 settlers."[104]

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.[105] 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 the country after days of anti-white violence.[106]

Apart from French-Canadians (Québécois and Acadians), Cajuns, and Métis other populations of
French ancestry outside metropolitan France include the Caldoches of New Caledonia, the so-called
Zoreilles, Petits-blancs with the Franco-Mauritian of various Indian Ocean islands and the Beke
people of the French West Indies.

See also
Army of the Levant
CFA Franc
Colonialism
Decolonization
Evolution of the French Empire
Francization
French Army units with a tradition of service overseas
1900–1958: Troupes de marine
1900–1958: Troupes coloniales
Tirailleurs
Spahis
Zouaves
French colonial flags
French colonisation of the Americas
French law on colonialism (for teachers, 2005)
History of France
Second French Empire
French Third Republic
International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)
List of French possessions and colonies
New France
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
 Overseas France
Postage stamps of the French colonies
Scramble for Africa
Timeline of imperialism

References
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Further reading
Hutton, Patrick H. ed. Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870–1940 (2 vol 1986)
Northcutt, Wayne, ed. Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946– 1991
(1992)

Policies and colonies

Aldrich, Robert. Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996)
Aldrich, Robert. The French Presence in the South Pacific, 1842–1940 (1989).
Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North
America, 1754–1766 (2001), covers New France in Canada
Baumgart, Winfried. Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion,
1880–1914 (1982)
Betts, Raymond. Tricouleur: The French Overseas Empire (1978), 174pp
Betts, Raymond. Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890–1914 (2005)
excerpt and text search (https://www.amazon.com/Assimilation-Association-French-Colonial-1890
-1914/dp/0803262477/)
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 (https://doi.org/
10.1017%2FS0018246X00018641) ..
Chafer, Tony (2002). The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful
Decolonization? (https://books.google.com/books?id=9GseKljgaW0C) . Berg.
ISBN 9781859735572.
Clayton, Anthony. The Wars of French Decolonization (1995)
Conklin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa,
1895–1930 (1997) online (https://www.questia.com/library/65667984/a-mission-to-civilize-the-repu
blican-idea-of-empire)
Evans, Martin. "From colonialism to post-colonialism: the French empire since Napoleon." in
Martin S. Alexander, ed., French History since Napoleon (1999) pp: 391–415.
Gamble, Harry. Contesting French West Africa: Battles over Schools and the Colonial Order,
1900-1950 (U of Nebraska Press, 2017). 378 pp. online review (http://www.h-net.msu.edu/review
s/showrev.php?id=53876)
Jennings, Eric T. Imperial Heights: Dalat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina (2010).
Lawrence, Adria. Imperial rule and the politics of nationalism: anti-colonial protest in the French
empire (Cambridge UP, 2013).
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:10.1017/S0021853700009518
(https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0021853700009518) . JSTOR 179514 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1
79514) ..
Klein, Martin A. Slavery and colonial rule in French West Africa (Cambridge University Press,
1998)
Manning, Patrick. Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa 1880-1995 (Cambridge UP, 1998). online (htt
ps://www.questia.com/library/105166398/francophone-sub-saharan-africa-1880-1995)
 Neres, Philip. French-speaking West Africa: From Colonial Status to Independence (1962) online
(https://www.questia.com/library/7131716/french-speaking-west-africa-from-colonial-status)
Priestley, Herbert Ingram. France overseas: a study of modern imperialism (1938) 464pp.
Quinn, Frederick. The French Overseas Empire (2000) online (https://www.questia.com/library/18
96884/the-french-overseas-empire)
Pakenham, Thomas (1991). The Scramble for Africa, 1876–1912 (https://archive.org/details/scra
mbleforafric00pake) . New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-51576-2..
Petringa, Maria (2006). Brazza, A Life for Africa. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-
4259-1198-0..
Priestley, Herbert Ingram. (1938) France overseas;: A study of modern imperialism 463pp;
encyclopedic coverage as of late 1930s
Roberts, Stephen H. History of French Colonial Policy (1870-1925) (2 vol 1929) vol 1 online (http
s://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84402) also vol 2 online (https://archive.org/details/in.erne
t.dli.2015.89866) ; Comprehensive scholarly history
Segalla, Spencer (2009). The Moroccan Soul: French Education, Colonial Ethnology, and Muslim
Resistance, 1912–1956. Lincoln: Nebraska UP. ISBN 978-0-8032-1778-2..
Strother, Christian. "Waging War on Mosquitoes: Scientific Research and the Formation of
Mosquito Brigades in French West Africa, 1899–1920." Journal of the history of medicine and
allied sciences (2016): jrw005.
Thomas, Martin. The French Empire Between the Wars: Imperialism, Politics and Society (2007)
covers 1919–1939
Thompson, Virginia, and Richard Adloff. French West Africa (Stanford UP, 1958).
Wellington, Donald C. French East India companies: A historical account and record of trade
(Hamilton Books, 2006)
Wesseling, H.L. and Arnold J. Pomerans. Divide and rule: The partition of Africa, 1880–1914
(Praeger, 1996.) online (https://www.questia.com/library/71854045/divide-and-rule-the-partition-of-
africa-1880-1914)
Wesseling, H.L. The European Colonial Empires: 1815–1919 (Routledge, 2015).

Decolonization
Betts, Raymond F. Decolonization (2nd ed. 2004)
Betts, Raymond F. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960 (1991)
Chafer, Tony. The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonization
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2002).
Chamberlain, Muriel E. ed. Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth
Century (Routledge, 2014)
Clayton, Anthony. The wars of French decolonization (Routledge, 2014).
Cooper, Frederick. "French Africa, 1947–48: Reform, Violence, and Uncertainty in a Colonial
Situation." Critical Inquiry (2014) 40#4 pp: 466–478. in JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.108
6/676416)
Ikeda, Ryo. The Imperialism of French Decolonisation: French Policy and the Anglo-American
Response in Tunisia and Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
Jansen, Jan C. & Jürgen Osterhammel. Decolonization: A Short History (princeton UP, 2017).
online (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10963.html)
Jones, Max, et al. "Decolonising imperial heroes: Britain and France." Journal of Imperial and
Commonwealth History 42#5 (2014): 787–825.
 Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the
French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews (https://issforum.org/roundtables/7-18-imperi
al-rule-nationalism)
McDougall, James. "The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonization
of France, 1945–1962," The Journal of Modern History 89#4 (December 2017) pp 772–811
excerpt (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/694427)
Rothermund, Dietmar. Memories of Post-Imperial Nations: The Aftermath of Decolonization,
1945–2013 (2015) excerpt (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Memories-Post-Imperial-Nations-Aftermath
-Decolonization/dp/1107102294/) ; Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands,
Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
Rothermund, Dietmar. The Routledge companion to decolonization (Routledge, 2006),
comprehensive global coverage; 365pp
Shepard, Todd. The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France
(2006)
Simpson, Alfred William Brian. Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of
the European Convention (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Smith, Tony. "A comparative study of French and British decolonization." Comparative Studies in
Society and History (1978) 20#1 pp: 70–102. online (http://w3.salemstate.edu/~cmauriello/pdfEur
opean/Smith%20Compartive%20French%20and%20British%20Decolonization.pdf)
Smith, Tony. "The French Colonial Consensus and People's War, 1946–58." Journal of
Contemporary History (1974): 217–247. in JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/260298)
Thomas, Martin, Bob Moore, and Lawrence J. Butler. Crises of Empire: Decolonization and
Europe's imperial states (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015)
Von Albertini, Rudolf. Decolonization: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960
(Doubleday, 1971), scholarly analysis of French policies, pp 265–469..

Images and impact on France

Andrew, Christopher M., and Alexander Sydney Kanya-Forstner. "France, Africa, and the First
World War." Journal of African History 19.1 (1978): 11–23.
Andrew, C. M.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1976). "French Business and the French Colonialists".
Historical Journal. 19 (4): 981–1000. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00010803 (https://doi.org/10.1017%
2FS0018246X00010803) .. online (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638246)
August, Thomas G. The Selling of the Empire: British and French Imperialist Propaganda, 1890–
1940 (1985)
Chafer, Tony, and Amanda Sackur. Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda and Visions of
Empire in France (2002) online (https://www.questia.com/library/101709381/promoting-the-colonia
l-idea-propaganda-and-visions)
Confer, Vincent (1964). "French Colonial Ideas before 1789". French Historical Studies. 3 (3):
338–359. doi:10.2307/285947 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F285947) . JSTOR 285947 (https://www.
jstor.org/stable/285947) ..
Conkin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa,
1895-1930 (1997) online (https://www.questia.com/library/65667984/a-mission-to-civilize-the-repu
blican-idea-of-empire)
Dobie, Madeleine. Trading Places: Colonization & Slavery in 18th-Century French Culture (2010)
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 (http
s://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0022278X00000148) ..
 Rosenblum, Mort. Mission to Civilize: The French Way (1986) online review (http://articles.latimes.
com/1987-07-05/books/bk-2118_1_french-way)
Rothermund, Dietmar. Memories of Post-Imperial Nations: The Aftermath of Decolonization,
1945–2013 (2015) excerpt (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Memories-Post-Imperial-Nations-Aftermath
-Decolonization/dp/1107102294/) ; Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands,
Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
Singer, Barnett, and John Langdon. Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial
Empire (2008)
Thomas, Martin, ed. The French Colonial Mind, Volume 1: Mental Maps of Empire and Colonial
Encounters (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) (2012); The French Colonial Mind,
Volume 2: Violence, Military Encounters, and Colonialism (2012)

Historiography and memoir

Bennington, Alice. "Writing Empire? The Reception of Post-Colonial Studies in France." Historical
Journal (2016) 59#4: 1157–1186. abstract (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-jour
nal/article/div-classtitlerewriting-empire-the-reception-of-post-colonial-studies-in-francea-hreffns01
-ref-typefnadiv/32DA3F5C79BF6B46BE39A67840BF1D36)
Dubois, Laurent. "The French Atlantic," in Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal, ed. by Jack P.
Greene and Philip D. Morgan, (Oxford UP, 2009) pp 137–61
Dwyer, Philip. "Remembering and Forgetting in Contemporary France: Napoleon, Slavery, and the
French History Wars," French Politics, Culture & Society (2008) 26#3 pp 110–122.
Emerson, Rupert (1969). "Colonialism". Journal of Contemporary History. 4 (1): 3–16.
doi:10.1177/002200946900400101 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002200946900400101) ..
Greer, Allan. "National, Transnational, and Hypernational Historiographies: New France Meets
Early American History," Canadian Historical Review, (2010) 91#4 pp 695–724, in Project MUSE
(http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/canadian_historical_review/v091/91.4.greer.html)
Hodson, Christopher, and Brett Rushforth, "Absolutely Atlantic: Colonialism and the Early Modern
French State in Recent Historiography," History Compass, (January 2010) 8#1 pp 101–117
Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the
French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews (https://issforum.org/roundtables/7-18-imperi
al-rule-nationalism)

External links
French Colonial Historical Society (http://www.frenchcolonial.org/)
H-FRANCE, daily discussions and book reviews (http://www.h-france.net/mobile.html)
French Colonial Historical Society (http://www.frenchcolonial.org/)
French Colonial History (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/french_colonial_history/) an annual volume
of refereed, scholarly articles

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