The French Empire
Summary and Notes
THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE
● The history of the French Empire is complex
and fundamentally uneven.
● Characterized by expansion and contraction,
decline and resurgence, and instability.
● The French colonial enterprise lasted over four
centuries.
● Encompassed territories spread across five
continents.
● Continued relationships with former colonies
(Martinique, Guadeloupe and Reunion Island). THE OLD COLONIES: THE ANCIENT REGIME
EMPIRE
● 1515-47, French's first overseas exploration.
● Jacques Cartier did three voyages to Canada
between 1534-1542
● He sailed up to St. Lawrence, Quebec City, and
Montereal.
● Jacques Cartier wanted to initiate the process
of settling of "New France".
● The colony developed from the early 1600s,
predominantly on the East coast of Canada and
around Hudson Bay, after Samuel de
Champlain had founded Quebec in 1608.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE ● French colony developed in 1600s
● The continued impact of the French empire is ● French expanded their influence into the Great
evident in contemporary Europe and beyond. Lakes region and southwards, down the
● Colonialism is not a monolithic process that can Mississippi, reaching New Orleans.
be reduced to clear-cut chronological limits. ● War of the Spanish Succession in 1713.
● It is essential to avoid presenting the French ● The Seven Years War against Britain (1754–
empire as a single entity. 63)
● The empire's impact does not result from a ● The 1763 Treaty of Paris left France with Saint-
systematic program of expansion and control. Pierre and Miquel.
● France’s first overseas empire was not
THE TWO FRENCH EMPIRES restricted to the American continent.
● The first one, centered in the old colonies, was ● The French later explored Marintique,
established under the Ancien Régime but Guadalupe, Saint Dominique in the 1700s.
significantly reduced after the French ● Colonists were recruited to develop sugar
Revolution. plantations for the export of produce to France.
● The second empire began with military actions ● The French Atlantic ports of Bordeaux, La
in Algeria in 1830 and expanded rapidly during Rochelle and Nantes
the 19th century. This second empire became a ● French took possession of Guyane in 1637
large French Republican empire, covering French Colony after the Settlement
regions in Africa, Indochina, and the Pacific. ● The colony led to a dangerous and uncertain
existence, dependent for their livelihoods on
trapping and the trade in furs, often developing
alliances with indigenous peoples to ensure
their survival.
● With the promotion of settlement, the population
increased, and the French gradually expanded
their sphere of influence into the Great Lakes
area and further southwards, down the
Mississippi, to New Orleans.
The Empire Wars
● French territories in North America, Acadia
were surrendered to Britain after the end of the
War of Spanish Succession in 1713.
SUCCESSIVE PERIODS
● The Seven Years War against Britain (1754–
● 15th-16th Centuries: Spanish predominance in
63) proved even more damaging, for it led to
transatlantic exploration of the New World.
the abandonment of any French claims to
● 1600s: Principal rivalry for acquiring new
Canada and the loss of territories in Louisiana
territory between England and France.
and Florida to the Spanish.
● 19th Century: Abolition of slavery brings major
● The 1763 Treaty of Paris left France with Saint-
changes in Caribbean and Indian Ocean
Pierre and Miquelon, two small but strategically
plantation colonies. French expansion into sub-
located islands off the coast of Newfoundland,
Saharan Africa from trading posts involved in
which are still French territories today.
earlier Atlantic trade
● Quebec, with a population of seven million,
● 1775–83: American War of Independence sees
remains a French-speaking region in the
diplomatic and military maneuvering, with
predominantly anglophone zone of North
French support for rebel colonists.
America.
● Long-Term Impact: France's long-term impact
French Trade Slaves
is more limited than that of Britain, Spain, and
● Expansion of French slave trade led to the
Portugal. Former colonies of Britain, Spain, and
seventeenth-century
Portugal surpass them in size and population.
● Ile Bourbon (Reunion Island) was occupied in ● Indigenous chiefs, notably Abd el-Khader, led
1642, Ile de France (Mauritius) in 1715. resistance against French forces in Algeria.
● Efforts to settle Madagascar were unsuccessful. ● General Thomas-Robert Bugeaud conducted
● French succeeded in maintaining five comptoirs aggressive campaigns, terrorizing the local
(trading posts) in India population.
Others ● The aggressive campaigns facilitated the
● The French are willing to abandon North transfer of land to European settlers.
American territories to maintain their lucrative ● By 1900, European settlers, known as pieds
Caribbean possessions. noirs, constituted one-sixth of Algeria's
● Through exploration of economic potential, population.
French occupied islands such as Martinique, ● In the late 19th century, legal, administrative,
Guadalupe, and Saint-Dominique in the and economic structures were established,
seventeenth century. favoring the interests of European settlers.
Expansion into Tunisia and Morocco (1881-1912)
● Slow development distinct from intensive
REVOLUTION AND THE EMPIRE colonization in Algeria.
● The ideals of liberty and equality from the ● French troops landed in Tunisia in 1881, using
French Revolution (1789-99) caused tensions a border incident as an alibi, turning the country
among the different social groups in the into a 'protectorate.'
Caribbean, including white planters, poor ● Morocco increasingly exploited in terms of
whites, free colored people, and enslaved trade; parts occupied by Lyautey's troops in
Africans. 1903; protectorate established in 1912 after
● Debates over self-government, voting rights, German occupation of part of French Congo.
and especially slavery ignited a major slave ● Fierce local resistance, subdued in the 1930s;
revolt in Saint-Domingue, led by Toussaint decolonization imminent two decades later.
Louverture. ● Moroccan crises highlight the intertwining of
● At first, the French opposed the rebellion, but expansionist politics and international rivalry,
they eventually ended slavery and joined forces reflecting European tensions on a colonial
with the rebels to defeat the British; however, stage.
Napoleon's attempt to bring back slavery led to ● Consular and commercial presence developed
Haiti declaring its independence in 1804. in the Maghreb and around the Mediterranean,
● As Haiti became isolated, the French territories existing even before the invasion of Algeria.
of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Guyane grew ● After World War I, France granted mandates by
closer to France, and Napoleon's defeat in the League of Nations over Syria and Lebanon,
Saint-Domingue limited his colonial ambitions in treating them similarly to other colonies.
other places. ● Expansion triggered resentment in Syria,
● After the Napoleonic Wars, France had a leading to an unsuccessful insurrection in
smaller empire and focused on improving its 1925–27.
own country, but later it also started colonizing
other places under different rulers.
NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt (1798)
● Brief period of French rule in Egypt.
● Viewed in the context of Franco–British rivalry
and French interests in the Indian subcontinent.
● After peace in Europe (1815), France expanded
influence in the Maghreb through diplomacy
and trade. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN
● Aimed at seeking new markets for goods and ● French expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa
accessing cheap sources of raw materials. differed radically from the progressive
French Assault on Algiers (1830) acquisition of the Maghreb.
● Resulted from domestic concerns of the ● ‘Scramble for Africa’ - rapid and chaotic
unpopular Restoration monarchy. ● After WW1, they got extra land as mandates
● The conquest of Algiers, while not preserving from the League of Nations.
Charles X's power, gained popularity in France. ● Louis Faidherbe, Governor of Senegal (1854-
● Marked the beginning of a gradual 'pacification' 61,1863-65), expanded French control inland
of Algeria spanning eight decades. from its existing coastal possessions.
● Indigenous chiefs, notably Abd el-Khader, ● The French aimed to establish control over
resisted; aggressive campaigns by General Africa's Atlantic to Red Sea region, pushing
Bugeaud followed. from Mali to Chad and Sudan, but faced
● Bugeaud's campaigns facilitated the transfer of opposition from the British.
land to European settlers, notably from Alsace- ● France concentrated its colonies in the west,
Lorraine after 1870. with Djibouti in eastern Africa, Madagascar in
● By 1900, pieds noirs constituted one-sixth of the Indian Ocean, and the Comoros Islands,
Algeria's population. despite unsuccessful attempts.
● Exploitation of the country by pieds noirs
continued economically until Algeria gained
independence in 1962.
● The last thirty years of the 19th century saw the
development of structures favoring settlers,
transforming Algeria into a French department.
Algerian Resistance and Settler Expansion (1830-
1900)
