Seventeenth-through twentieth-century rule of colonial possessions by France, first in North America and the Caribbean and then in Africa and Southeast Asia.
After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus for Spain in 1492, other European countries sent expeditions along the North American coast in search of gold. The French voyages of Giovanni da Verrazano and Jacques Cartier resulted in the discovery and claiming of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland in the sixteenth century. French exploration and settlement of the new lands were delayed throughout the rest of the century as the country struggled through the Wars of Religion brought on by the Reformation. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the French established two important posts in Canada: one at Port Royal in the colony of Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia) and the second at Quebec (in present-day Montreal). These posts operated as fur-trading centers between the French and the indigenous peoples, who exchanged furs for glass trinkets and other European goods. The French did not start a massive migration and settlement movement, which would have created hostilities with the native peoples. Instead, the French left the native peoples to their own lifestyle except for a few Jesuit priests who attempted to convert them. The French restricted the area of their settlement to the Saint Lawrence valley until the end of the century, when France established another colony in Louisiana in 1699. French exploration from the source of the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico resulted in their claim to the navigation rights for the continent’s largest river. Since overland trade was cost prohibitive, the control of the Mississippi was important for the movement of goods from the interior of North America to other destinations such as the Caribbean and Europe. The French established port cities at Mobile and New Orleans (1719).
While the French were expanding their empire in North America, they were also establishing colonies in the Caribbean and the northern tip of South America. In 1624, French Guiana was founded, followed by Saint Kitts in 1627. The French Compagnie des Îles de l’Amerique founded Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1635 and Saint Lucia in 1650. In 1664, the French established the colony of Saint Domingue on the western half of the Spanish island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Saint Domingue developed into the leading sugar-producing colony for the French. Every inch of available land was planted with sugarcane, the most lucrative commodity of the eighteenth century. Slave quarters were limited in size, and food production was restricted. Instead, the French imported wheat, grain, salt, and other food items from Louisiana to feed the slave population.
Throughout the seventeenth century, French colonies were also established in Africa and India. The lucrative slave trade attracted the French to the West African region of Senegal in 1624. Portuguese and British colonies in India and Asia enticed the French to also establish trading posts in India at Chandernagore in Bengal (1673), Pondicherry (1674), Yanam (1723), Mahé (1725), and Kirikkale (1739). Three additional colonies were established in the Indian Ocean on the Île de Bourbon (Réunion) in 1664, the Île Royale (Mauritius) in 1718, and on the Seychelles in 1756.
During the eighteenth-century wars for empire, the map of the French empire changed dramatically. As a result of the French king’s involvement in attempting to restore King James II of England to his throne, King William II declared war on France in the War of the League of Augsburg (also known as King William’s War). Although at the end of the war all former possessions were restored, the hostilities between the two countries led to three additional wars. At the conclusion of the War of Spanish Succession, the French lost control of Acadia to the British as well as the island of Saint Kitts under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The third war for empire, the War of Austrian Succession, ended with a status quo antebellum and no change of territory, although the French achieved some success in India. The last of the wars, known as the Seven Years’ War, or the French and Indian War in North America, ended with British dominance around the world. The French were forced out of India and lost much of the profits from the lucrative pepper and cotton cloth trade. The French also lost their possessions in North America. Canada was ceded to the British empire, as was the part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, Saint Lucia, and Grenada. The Spanish, who had joined the French late in the war, lost Florida temporarily to the British. The French, to compensate Spain for the loss of Florida and to prevent the British from gaining control of Louisiana, ceded the territory of Louisiana to Spain, who ruled the colony until 1800, when it was ceded back to France.
The animosity of the French toward the British led to French involvement in the American Revolution. Although initially reluctant to enter the conflict, after several unconventional victories and one major European-style victory at Saratoga, the French agreed to provide supplies, men, and ships to the Americans. The Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American Revolution resulted in France regaining Saint Lucia. However, war plagued the French colonial empire again during the French Revolution as a slave rebellion in Saint Domingue resulted in the formation of an independent country of Haiti in 1804. During this period, Great Britain captured most of the French overseas colonies, which would be returned to them in 1802 under the Peace of Amiens. After 1802, Napoléon Bonaparte began preparations for another campaign to control the European continent. He hoped to fund the cost of the war through the sale of sugar from Saint Domingue, but after the slave insurrection of 1803 and the loss of 25,000 of his trained soldiers in attempting to recapture the island, he decided on an alternative plan to finance the campaigns. When approached by an emissary of the administration of Thomas Jefferson, who hoped to negotiate a right-of-deposit in New Orleans for $10 million, Napoléon offered to sell all the Louisiana territory to the United States in exchange for $15 million. Since Napoléon no longer needed the territory as a breadbasket for the slaves on Haiti, the sale became a means to fund his army.
During the remaining Napoleonic Wars (1804–1814), trade became an important issue. Great Britain reasserted the Rule of 1756, which prohibited countries that had not traded with France in that year for trading with them then. Since the United States had been part of the British empire in 1756, it had not traded with France and therefore the rule was aimed at preventing trade between France and a neutral country. The Orders in Council then placed a blockade on continental Europe in an attempt to deprive Napoléon and his army of food, medicines, and much needed supplies.
Napoléon responded by passing the Berlin and Milan decrees, both of which countered the Rule of 1756 and imposed a blockade on the British Isles. The United States was drawn into the conflict as both countries attempted to strangle its ability to engage in vital trade. After implementing a number of measures, including non-importation and an embargo, the French responded to an offer by the United States to only trade with the country that respected its neutrality. The United States then declared war on Great Britain, resulting in the War of 1812. The consequence of the war included the establishment of a protective tariff by the United States.
The end of the first French colonial empire forced France to seek colonies elsewhere to compete with the strong European empires. Although the Brit ish returned many of the captured French colonies in the Caribbean and West Africa, the French sought to expand their empire. Algeria was invaded in 1830 and took seventeen years to conquer. From there, the French moved into Tunisia (1881) and then dominated most of North, West, and Central Africa, including the modern-day countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Benin, Mali, Niger, Chad, the Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, and Djibouti. Morocco became a protectorate in 1911. The French also established control over present-day Syria, Lebanon, Togo, and Cameroon. In 1883, the French moved into Cochin China (southern Vietnam), Tonkin, and Annam and later into Cambodia and Laos. These regions were known as French Indochina.
After World War II, the French attempted to regain control over Vietnam but were defeated by the forces of Ho Chi Minh and his nationalist fighters, who had defeated the Japanese during the war. The primary product that the French exported from Vietnam had been rubber, a vital commodity in the age of the automobile.
The end of World War II witnessed the beginning of a worldwide movement for self-determination. Vietnam gained its independence from France in the 1950s, and by 1960 most of the African countries under French control were also recognized as sovereign states. Like the British, the French sought to retain economic ties with their former colonies through the French Community (an organization that links France and its former colonies). Much of this trade has diminished over the last several decades as the French have opted for trade within the industrialized European Union. Few colonial possessions remain from the French empire in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica and those that do remain are administered through its Overseas Department.
Cynthia Clark Northrup
See also: British Empire; Napoleonic Wars; Southeast Asia; Wars for Empire.
Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Vintage, 2003.
Eccles, William John. The French in North America, 1500–1783. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1998.
Pocock, Tom. Battle for Empire: The Very First World War, 1756–63. London: Michael O’Mara, 1998.