French colonization
Parisian overseas expansion
French colonization refers to France's historical expansion and establishment of colonies across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific from the 16th through 20th centuries.
The French colonial empire was second only to the British in scope, leaving lasting linguistic and cultural imprints: French colonization shaped much of West Africa.
The term often carries critical connotations when discussing exploitation, forced assimilation policies, and their enduring effects on former colonies.
- Code NoirFrench colonial slavery laws
- plantation economyAgricultural system exploiting enslaved workers
- New FranceFrench North American colony
- Nova ScotiaEastern Canadian maritime province
- sugarCrystalline carbohydrate sweetener
couscous · Scramble for Africa · café au lait · Treaty of Paris · Berlin Conference · Négritude · Madagascar · Acadia · lingua franca · Indochina · protectorates · mercantilism · tricolor · Louisiana Purchase · Napoleonic Wars · rubber · missionaries · imperialism
- colonial historycolonies, pilgrims, Jamestown, Plymouth, Mayflower
- Burkina Fasoprovinces, Po, Leo, departments, coups
- Gabon Historysingle-party rule, democratic reforms, coup attempts, constitutional changes
- Niger historyFulani, sultanates, emirates, Tuareg, Niger River
- West African Historyindependence movement, military coups, military rule, one-party state, political history
- Mississippi HistoryMississippi Delta, Mississippi River, Vicksburg, Jackson, Natchez
French colonizationBritish colonization
England's historic overseas conquest
Spanish colonization · British Empire · Spanish Empire · British imperialism · American imperialism
French colonizationdecolonization
Ending imperial control
independence · liberation · independence movements · national liberation · self-determination
French colonizationnational independence
A nation governing itself
self-governance · indigenous sovereignty · self-rule · autonomy · political freedom