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From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire existed mainly in the Americas and Asia. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the second French colonial empire existed mainly in Africa and Asia. France had about 80 colonies throughout its history, the second most colonies in the world behind only the British Empire. [1]
The French colonial empire in the New World also included New France (Nouvelle France) in North America, particularly in what is today the province of Quebec, Canada, and for a very short period (12 years) also Antarctic France (France Antarctique, in French), in present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All of these settlements were in violation of ...
Although initial French colonization primarily occurred in the Americas and in Asia, the French did establish a few colonies and trading posts on the African continent. Initial French colonization in Africa began in modern-day Senegal , Madagascar , and along the Mascarene Islands .
The total area of the French colonial empire, with the first (mainly in the Americas and Asia) and second (mainly in Africa and Asia), the French colonial empires combined, reached 24,000,000 km 2 (9,300,000 sq mi), the second largest in the world (the first being the British Empire).
Siam – the only independent state in Southeast Asia, but bordered by a British sphere of influence in the north and south and French influence in the northeast and east Turkey – successor to the Ottoman Empire in 1923; the Ottoman Empire itself could be considered a colonial empire as it had a protectorate over the Sultanate of Aceh and ...
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), [a] [b] officially known as the Indochinese Union [c] [d] and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, [e] was a federation of French colonies and later associated states in Southeast Asia.
The first French colonial empire stretched to over 10,000,000 km 2 (3,900,000 sq mi) at its peak in 1710, which was the second largest colonial empire in the world, after the Spanish Empire. [33] [34] In the French colonial regions, the focus of the economy was on sugar plantations in the French West Indies.
French America (French: Amérique française), sometimes called Franco-America, in contrast to Anglo-America, is the French-speaking community of people and their diaspora, notably those tracing back origins to New France, the early French colonization of the Americas. The Canadian province of Quebec is the centre of the community and is the ...