2. Political
The French Empire started on July 27,
1605 when Acadia was founded
(Canada). The French Empire consisted
of lands around the world that retained
its power starting in the 1600s to
the1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries,
the French Empire was the second
powerful nation with the British Empire
as the number one in the world. As the
Age of Discovery dawned, France set its
sights on the Caribbean while England,
Spain, and Portugal went for the
Americas. This began a rivalry between
England and France through wars in the
1700s and 1800s. In the end, France lost
motivation to continue to pursue more
land in the Americas and historians
believe this was the marker for when the
first French empire died. In the 19th
century, France worked to build a new
empire in Africa of which they were
successful.
3. Economic Influences
Starting in the 1500s, boating and
fisherman were key components to the
French economy. In 1608, France
founded Quebec which would become
the fur-trade center for the French
Empire. In the Americas, France
focused on fur trade more than
agriculture because there wasn’t a very
large population of French living in the
New World. The French had to rely on
the Native people for their food supply
and received the reputation of being the
most humane to the Indians than their
rivals, the English and Spanish. Another
advantage that the French had over the
English, is that the French wanted to
befriend the Indians instead of taking
over their lands.
4. Economic Influence
In 1663, New France was turning into
mercantile colonies. In 1699, the French
added Louisiana to it’s empire which
helped the French trading to be expanded
over a large area of land in which was very
profitable to the economy of France.
France gained revenues from it’s colonies
in the Caribbean through food production.
These colonies were French Guiana
(1624), Saint Kitts (1625), Guadeloupe and
Martinique (1635), and Saint Lucia (1650).
All these colonies relied on African slave
labor to produce the food crops. Another
colony that was important to the French
economy was Saint Domingue or known as
Haiti. Saint Domingue became a sugar
production colony. In 1791, France began
to loose Saint Domingue to the slave
revolts as response to the French
Revolution in 1789. By 1801, France had
completely lost the important Saint
Domingue which was the France’s
wealthiest colonies.
5. French Relations
In the late 16th to early 17th century,
France looked to settle in Brazil, Rio
de Janeiro, and Florida, but were
countered by Spain and Portugal’s
drive to keep their monopoly of land
in the Americas. As France entered
into the 18th century, it faced the
ultimate fall of its first empire. This
fall was from conflicts with the
British in a series of multiple wars
spread over 71 years. These wars
started in 1744 with the War of
Austrian Succession, the Seven Years’
War, the American Revolutionary
War, the French Revolutionary War,
and the Napoleonic Wars. All these
conflicts combined are known as the
Second Hundred Years’ War.
6. French Relations
As a result of the Seven Years’ War
of 1756–1763, France lost New
France, colonies in North America,
influence in India, and most of its
Caribbean colonies to Britain.
Heading into the 19th century,
Britain had captured all of the
remaining French colonies, which
were given back to France in 1802
when the Peace of Amiens was
signed. Shortly after in 1803,
Britain took back the French
colonies once again. When the end
of the Napoleonic Wars was
nearing, Britain restored to France
Guadalupe, Martinique, French
Guiana, Senegal trading posts,
Reunion, and Indian possessions.
7. Geography
Over the 16th to 19th
centuries, the French Empire
was composed of St.
Lawrence River
Valley, Acadia, Louisiana
(1699), French Guiana
(1624), Saint Kitts
(1625), Guadalupe
(1635), Martinique
(1635), Saint Lucia
(1650), Saint-Domingue
(1664), Senegal
(1624), Chandernagore in
1673, Pondicherry in
1647, Yaman in 1723, Mahe
in 1725, Karikal in 1739.
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8. Geography
Reunion (1664), Mauritius
(1718), Seychelles in 1756,
Egypt (1789), Cochinchina
(1867), Cambodia (1863),
French Indochina (1887),
Laos (1893), Kwang-Chou-
Wan (1900), Shanghai
concession (1849-1946),
Tunisia (1881), Mauritania,
Guinea, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire,
Benin, Niger, Chad, Central
African Republic, Republic of
Congo, and French
Somaliland.
