List of French colonies
This is an historical article. For current French possessions see French overseas departments and territories
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the French colonial empire was the second largest colonial empire behind the British Empire ; it extended over 12,898,000 km2 (4,980,000 sq mi) of land at its height in the 1920s and 1930s. In terms of population however, on the eve of World War II, France and her colonial possessions totaled only 110 million inhabitants, compared to 330 million for British India alone.
France began to establish colonies in North America, the Caribbean and India, following Spanish and Portuguese successes during the Age of Discovery, in rivalry with Britain. A series of wars with Britain during the 18th century and early 19th century, which France finally lost, almost ended its colonial ambitions in these regions, and without it what some historian term the "first" French colonial empire. In the 19th century, starting with the conquest of Algier in 1830, France began to establish a new empire in Africa and South East Asia.
The following is a list of all the countries that were part of the French colonial empires in the last 500 years, either entirely or in part, either under French sovereignty or as mandate.
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