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First French Colonial Empire - 1603-1803

The first French colonial empire began the annexation of its overseas territories during the Age of Discovery. As France competed with Great Britain and other powers, its empire collapsed just before the Napoleonic Wars. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, France acquired extensive possessions chiefly in North America and India. She lost most of these possessions, however, by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Most of her second colonial empire was acquired during the nineteenth century, and as a result of the Peace Treaties of 1919-21 further additions were made to her territories. In 1830, France began developing its second colonial empire, which became the French Union in 1946 and the French Community in 1958. The unification of France was finally completed under Louis XIV, as a result of the Thirty Years' War, which, ending in 1648, had given to Louis XIII and his ministers the opportunity of extending the borders of France at the expense of the Holy Roman Empire. Louis XIV developed the policy of aiming at what the French considered their natural eastern boundary, the Rhine. As a result of his successful policy, they were able to acquire Alsace-Lorraine, a region in which the Germanic language predominated. It is maintained by some that it was owing to his European policy that Louis was unable to give adequate support to the Indian and Colonial schemes of his minister Colbert. It was largely owing to this fact that Britain became predominant at sea, and that she was able thereby to replenish her resources constantly whilst those of France were being continually drained without being renewed. Thus, in order to obtain supplies, an undue strain was placed on the people who were chiefly dependent for their livelihood on agriculture, the mainstay of France. Like the other nations of Western Europe, the French entered upon a course of exploration and expansion in the fifteenth century. French colonial expansion may be divided into two periods. In the early part of the sixteenth century, France began to acquire her first colonial empire, and this period of colonisation lasted until shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century, when nearly all her possessions were lost owing to her wars with the English. France first showed interest in conquering new lands in the 16th century. Along with Portugal, Spain and England, France began developing new sea routes from Europe to India and East Asia. Throughout the first half of the 16th century, there was a gold rush in the Old World, with explorers searching for new territories rich in gold, silver, ivory, furs and spices. To justify their overseas expeditions, the French crown declared it a Civilising Mission. This mission included racism and the belief in white supremacy, as well as the idea that non-European societies were barbaric and needed European re-education. Racist thinkers like Arthur de Gobineau falsely claimed that people of colour were biologically inferior to white people. In the year 1500, intrepid Norman and Breton fishermen visited Newfoundland. In 1534, navigator Jacques Cartier embarked on several sea expeditions to the New World, which led to the discovery of Canada. The French crown named this newfound land New France and claimed it as its own. Colonial expansion became a significant factor in France's rise under Henry IV and Louis XIII. During the 17th century, France founded colonies in North America, such as Acadia (1603), Quebec (1608), Trois-Rivières (1634), Ville-Marie (Montreal) (1642), and other settlements in the St Lawrence River Valley and the Great Lakes region. It was not until 1608 that Quebec was founded by Champlain, and it was he who first reached the Great Lakes and who ascended the Richelieu river to the lake which bears his name. Subsequent French explorers followed the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes route right into the heart of the continent. They thus avoided the mountain-barrier of the Appalachians and were able to extend their territories, not only as far as Lake Superior, but also southwards down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, through a large area they established their chain of fur and trading stations and forts. By this means they hoped to cut off the English colonists, who were established along the eastern seaboard, from further expansion westwards. This all too rapid expansion weakened the French power in America, for these vast regions were far too great for the comparatively small French colonial population to develop. France also attempted to colonise Guiana and the Lesser Antilles, Martinique (1635), the northern part of the island of St Martin (1648), and Guadeloupe and the island of Grenada (1674). In 1678, France conquered the island of Tobago, and by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, the western part of the island of Saint-Dominique was recognised as French territory. During this period, the French were also acquiring possessions in India. The development of the French power in that country was largely due to Dupleix, who rose to the position of GovernorGeneral in 1742. He saw that a purely commercial policy was insufficient, and that it was impossible to avoid interference in native affairs. European governments did not yet understand the importance of foreign expansion, however, and Dupleix was not supported by his home authorities. After his recall on account of his defeat by Clive, the French power in India gradually declined. In Africa, too, the French were gradually obtaining a foothold. France actively pursued colonisation in West Africa, starting in 1637 with the development of the Gulf of Guinea coast. In 1637 Lambert sailed to the mouth of the Senegal, and, leaving his ship at the mouth of the river, he made his way up-stream in small boats for a considerable distance. The Senegal possessions were rather neglected for a time, until, owing to the need for obtaining slaves for their newly acquired West Indian islands, In the mid-18th century, French colonists began moving further into Africa. Additionally, France aimed to establish strongholds on islands along the sea routes to India. In 1638, the French occupied the island of Reunion, and between 1715 and 1722, they captured the island of Ile-de-France (now the Republic of Mauritius). In the first half of the 18th century, France established its strongholds on the coast of India, including Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe, Yanaon (now Yanam) and Chandernagore (now Chandannagar), collectively known as French India. Unlike the British Empire, which relied on local elites for administration, France chose direct administration through its governors and intendants from the start. Food plantations in Latin America, Africa and Asia were established and maintained using slave labor, with the supply of slaves relying on the African slave trade. Throughout the 17th to 19th centuries, France was driven by its desire to access and control the African slave trade. Poor living conditions, hunger and disease made slave labor in French colonies particularly hazardous. The French sent out André de Brüe in 1696; and he did much to expand and consolidate the West African territories. It was in the year following de Brüe's arrival in the Senegal that about a third of the island of Haiti, in the West Indies, was ceded to the French. In the first half of the seventeenth century, Madagascar had been annexed, and Mauritius, Réunion, and other islands had been acquired. At the same time the French continued to expand their West African possessions until 1758, when they were, during the earlier part of the Seven Years' War, captured by the British. This, however, was only one of the many disasters suffered by the French. They were defeated in India, whilst in 1759 Wolfe captured Quebec. By the Treaty of Paris (1763) France lost Canada and Nova Scotia, as well as most of her possessions in India. She also lost the West Indian islands of Grenada, Tobago, Dominica, and St. Vincent, as well as the Senegal territories. She retained, however, Martinique and Guadeloupe in the West Indies. The general opinion is that, owing to his obsession in the matter of European expansion, Louis XIV was greatly to be blamed for the lack of support accorded to those who were anxious to advance the overseas interests of France. After his death in 1715, the financial state of France was so unsatisfactory that the very genuine desire of Frenchmen to build on the foundations already laid ended in catastrophe. Under the Paris Peace Treaty of 1763, which ended France's unsuccessful Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, all French territories in North and Central America were ceded to Great Britain. The Treaty of Paris of 1814 established a new distribution of colonies, which was further revised in the final act of the Congress of Vienna of 1814-1815 and in the Second Treaty of Paris of 1815. By 1815, the few remaining French overseas possessions had fewer than one million inhabitants, compared to the 35 million in the early 18th century. With the end of the Napoleonic wars and the fall of the Bonaparte regime, the French colonial empire effectively ceased to exist. The French revolution of the 18th century brought significant changes to French colonial policy. The Declaration of the Rights and Liberties of Man and of the Citizen (1789) proclaimed the abolition of slavery in the colonies and the prohibition of the slave trade. This provision was later made into law by a government decree on February 4, 1794. However, in 1802, Napoleon I restored slavery in the colonies. In May 1803, fearing British occupation, Bonaparte authorised the cession of Louisiana to the United States for 80 million francs. One of the consequences of the revolution in France was the Haitian Slave Revolution of 1791-1803 on the island of Saint-Dominique, which led to the victory of the revolutionists and the declaration of independence of the Republic of Haiti.