The French Colonial Empire
Explore the French Colonial Empire — the vast overseas territories that made France the second-largest colonial power after Britain.
The French Colonial Empire, at its height in the 1920s and 1930s, was the second-largest in the world after the British Empire, encompassing territories across North and West Africa, Southeast Asia (Indochina), the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Middle East. France's 'civilizing mission' (mission civilisatrice) served as the ideological justification for colonial conquest.
France's colonial expansion accelerated dramatically during the Scramble for Africa (1880s–1900s). French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa together covered an area larger than the continental United States. In Southeast Asia, France created French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia). After World War I, France received League of Nations mandates over Syria and Lebanon from the defeated Ottoman Empire.
The empire's legacy is complex and contested. France built infrastructure, established education systems, and spread French language and culture — but primarily to serve colonial economic interests and strategic needs. Colonial rule was maintained through force, including brutal suppression of resistance movements. Decolonization, when it came, was often violent — particularly in Vietnam (1946–1954) and Algeria (1954–1962). The postcolonial relationship between France and its former colonies continues to generate debate.
Lessons covering this topic
Browse all lessons →The Scramble for Africa
The Berlin Conference and the partition of a continent.
Imperialism in Asia
The Great Game and the colonization of the East.
Mandates & the Middle East
Sykes-Picot, Balfour, and the seeds of modern conflict.