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Currently, the only remnants of what was once a large empire are four overseas departments - the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and the small South American mainland possession of French Guiana; 3 overseas territories: French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New CaledoniaNew Caledonia ( French: Nouvelle-Caledonie is a territory of 18,575 km² (7,172 sq. miles) made up of a main island and several smaller islands, in the southwest Pacific. Population in 2004 is in between 250,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. Name The name deriv; and two territorial collectivities: MayotteMayotte is an overseas collectivity of France at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique, near (and formerly part of) the Comoros. History Mayotte was ceded to France along with t in the Indian Ocean and St. Pierre and Miquelon near NewfoundlandThis is about the island in Canada. For the Canadian province of Newfoundland see Newfoundland and Labrador. For other meanings of Newfoundland see Newfoundland (disambiguation). Newfoundland is a large island off the north-east coast of North America, an. All of these enjoy full political representation at the national level, as well as varying degrees of legislative autonomy.
The early voyages of Giovanni da VerrazanoGiovanni da Verrazano (his last name is also spelled Verrazzano) was born, on his family's castle, Castello Verrazzano, near Val di Greve, 30 miles south of Florence. His date of birth is uncertain, but was around 1485. Upon reaching his majority (also ar and Jacques CartierJacques Cartier ( Saint-Malo, France, December 31, 1491 January 19 1557) was a French explorer who is popularly thought of one of the major discoverers of Canada, or more specifically, the interior region that would be part of the first area that could be in the early 16th century15th century 16th century 17th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. Events Beginning of the " Little Ice Age" a cooling period that resulted in lower crop yi, as well as the frequent voyages of French fishermen to the Grand BanksThe Grand Banks are a group of underwater plateaus southeast of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from 25 to 100 metres in depth. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the G off Newfoundland throughout that century, were the precursors to the story of France's colonial expansion. But Spain's jealous protection of its American monopoly, and the disruptions caused in France itself by the Wars of Religion in the later 16th century, prevented any consistent efforts to establish colonies. Early French attempts to found colonies in Brazil, in 1555 at Rio de Janeiro (the so-called France Antarctique) and in 1612 at São Luís (the so-called France Équinoxiale), and in Florida were unsuccessful, due to Portuguese and Spanish vigilance.
The story of France's colonial empire truly began on July 27, 1605 with the foundation of Port Royal in the colony of Acadia in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. A few years later, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec, which was to become the capital of the enormous, but sparsely settled, fur-trading colony of New France (also called Canada).
Although, through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a loose control over much of the North American continent, areas of French settlement were generally limited to the St. Lawrence River valley. Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council , the territories of New France was developped as mercantile colonies. It is only after the arrival of intendant Jean Talon that France gave its American colonies the proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British. For most of the history of New France, even Canada was far behind the British North American colonies in both population and economic development. Acadia itself was lost to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded still further with the foundation of Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Although the colony claimed control over the whole watershed of the Mississippi, effective control was only exerted in a small coastal region, near the cities of Mobile and New Orleans (founded 1718).
As the French empire in North America expanded, the French also began to build a smaller, but more profitable empire in the West Indies. Settlement along the South American coast in what is today French Guiana began in 1624, and a colony was founded on Saint Kitts in 1627 (the island had to be shared with the English until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, when it was ceded outright). The Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique founded colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1635, and a colony was later founded on Saint Lucia ( 1650). The most important colonial possession, though, did not come until 1664, when the colony of Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti) was founded on the western half of the Spanish island of Hispaniola. In the 18th century, Saint-Domingue grew to be the richest sugar colony in the Caribbean.
French colonial expansion was not limited to the New World, however. In Senegal in West Africa, the French began to establish trading posts along the coast in 1624. In 1664 the French East India Company was established to compete for trade in the east. Colonies were established in India in Chandernagore in Bengal ( 1673) and Pondicherry in the Southeast ( 1674), and later at Yanam ( 1723), Mahe ( 1725), and Karikal ( 1739) (see French India). Colonies were also founded in the Indian Ocean, on the Île de Bourbon ( Réunion, 1664), Île Royale ( Mauritius, 1718), and the Seychelles ( 1756).
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