France: Former colonial possessions overseas

Last modified: 2005-07-09 by ivan sache
Keywords: french colonies |
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• The French colonial empire
  • French colonies in the Americas
  • French colonies in Asia
  • French colonies in Africa
  • French colonies in the Indian Ocean
  • French colonies in the Pacific Ocean
• Flags used in the French colonies

See also:

• France
• French colonial flags
• France: Registration flags for merchant vessels in the French colonies

The French colonial empire

French colonies in the Americas

Nouvelle France (New France). In its narrowest sense, this term refers only to the French colony of Canada. Indeed, some old maps show the inscription Nouvellle-France ou Canada. In its usual sense, the term refers to the three main North American colonies: Canada, Acadia and Louisiana (see below). In its most inclusive sense (used by Marc Lescarbot in 1609 in his Histoire de la Nouvelle- France, the term refers to all the French possessions in the Americas (French Guiana and Caribbeans included; Lescarbot even includes settlement attempts in Florida).

Canada (1534-1763). Originally this term referred to the valley of the Saint Lawrence river (today's southern Quebec). As settlement progressed westward in places like Detroit and Michilimackinac, Canada came to include the Great Lakes area as well (today's southern Ontario and adjacent parts of the USA). Some old French maps also consider today's New Brunswick as part of Canada (see below Acadia). Note that though "discovered" in 1534, the first trading post (Tadoussac) was only established in 1600, and the first permanent s