The Second French Colonial Empire: A Historical Overview
There is an astonishing dearth of cohesive information on France’s Second Colonial Empire — that is, its regime of overseas possessions from 1830 (the beginning of the conquest of Algeria) to 1980 (the independence of Vanuatu, its most recent former ex-colony). In school, students learn a cursory overview of France’s 19th and 20th century empire by analyzing maps of Africa and Asia in contrast with the possessions of the British Empire (Britain’s colonies are usually colored red, France’s blue). I have sought to write a concise overview of how France’s Second Colonial Empire originated, was organized, and evolved over time.
The Second French Colonial Empire (not to be confused with the Second French Empire, a political regime under the rule of Napoleon III that partially coincided with this colonial period) can be generally divided into two large geographic regions: its African possessions (North Africa, West Africa, and other African colonies such as Djibouti and Madagascar) and its Asian possessions and sphere of influence (Indochina, southern China, and the French Pacific islands).
French Africa
French North Africa
France’s activity in Africa had long roots running from the early modern era, with military and diplomatic activity along the Mediterranean coast and interactions with the Ottoman Empire. However, the decisive moment that sparked the rise of the Second French Empire was the invasion of Algeria in 1830. This effort originated from a dispute with the local ruler of Algeria and persisted among intense civil strife within France itself in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and various restoration attempts of both the ancien regime monarchy as well as the imperial regime. Algeria is among the most well-known of France’s former possessions because it became a settler colony: a colonial possession where the French government endorsed emigration of French people from France to Algeria. French settlers ultimately comprised around 10% of the total population by the end of the Algerian War of Independence.
The conquest of Algeria was piecemeal, beginning with the capture of Algiers on the Mediterranean. While the complete pacification of Algeria technically lasted until the end of the century, much of the conquest of the populated areas was completed by 1847.
The French also rapidly conquered Tunisia in 1881 in the aftermath of the subjugation of Algeria. Both economic motives and political goals of adding to their Algerian foothold in North Africa were behind this decision to create a French “Protectorate” in this area. The French also established a protectorate in Morocco beginning in the early 20th century.
French North Africa, “Afrique du Nord Francais,” was never a combined entity as we will observe with its other African territories. Algeria became part of the French metropole, treated as extension of France itself. Morocco and Tunisia remained separate protectorates until their independence in the decolonization era.
French West Africa
French West Africa originated in Senegal, a territory that continued to be the primary center of this colonial region throughout its existence. France’s presence in Senegal originated in the 17th century, but even by the late 19th century their penetration into the African interior was only limited to a few dozen miles up the Senegal River. This was a trend common to European territory in Africa prior to the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. However, during the Scramble for Africa at this time, European conquest of the interior erupted into a frenzy. France quickly expanded into the heart of Western Africa, seeking to link Algeria to its territory in Senegal. From there, French colonialists turned to identifying and conquering the upper reaches of the great Niger River (Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa, 164). Visions of a “Trans-Sahara Railway” linking the Mediterranean to the Niger dominated the continued efforts to consolidate territory in this region (The Scramble for Africa, 167). By 1895, the French organized eight new West African colonies into the Afrique-Occidentale Francais, or the AOF. This federation of colonies was ruled from Senegal (Saint-Louis and then Dakar).
French Equatorial Africa
Less-discussed is French Equatorial Africa, or France’s colonial possessions toward the center of the continent. The French explorer Pierre de Brazza was instrumental in deriving French control over this region; through his travels and exploits in the region in the late 19th century, France was able to obtain informal influence in this part of Africa, which eventually culminated in more consolidated control after the Berlin Conference. Establishing four colonies across modern-day Chad, Congo, and Gabon, the French created another federation in 1910 in the style of the AOF, this time referred to as the AEF.
Both the AOF and AEF had fairly organized systems of colonial administration, with each colony within the federation being controlled by a lieutenant-governor, and then the larger federation being ruled by a governor-general. The governor-generals of the AOF and AEF ruled from Dakar, Senegal, and Brazzaville, French Congo, respectively.
Other French African Possessions
Outside of northern, western, and equatorial Africa, France retained possessions in Djibouti and Madagascar, conquering the former in 1884 and naming it “French Somaliland.” France gradually increased its control over Madagascar across the late 19th century, first establishing a protectorate in 1882 and subsequently a full colony by 1896.
France’s African colonies were unique in their level of administrative organization, in surprising contrast with the much more ad-hoc structures of the British colonial administrations on the continent. What is also remarkable is the large swathe of territory conquered and consolidated in a mere two-to-three decades, with the exception of Algeria, the only colonial possession whose incursion preceded the true “scramble for Africa” beginning in the 1870s. France’s vast empire in Africa crumbled only after the Second World War at the height of the era of decolonization; Algeria’s independence proved to be the most catastrophic blow to the metropole, as the war triggered civil strife and even regime change in France itself in the 1960s.
French Asia
Indochina and China
Like Algeria, France also began an incursion into Southeast Asia before the era of “high imperialism” (the late 19th and early 20th centuries). In the mid-19th century, as the various European powers began increasing their influence over trade in China, the French became interested in Southeast Asia, particularly Indochina, as a potential market route into China (Christopher Goscha, History Extra Podcast: The First Vietnam War). France first invaded southern Vietnam in the 1850s and under Napoleon III annexed “Cochinchina,” an area encompassing much of the Mekong River delta (including Saigon). In the 1860s, it added Cambodia as a protectorate. After further gradual expansion in the 1880s and 1890s, the French retained control several distinct colonial possessions: one colony (Cochinchina), four protectorates: Tonkin, in northern Vietnam; Annam, in central Vietnam; Laos; and Cambodia; as well as the territory of Guangzhouwan, a Chinese coastal region leased to France for 99 years (in a similar style as British Hong Kong). In 1887, the French established a federation of these colonies and territories (in a similar fashion as their African colonial federations) known as the Indochinese Union, or simply Indochina.
According to Christopher Goscha, the French used a combination of administrative methods in Indochina, in accordance with the varying statuses of their colonial possessions. Protectorates allowed local monarchies to remain in-tact, allowing the French to rule indirectly. In Cochinchina (southern Vietnam), the French retained much more direct control.
These patterns of colonial administration remained more or less consistent across France’s empire. One article on this subject explains how during the early years of many of these colonies in both Asia and Africa, colonial guidance was dependent on the French Navy, which had the highest degree of supervision and direct control in a time before advanced administrative apparatuses. The organization of federations in West Africa, Equatorial Africa, and Indochina allowed for a more consistent and cohesive approach to colonial governance, often making their ruling governor-generals both “military pro-consuls of empire and civil representatives of republican presidents.”
Other French Colonies
Island Possessions
Outside of its most significant colonies in Africa and Asia, the Second French Colonial Empire also retained control over a large number of islands and archipelagos across the globe. France fought a war with and conquered Tahiti in the 1840s, establishing what to this day remains the bulk of French Polynesia. The 19th century also saw the annexation of New Caledonia and the Leeward Islands, and the creation of an Anglo-French Condominium in the New Hebrides, another unique structure in colonial history that allowed two powers to share control over a territory.
Middle Eastern Mandates
Finally, France’s modern colonial empire also took brief control over territories in the Middle East in the aftermath of World War I. As part of the League of Nations’ project to administer newly created territories ceded from the Central Powers, France acquired modern-day Syria and Lebanon as a mandate. Mandates were a fascinating artifact of colonial history; due to varying international pressures, including the United States’ desire to bring self-rule to many formerly subjugated areas under Woodrow Wilson, Britain and France both agreed to establish colonial mandates in the Middle East where they would both enjoy temporary colonial control over newly organized lands previously occupied by the Ottomans. France’s colonial mandate in Syria and Lebanon was uniquely provided a path toward total sovereignty, which it achieved later after the Second World War. However, in the interwar years, this mandate remained another type of colonial possession within France’s Second Colonial Empire.
Imperial Denouement
France’s decolonization process is arguably more discussed and better understood than its acquisition of its imperial possessions. World War II drastically weakened France’s ability to retain control over its global colonies, despite post-war French leaders’ desire to hold on to the empire. Indochina collapsed in the aftermath of the victory of the Viet Minh over the French Army in 1954, creating sovereign countries from its former colonies. French Africa gradually obtained independence through the mid-20th century, with the Algerian War of Independence being the most violent and destructive campaign for self-rule. Much of West Africa today remains under the shadow of Francafrique, a concept referring to the still-standing French sphere of influence over the region.
