French Africa

All the historic holdings of France on the African continent

For varieties of French spoken in Africa, see African French.

French Africa includes all the historic holdings of France on the African continent.

## Françafrique

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Map of French colonies in Africa (in green), c. 1922

Main articles: French North Africa and Françafrique

### French North Africa

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* Egypt  (1798-1801)
* French Algeria (1830–1962)
* Protectorate of Tunisia (1881–1956)
* Protectorate in Morocco (1912–1956)
* Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames (1943–1951)

### French West Africa

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Main articles: French West Africa and Scramble for Africa

* Ivory Coast (1843–1960)
* Dahomey or French Dahomey (now Benin) (1883–1960)
* Independent of Dahomey, under French protectorate in 1889
* Porto-Novo (protectorate) (1863–1865, 1882)
* Cotonou (protectorate) (1868)
* French Sudan (now Mali) (1883–1960)
* Senegambia and Niger (1902–1904)
* Guinea or French Guinea (1891–1958)
* Mauritania (1902–1960)
* Adrar emirate (protectorate) (1909)
* The Taganit confederation's emirate (protectorate) (1905)
* Brakna confederation's emirate (protectorate)
* Emirate of Trarza (protectorate) (1902)
* Niger (1890–1960)
* Sultanate of Damagaram (Zinder) (protectorate) (1899)
* Senegal (1677–1960)
* French Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) (1896–1960)
* French Togoland (1918–1960) (formerly a German colony, mandate became a French colony) (now Togo)
* Nigeria
* The Enclaves of Forcados and Badjibo (territory under a lease of 30 years) (1900–1927)
* The Emirate of Muri (Northeast of Nigeria) (1892–1893)
* Gambia
* Albreda (1681–1857)
* Kunta Kinteh Island (1695–1697, 1702)

### French Equatorial Africa

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Main articles: French Equatorial Africa and Scramble for Africa

* Chad (1900–1960)
* Oubangui-Chari (currently Central African Republic) (1905–1960)
* Dar al Kuti (protectorate) (1897) (in 1912 its sultanate was suppressed by the French)
* Sultanate of Bangassou (protectorate) (1894)
* Present-day The Republic of Congo, then French Congo (1875–1960)
* Gabon (1839–1960)
* French Cameroon (91% of current Cameroon) (1918–1960) (formerly a German colony, Mandate, Protectorate then French Colony)
* São Tomé and Príncipe (1709)

### East Africa and Indian Ocean

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Further information: Scramble for Africa

* Madagascar (1896–1960)
* Kingdom of Imerina (protectorate) (1896)
* Isle de France (1715–1810) (now Mauritius)
* Djibouti (French Somaliland) (the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas) (French Somalia) (1862–1977)
* French Egypt (1798–1801, 1858–1882, 1956)
* Mayotte (1841–present)
* Seychelles (1756–1810)
* Chagos Archipelago (1721–1745, 1768–1814)
* The Scattered Islands (Banc du Geyser, Bassas da India, Europa Island, Juan de Nova Island, Glorioso Islands, Tromelin Island)
* Comoros (1866–1975)
* Réunion (1710–present)

## See also

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* French colonial empire
* History of Africa
* Overseas France
* Scramble for Africa
* Troupes coloniales – French colonial forces

## References

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## Further reading

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* Langley, Michael. "Bizerta to the Bight: The French in Africa." History Today. (Oct 1972), pp 733–739. covers 1798 to 1900.
* Hutton, Patrick H. ed. Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870–1940 (2 vol 1986)
* Northcutt, Wayne, ed. Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946– 1991 (1992)
* Singh, Gurjit. "France in Africa: Trying a youthful look, Gateway House, 21 October 2021" online; Available at SSRN

### Policies and colonies

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* Aldrich, Robert. Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996)
* Baumgart, Winfried. Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion, 1880–1914 (1982)
* Betts, Raymond. Tricouleur: The French Overseas Empire (1978), 174pp
* Betts, Raymond. Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890–1914 (2005) excerpt and text search
* Chafer, Tony (2002). The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization?. Berg. ISBN 9781859735572.
* Clayton, Anthony. The Wars of French Decolonization (1995)
* Cogneau, Denis, et al. "Taxation in Africa from Colonial Times to Present Evidence from former French colonies 1900-2018." (2021): online
* Conklin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895–1930 (1997) online
* Evans, Martin. "From colonialism to post-colonialism: the French empire since Napoleon." in Martin S. Alexander, ed., French History since Napoleon (1999) pp: 391–415.
* Gamble, Harry. Contesting French West Africa: Battles over Schools and the Colonial Order, 1900–1950 (U of Nebraska Press, 2017). 378 pp. online review
* Jennings, Eric T. Imperial Heights: Dalat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina (2010).
* Lawrence, Adria. Imperial rule and the politics of nationalism: anti-colonial protest in the French empire (Cambridge UP, 2013).
* Newbury, C. W.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1969). "French Policy and the Origins of the Scramble for West Africa". The Journal of African History. 10 (2): 253–276\. doi:10.1017/S0021853700009518. JSTOR 179514. S2CID 162656377..
* Klein, Martin A. Slavery and colonial rule in French West Africa (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
* Manning, Patrick. Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa 1880-1995 (Cambridge UP, 1998).
* Neres, Philip. French-speaking West Africa: From Colonial Status to Independence (1962)
* Priestley, Herbert Ingram. France overseas: a study of modern imperialism (1938) 464pp.
* Quinn, Frederick. The French Overseas Empire (2000)
* Pakenham, Thomas (1991). The Scramble for Africa, 1876–1912. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-51576-2..
* Poddar, Prem, and Lars Jensen, eds., A historical companion to postcolonial literatures: Continental Europe and Its Empires (Edinburgh UP, 2008), excerpt also entire text online
* Petringa, Maria (2006). Brazzà, a life for Africa. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 1-4259-1198-6. OCLC 74651678.
* Priestley, Herbert Ingram. (1938) France overseas;: A study of modern imperialism 463pp; encyclopedic coverage as of late 1930s
* Roberts, Stephen H. History of French Colonial Policy (1870-1925) (2 vol 1929) vol 1 online also vol 2 online; Comprehensive scholarly history
* Segalla, Spencer (2009). The Moroccan Soul: French Education, Colonial Ethnology, and Muslim Resistance, 1912–1956. Lincoln: Nebraska UP. ISBN 978-0-8032-1778-2..
* Strother, Christian. "Waging War on Mosquitoes: Scientific Research and the Formation of Mosquito Brigades in French West Africa, 1899–1920." Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences (2016): jrw005.
* Thomas, Martin. The French Empire Between the Wars: Imperialism, Politics and Society (2007) covers 1919–1939
* Thompson, Virginia, and Richard Adloff. French West Africa (Stanford UP, 1958).
* Wesseling, H.L. and Arnold J. Pomerans. Divide and rule: The partition of Africa, 1880–1914 (Praeger, 1996.)
* Wesseling, H.L. The European Colonial Empires: 1815–1919 (Routledge, 2015).

### Decolonization

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* Betts, Raymond F. Decolonization (2nd ed. 2004)
* Betts, Raymond F. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960 (1991)
* Chafer, Tony. The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonization (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2002).
* Chamberlain, Muriel E. ed. Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 2014)
* Clayton, Anthony. The wars of French decolonization (Routledge, 2014).
* Cooper, Frederick. "French Africa, 1947–48: Reform, Violence, and Uncertainty in a Colonial Situation." Critical Inquiry (2014) 40#4 pp: 466–478. in JSTOR
* Ikeda, Ryo. The Imperialism of French Decolonisation: French Policy and the Anglo-American Response in Tunisia and Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
* Jansen, Jan C. & Jürgen Osterhammel. Decolonization: A Short History (Princeton UP, 2017). online
* Jones, Max, et al. "Decolonising imperial heroes: Britain and France." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 42#5 (2014): 787–825.
* Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews
* McDougall, James. "The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonization of France, 1945–1962," The Journal of Modern History 89#4 (December 2017) pp 772–811 excerpt
* Rothermund, Dietmar. Memories of Post-Imperial Nations: The Aftermath of Decolonization, 1945–2013 (2015) excerpt; Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
* Rothermund, Dietmar. The Routledge companion to decolonization (Routledge, 2006), comprehensive global coverage; 365pp
* Shepard, Todd. The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France (2006)
* Simpson, Alfred William Brian. Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention (Oxford University Press, 2004).
* Smith, Tony. "A comparative study of French and British decolonization." Comparative Studies in Society and History (1978) 20#1 pp: 70–102. online Archived 2015-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
* Smith, Tony. "The French Colonial Consensus and People's War, 1946–58." Journal of Contemporary History (1974): 217–247. in JSTOR
* Thomas, Martin, Bob Moore, and Lawrence J. Butler. Crises of Empire: Decolonization and Europe's imperial states (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015)
* Von Albertini, Rudolf. Decolonization: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960 (Doubleday, 1971), scholarly analysis of French policies, pp 265–469..

### Images and impact on France

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* Andrew, Christopher M., and Alexander Sydney Kanya-Forstner. "France, Africa, and the First World War." Journal of African History 19.1 (1978): 11–23.
* Andrew, C. M.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1976). "French Business and the French Colonialists". Historical Journal. 19 (4): 981–1000\. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00010803. S2CID 159812995.. online
* Andrew, C. M., and A. S. Kanya-Forstner. "The French 'Colonial Party': Its Composition, Aims and Influence, 1885-1914." Historical Journal 14#1 (1971): 99–128. online.
* August, Thomas G. The Selling of the Empire: British and French Imperialist Propaganda, 1890–1940 (1985)
* Chafer, Tony, and Amanda Sackur. Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda and Visions of Empire in France (2002)
* Confer, Vincent (1964). "French Colonial Ideas before 1789". French Historical Studies. 3 (3): 338–359\. doi:10.2307/285947. JSTOR 285947..
* Conkin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895-1930 (1997) online
* Dobie, Madeleine. Trading Places: Colonization & Slavery in 18th-Century French Culture (2010)
* Martin, Guy (1985). "The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases of France's African Policy". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 23 (2): 189–208\. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00000148. S2CID 154727976..
* Rosenblum, Mort. Mission to Civilize: The French Way (1986) online review
* Rothermund, Dietmar. Memories of Post-Imperial Nations: The Aftermath of Decolonization, 1945–2013 (2015) excerpt; Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
* Singer, Barnett, and John Langdon. Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire (2008)
* Thomas, Martin, ed. The French Colonial Mind, Volume 1: Mental Maps of Empire and Colonial Encounters (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) (2012); The French Colonial Mind, Volume 2: Violence, Military Encounters, and Colonialism (2012)

### Historiography and memoir

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* Bennington, Alice. "Writing Empire? The Reception of Post-Colonial Studies in France." Historical Journal (2016) 59#4: 1157–1186. abstract
* Emerson, Rupert (1969). "Colonialism". Journal of Contemporary History. 4 (1): 3–16\. doi:10.1177/002200946900400101. S2CID 220878619..
* Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews

Wikimedia Commons has media related to French colonial empire.

* v
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French overseas empire

Former|

* v
* t
* e

Former French colonies in Africa and the Indian Ocean

North Africa|

* Algeria
* Morocco
* Tunisia

West Africa|

* Côte d'Ivoire
* Dahomey
* Sudan
* Guinea
* Mauritania
* Arguin Island
* Niger
* Senegal
* Four Communes
* Upper Volta
* Togoland
* James Island
* Albreda

Equatorial Africa|

* Chad
* Gabon
* Middle Congo
* Ubangi-Shari
* Cameroons

Comoros|

* Anjouan
* Grande Comore
* Mohéli

* Somaliland (Djibouti)
* Madagascar
* Isle de France

* v
* t
* e

Former French colonies in the Americas

French North America|

* Acadia
* Louisiana
* Canada
* Terre Neuve
* French Florida
* French Texas

French Caribbean|

* Dominica
* Grenada
* The Grenadines
* Saint-Domingue
* Haïti, Dominican Republic
* Saint Kitts & Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent
* Tobago
* Virgin Islands

Equinoctial France|

* Berbice
* France Antarctique
* Inini

* French colonization of the Americas
* French West India Company

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* e

Former French colonies in Asia and Oceania

French India|

* Chandernagor
* Coromandel Coast
* Madras
* Mahé
* Pondichéry
* Karaikal
* Yanaon

Indochinese Union|

* Cambodia
* Laos
* Vietnam
* Cochinchina
* Annam
* Tonkin
* Kouang-Tchéou-Wan

Mandate for Syria
and the Lebanon|

* State of Syria
* Aleppo
* Damascus
* Alawite State
* Greater Lebanon
* Jabal al-Druze
* Sanjak of Alexandretta

Oceania|

* New Hebrides
* Vanuatu
* Port Louis-Philippe (Akaroa)

* France–Asia relations
* Louis XIV's East India Company

Present|

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* t
* e

Overseas France

Inhabited territories

| Overseas regions1|

* French Guiana
* Guadeloupe
* Martinique
* Mayotte2
* Réunion

|

Overseas collectivities|

* French Polynesia
* Saint Barthélemy
* Saint Martin
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Wallis and Futuna

Sui generis collectivity|

* New Caledonia

Uninhabited territories

| North Pacific Ocean|

* Clipperton Island

|

Overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands)|

* Adélie Land
* Crozet Islands
* French domains of Saint Helena
* French domains of the Holy Land
* Kerguelen Islands
* Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands

Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean|

* Bassas da India3
* Europa Island3
* Glorioso Islands2, 3
* Banc du Geyser
* Juan de Nova Island3
* Tromelin Island4

* 1 Also known as overseas departments
* 2 Claimed by the Comoros
* 3 Claimed by Madagascar
* 4 Claimed by Mauritius

* v
* t
* e

Overseas France

Inhabited territories

| Overseas regions1|

* French Guiana
* Guadeloupe
* Martinique
* Mayotte2
* Réunion

|

Overseas collectivities|

* French Polynesia
* Saint Barthélemy
* Saint Martin
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Wallis and Futuna

Sui generis collectivity|

* New Caledonia

Uninhabited territories

| North Pacific Ocean|

* Clipperton Island

|

Overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands)|

* Adélie Land
* Crozet Islands
* French domains of Saint Helena
* French domains of the Holy Land
* Kerguelen Islands
* Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands

Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean|

* Bassas da India3
* Europa Island3
* Glorioso Islands2, 3
* Banc du Geyser
* Juan de Nova Island3
* Tromelin Island4

* 1 Also known as overseas departments
* 2 Claimed by the Comoros
* 3 Claimed by Madagascar
* 4 Claimed by Mauritius

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* e

History of Africa

Sovereign states|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Republic of the Congo
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Eswatini
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

States with limited
recognition

* Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
* Somaliland

Dependencies and
other territories

* Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain)
* Madeira (Portugal)
* Mayotte / Réunion (France)
* Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)
* Western Sahara

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Africa articles

History|

| Chronology|

* Antiquity
* North Africa
* Archaeology
* Pre-colonial kingdoms
* Empires
* Sahelian
* Indian Ocean trade
* Bantu expansion
* Muslim conquest
* European exploration
* European colonisation
* Slavery
* Atlantic
* Barbary
* Indian Ocean
* Trans-Saharan
* Scramble for Africa
* Decolonisation

|

By topic|

* Economy
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* Historiography
* Military
* conflicts
* Science and technology

By region|

* Central
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Geography|

* Countries and territories
* Highest points
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Politics|

* African Union
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Economy|

* Central banks
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Society|

* Abortion
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* Climate change
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Culture|

* Africanfuturism
* Architecture
* Art
* Cinema
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* Literature
* Media
* Music
* Philosophy
* World Heritage Sites

Sport|

* Africa Cricket Association
* African Games
* Afro-Asian Games
* Australian-rules football
* Confederation of African Football
* FIBA Africa
* Rugby Africa
* Stadiums by capacity
* Tour d'Afrique

Demographics|

* Countries by population
* density
* Emigration
* Ethnic groups
* HIV/AIDS
* Life expectancy
* Urbanization
* cities
* urban areas
* Youth in Africa

By year|

* 2005
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