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The French first came to the New World as travelers seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and wealth. Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I, King of France. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean.
These became the most enduring alliances between the French and the First Nation community. The French were, however, under pressure from religious orders to convert them to Catholicism. [17] 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 ...
The total area of the French colonial empire, with the first (mainly in the Americas and Asia) and second (mainly in Africa and Asia), the French colonial empires combined, reached 24,000,000 km 2 (9,300,000 sq mi), the second largest in the world (the first being the British Empire).
In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. In the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over 10,000,000 square kilometres (3,900,000 sq mi), the second-largest empire in the world at the time behind the Spanish Empire.
The first French colonial empire stretched to over 10,000,000 km 2 (3,900,000 sq mi) at its peak in 1710, which was the second largest colonial empire in the world, after the Spanish Empire. [33] [34] In the French colonial regions, the focus of the economy was on sugar plantations in the French West Indies.
In the 19th century, starting with the Occupation of Algeria in 1830, France began to establish a new empire in Africa and Southeast Asia. The following is a list of all countries that were part of the French colonial empires from 1534; 491 years ago () to the present, either entirely or in part, either under French sovereignty or as mandate.
The early 17th century saw the first successful French settlements in the New World with the voyages of Samuel de Champlain in 1608. [35] The largest settlement was New France . In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded still further, with the foundation of Louisiana .
The First French Empire [4] [a] or French Empire (French: Empire français; Latin: Imperium Francicum) and also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century.