Movatterモバイル変換

France: Colonial Empire

• History of 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
• Governor-General's flag
  • Misattributed flag
• Governor's flag
• French Community of States (Communauté)

See also:

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

History of the French Colonial Empire

French colonies in the Americas

Nouvelle France (New France). In its narrowest sense, this term refers only tothe French colony of Canada. Indeed, some old maps show theinscriptionNouvellle-France ou Canada. In its usual sense, the termrefers to the three main North American colonies: Canada,Acadia andLouisiana (see below). In its most inclusive sense(used by Marc Lescarbot in 1609 in hisHistoire de la Nouvelle-France), the term refers to all the French possessions in theAmericas (French Guiana and Caribbeans included; Lescarbot evenincludes settlement attempts inFlorida).

Canada (1534-1763). Originally this term referred to thevalley of the Saint Lawrence river (today's southernQuebec). Assettlement progressed westward in places likeDetroit andMichilimackinac, Canada came to include the Great Lakes area as well(today's southernOntario and adjacent parts of the USA). Some oldFrench maps also consider today'sNew Brunswick as part of Canada(see below Acadia). Note that though "discovered" in 1534, the firsttrading post (Tadoussac) was only established in 1600, and the firstpermanent settlement (Quebec City) in 1608.

Acadie (Acadia, 1603-1713).In its narrowest sense, theterm refered to the peninsular part of modernNova Scotia, oftenwith adjacent areas in today's southernNew Brunswick. Though theysometimes had their own governors,Isle Royale andIsleSaint-Jean (today'sCape Breton andPrince Edward Island, respectively) are usually considered part of the French colony ofAcadia. After the British conquest of the area, British maps tendedto consider most of modern New Brunswick part of Nova Scotia. Inreality, most of it was a contested area between France and Englanduntil 1763, which explains why French maps tend to include what ismodern New Brunswick in colonial French Canada. Note that theoriginal colony settled on Sainte-Croix island (today inMaine, USA) in1603, moved in 1604 to Port-Royal (todayAnnapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) and finally the settlers moved again to found Quebec City in 1608. Themodern-dayAcadians are descendents from Frenchmen who settledmainly in the 1660s. Note also that until the French definitelygave up Acadia to the English, it changed hands six times betweenthe two European powers.

Louisiane (Louisiana). Originally, the French claimed all ofthe Mississippi valley from the Rocky Mountains to the top of theAppalachians as part of their Louisiana possession. In 1763, theylose the oriental half (east of the Mississippi, except forNewOrleans). The rest was bought from France by the USA in 1803 afterbeing under Spanish control for several decades. In this vastterritory however, the French only colonized two areas: what istoday southernLouisiana and an area known asLe pays desIllinois, centered around the current city ofSt. Louis,Missouri, which the French founded, and other nearby villages such as Sainte Geneviève, Missouri; Kaskaskia,Illinois;Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Cahokia, Illinois,Prairie du Rocher, Illinois. At the periphery, there were also settlements inVincennes,Indiana; Prairie du Chien,Wisconsin and inMinnesota.

Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland) was also French for a while, and includedSaint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and theÎles-de-la-Madeleine (Magdelena Islands), which today belong to Quebec.

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is the only territoryin North America left today under French sovereignty.

Luc Baronian, 23 April 2005

In the Carribean, the French Crown possessed variousislands.
The largest territory wasSaint-Domingue (today'sHaiti).
Guadeloupe's jurisdiction includedlaDésirade,Dominica,La Frégate,Marie-Galante,Saint Bartholomew,Saint Martin,les Saintes and a few other rocks.
Martinique's jurisdiction includedSaintLucia andTobago.Grenada has also been French for some time.

In South America, the French Crown possessed one of theGuyanas, todayFrench Guyana.

Pierre Gay, 14 October 1999

French colonies in Asia

In the Near East, the territories under trusteeship of theFrench Republic consisted of theAlaouite State(Lattaquié),Alep,Hatay (Alexandretta),Lebanon,Syria and theSanjak of Damas and theJabel Druze (Souaida). Theseterritories are included today in the modern states ofSyria andLebanon.
The French also heldCheik Said's Territory on the Yemenitecoast.

In the Far East, the French Empire consisted inAnnam andParacel islands,Cochinchina,Laos,Cambodia andTonkin. Allthese territories were united into theIndochinese Union. Theylater became the independent states ofVietNam,Laos andCambodia.

The French also possessed large concessions inChina, suchas in Canton, Nanking orShanghai. Some other Chinese territorieswere under French sovereignty, such as Hankéou, His-men,Kouang-Tchéou-Wan or Tien-Tsin.

The French Crown ruled most ofIndia between 1742 and 1763.After this date, various smaller territories and enclaves remainedunder French sovereignty until the 1950s: the towns of Pondichéry (1673-1954, possessed by the United Kingdom at some moments; there are here some privileges granted by theIndian government to thank the fact that France gave withoutreluctance its Indian possessions, that was not the case ofPortugal), Chandernagor (1686-1951), Mahé (1721-1954), Karikal (1738-1954) and Yanaon (1751-1954), and the enclaves of Balassar, Cassimibazar, Calicut, Dacca, Goréty, Jouqdia, Masulipatam, Patna, and Surate.

Pierre Gay &Pascal Vagnat, 14 October 1999

French colonies in Africa

In Western and Central Africa, French possessions wereorganized into two main federations:Afrique OccidentaleFrançaise (French West Africa) andAfrique EquatorialeFrançaise (French Equatorial Africa). These federationsincluded territories of different status, such as colonies andmandates.
The common and specific flag for all of these possessions was ofcourse the French Tricolore, but some possessions eventually hoisteda flag of their own during French rule. These flags are to been foundon the pages of the various countries which resumed sovereignty afterindependence.

Pierre Gay, 13 October 1999

• Senegal: Yellow five pointed star in the center of green field, based in the one of the Senegalese progressist union (the same but with red star);
• French Soudan: French tricolour with a black Kanaga in the center of white stripe(the proposal for including the Kanaga was made by L. Sedar Senghor);
• Middle Congo: green over yellow horizontal bi-colour flag with French Tricolore in the canton (1/3 of the high of the green stripe). The flag was presented to Parliament on 18 August 1959 and rejected. A flag similar to thecurrent one was then adopted;
• No specific official flag forUbangui Shari, except the one of the main party: white flag with black hand and blue star;
• Mauritania: the flag was adopted under instructions of Uld Dada, and was included in the Constitution on 22 March 1959, but only adopted officially 1st April 1959;
• Chad adopted the current flag on 6 November 1959, and had previously no other flag than the French Tricolore. A special flag for the governor (ochre with red circle containing blue bird?) was reported but seems older (Second World War?).

Jaume Ollé andNozomi Kariyasu, 17 June 1998

In North Africa, the French colonizedAlgeria whichwas considered as integrated French territory (depending from theMinister of the Interior, whereas all other colonies depended fromeither the Colonial, Naval or Foreign offices); the French flag seemsto have been the only national flag flying there.Morocco was a protectorate and had aspecific civil ensign.Tunisia was also aprotectorate and hoisted its current flag.

In East Africa, the French ruled theFrench SomaliCoast, which became theOverseas territory of the Afarsand the Issas, and finally, upon independence in 1977, theRepublic of Djibouti.

Pierre Gay, 14 October 1999

French colonies in the Indian Ocean

In the Central Western Indian Ocean, the French Crownpossessed theBourbon island, theIsle de France(today'sRéunion andMauritius, respectively), and theSeychelles islands for a short period oftime. The Republic addedMadagascar and the Comoros to the FrenchIndian Ocean colonies. While theComorosbecame independent,Mayotte island stayedFrench.
Madagascar adopted a flag on 16 October 1958 similar to thecurrent one. Previous other flags were used inthe revolt of 1947, and at least three different patterns arereported, all using the colors white, blue and red.

In the Southern Indian Ocean, the French colonized variousislands (Kerguelen,Crozet,New Amsterdam, and other rocks)which were later regrouped into a single territory namedFrenchAustral and Antarctic Territories, to which the French slice ofthe Antarctic (Adelie Land) was adjoined. No specific flagunder French royal colonial administration is yet reported here.However there is today a flag for the Senior Administrator of theFrench Austral and Antarctic Territories.

Pierre Gay, 14 October 1999

French colonies in the Pacific Ocean

In the South-Western Pacific, the French colonizedNew Caledonia. The overseas territoryofNew Caledonia is currently facing a change in status withinthe French Republic, towards larger autonomy. Up North-East,colonial Wallis and Futuna islands haveused various local flags under colonial administration.Wallis and Futuna islands are currently anoverseas territory of the French Republic.
The French and the British also held a condominium over theNew Hebrides (nowVanuatu).

In the South-Eastern Pacific,FrenchPolynesia is currently an overseas territory of the FrenchRepublic, and is the only French territorial entity to have aspecific flag enforced by law. Before this,colonial French Polynesia and itscomponents have used various local flags before and during colonialadministration.

Pierre Gay, 14 October 1999

Flags used in the French colonies

Possessions of the first French Colonial Empire (until 1763)mostly used flags such as theWhiteCross or theFleurdelyséflags, while the French Republic used mostly theTricolore, and a few specific flags, suchas governor's flags (see below).
Despite the numerous and various administrative statuses of itsoverseas possessions (colonies, mandates, protectorates, trusteeshipsand other overseas territories in general...), and however large theEmpire, France has always considered itselftogether with its colonial Empire as a single united political entity in whicheach part was only a piece of a whole. As thus, it is logicalthat such an entity, and its parts, used mostly the French flag.
The use of the French flag is therefore therule, while the use of local flags is the exception.

Pierre Gay, 14 October 1999

There was a somewhat unusual arrangement whereby Governors ofFrench Colonies were authorised byMinistre de la Marine Circular 29of June 1833 to grant ships of any nation, and of a certain size,liberty to use the French flag, and the right to be treated in allrespects as French ships, within certain defined limits.
One defined area wasNew Caledonia,Australia,New Zealand,and all islands of the South Pacific Ocean, and in 1872 the BritishVice-Consul inNouméa, New Caledonia, reported that twoBritish ships were flying the French flag while under contract to actas transports in Cochinchina.

Source:Public Record Office MT 10/168

David Prothero, 23 January 2001

Governor-General's flag

Flag of a Governor-General - Image byPierre Gay, 11 July 2000

Flaggenbuch (1939)[neu92] shows the Governor-General's flag as a blue square flag with a square French ensign (blue 30%, white 33%, red 37%) in canton. The today's flag of theMinistry (or Junior Secretary) for the Overseas, is a square version of the former colonial Governors' flag.

Pierre Gay, 30 September 1999

Misattributed flag

Misattributed flag of "Algeria" - Image byEugene Ipavec, 17 February 2012

The 1950's Topps "Flags of the World" trading cards show for Algeria alight blue flag with a tricolore canton (photo), maybe amisinterpretation of the Governor-General's flag.

Eugene Ipavec, 17 February 2012

Governor's flag

Flag of a Governor - Image byPierre Gay, 11 July 2000

Flaggenbuch (1939) shows the Governor's flag as above but with a swallow tail added.Actually, this flag was for all Governors of particular Frenchcolonies. For instance, Senegal, a federated colony inside the French WestAfrica, which itself was ruled by a Governor-General, wasadministred by a Governor, just like French Sudan, Guinea, or anyother colony in French West Africa. The same hold for Indochina,ruled by a Governor-General, with Tonkin, for example, administred bya Governor.

Pierre Gay 30 September 1999

Community of French States(Communauté)

Flag of the Community of French States - Image byMark Sensen, 11 July 2000

The Community was officially abolished only in 1995 in the FrenchConstitution, when it had already been obsolete for quite a longtime. The Community had since given way toOrganisation Internationale de la Francophonie organisation, established in 1970 and gathering 52 members and observer states, very much moresuccessful because it was not as "Empire-oriented" nor asneo-colonial.

Barraclough[c2b81] shows the flag of the Community, or "Standard" as the image is labelled, as square with a gold fringe. The words "LIBERTÉÉGALITÉ FRATERNITÉ" are written one above each other in goldvertically touching each three stripes. The flag has a specialfinial in the form of a wreath containing two clasped hands. Since theprinciple of the Community itself does not seem to have taken root, the banner has fallen from use. Originally several copies were made, of which one remained in Paris whilst the others were sent to the capitals of the member countries.

Pierre Gay,Pascal Vagnat andMark Sensen, 6 May 1999