Regions Explored and Colonized by France

France's Global Colonial Footprint

North America

• New France (Canada): Quebec (1608), Montreal (1642), Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley to Louisiana (1682).

Caribbean

• Saint-Domingue (Haiti) – richest sugar colony.
• Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy.

South America

• French Guiana (1604–present; only European territory in mainland SA).

Africa

• North Africa: Algeria (1830), Tunisia (1881), Morocco (1912 protectorate).
• West Africa: Senegal (Saint-Louis, Gorée), Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mauritania.
• Central Africa: Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, CAR, Chad.
• Indian Ocean: Madagascar (1896), Réunion, Mayotte, Comoros, Seychelles.

Asia & Pacific

• India: Pondichéry, Chandernagore, Mahé, Yanam, Karikal (returned 1954).
• Indochina: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos (1887–1954).
• Pacific: New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis & Futuna, Clipperton.

Legacy: French language, law, culture across 5 continents; 300M+ Francophones today.