Description
Book Synopsis
For more than five centuries France has been both a European and a global power. French explorers, traders, settlers, soldiers and missionaries journeyed to the world's farthest reaches establishing colonies, bringing millions of people under French influence and claiming vast expanses of forests, jungles, deserts, and rich mineral and maritime resources. Through continued wars with rival powers, including Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, and Germany, France lost large portions of its empire and gained others. Century-long conflict with some of its most valued possessions, such as Vietnam and Algeria, further hastened the empire's demise after World War II. This is a story of colorful personalities and dramatic events: Cartier's exploration of Canada, Richelieu's and Colbert's global trading companies, Champlain the colonizer, the French presence in Louisiana, the vast but short-lived French empire in India, the nefarious slave trade, and France's defeat in its prosperous Caribb
Table of Contents
Introduction The 16th Century: The Fishermen's and Sailors' Empire The 17th Century: The Traders' Empire The 18th Century: The Settlers' Empire The 19th Century: The Military's and Missionaries' Empire (Part I) The 19th Century: The Military's and Missionaries' Empire (Part II) The 20th Century: The Expanding Empire The 20th Century: The Receding Empire Index
