A timeline of the creation and maintenance of the French Empire.
1500s
- 1555: France attempts to create a colony in Rio de Janerio, now Brazil called 'French Antarctique'.
- 1562: France attempts to create a colony in Florida, now USA called Fort Caroline.
- 1565: France abandons Fort Caroline after a conflict with the Spanish Empire.
- 1567: France abandons French Antarctique.
1600s
- 1605: France colonises Nova Scotia, now Canada.
- 1608: France colonises Quebec, now Canada.
- 1624: France colonises French Guiana.
- 1624: France establishes trading posts on the coast of Senegal.
- 1625: France colonises part of Saint Kitts, shared with the British Empire.
- 1635: France colonises Guadelope and Martinique.
- 1650: France colonises Saint Lucia.
- 1660: France begins the Carib Expulsion, involving killing, enslaving or deporting the remaining survivors to Dominica and Saint Vincent.
- 1664: France colonises Haiti.
- 1664: France colonises Réunion.
- 1673: France colonises parts of India, establishing the city of Chandernagore.
- 1674: France colonises Pondichéry in India.
- 1680: France colonises Illinois, now USA.
1700s
- 1713: Following the War of the Spanish Succession, France is forced to give away Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Saint Kitts to the British Empire.
- 1718: France colonises Mauritius.
- 1723: France colonises Yanam in India.
- 1725: France colonises Mahe in India.
- 1739: France colonises Karikal in India.
- 1756: France colonises the Seychelles.
- 1791: The Haitian Revolution begins as the first major anti-colonial revolt against the French.
1800s
- 1804:
- 1815: France has its colonies returned to it by Britain, at this point consisting of Guadelope, Martinique, French Guiana, trading posts in Senegal, Réunion and France's cities in India. However, the British Empire claims the Seychelles, Mauritius, Tobago and Saint Lucia.
- 1830: France seizes the city of Algiers from the Ottoman Empire.
- 1884: France colonises Vietnam.
- 1893: France colonises Laos.
1900s
- 1945: French colonial police massacre Algerian protesters, killing thousands of people.
- 1945: An anti-colonial revolution begins in Vietnam as rebels led by Ho Chi Minh fight for an independent Vietnam.
- 1947: France brutally suppresses an attempted anti-colonial revolt in Madagascar.
- 1954: France decolonises Vietnam as the country is split into two.
- 1954: The Algerian Revolution begins as the most famous anti-colonial revolt in the French Empire.
- 1956: France decolonises Tunisia.
- 1958: France decolonises Guinea.
- 1960: France decolonises its colonies in Africa, leading to the formation of Cameroon, Togo, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Mauritania.
- 1962: France withdraws from Algeria as the country becomes independent.
- 1975: France decolonises the Comoros.
- 1977: France decolonises Djibouti.
- 1980: France decolonises Vanuatu, becoming its last act of decolonisation.
- 1987: France participates in the coup that ousts Thomas Sankara from being leader of Burkina Faso.