When did French Africa exist?

French Africa existed 1846–1957. On this map it is drawn 1846–1957.

How large was French Africa?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, French Africa covered about 12 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Africa · Conquest and colonial rule

French Africa

Colonial federation · 1846–1957

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Type: Colonial federation
Existed: 1846–1957
Shown on the map: 1846–1957
Peak area: 12.0M km²
Region: Africa

Overview

"French Africa" denotes the African possessions of France's second colonial empire, the sprawling complex — at its peak roughly 12 million square kilometers — that made France the continent's largest colonial power. (The table's dates 1846–1957 approximate the empire's African arc from the deepening of the Algerian conquest to the eve of decolonization.) The second empire began with the capture of Algiers in 1830; the conquest of Algeria, ferociously resisted by Abd al-Qadir and others, cost an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Algerian lives and was not complete until 1903 (or 1920 in the Sahara). Algeria became a settler colony — a million Europeans by 1900 — punctuated by Napoleon III's brief "Arab kingdom" experiment and the great Mokrani Revolt of 1871. Tunisia followed as a protectorate in 1881, Morocco in 1912 under Lyautey's "indirect rule."

History

In West Africa, France built outward from Senegal, where it had traded since the 17th century (Saint-Louis, 1659; Gorée, 1677). Under Governor Faidherbe from 1854 the French pushed inland, abolishing slavery in 1848 while conquering the Wolof states and battling the Toucouleur and Mahmadou Lamine; these territories were grouped as French West Africa (AOF). Brazza's treaties planted the flag in Gabon and Congo, later federated as French Equatorial Africa; the Voulet–Chanoine and Foureau–Lamy missions, marred by atrocity, linked the Saharan holdings, defeating the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr in 1900. The 1898 Fashoda crisis with Britain fixed the colonial partition, and Madagascar became a protectorate in 1896. After World War I, League of Nations mandates added most of Togo and Cameroon. The whole was ruled under the ideology of the mission civilisatrice, with assimilation promised but largely withheld; economies ran on groundnuts, rubber, cocoa, forced labor and head taxes; religions spanned Sunni Islam (with French attempts to co-opt marabouts), Christianity and indigenous faiths.

Decline and legacy

Decolonization was violent where settlers were entrenched — the Algerian War raged to 1962 — but comparatively peaceful elsewhere after 1960, when nearly all the sub-Saharan colonies gained independence within the evolving French Union/Community framework. France's African empire left enduring ties: the Francophonie, the CFA franc, French military bases, and the francophone elites of some 20 successor states.

Common questions

What was French Africa?: "French Africa" denotes the African possessions of France's second colonial empire, the sprawling complex — at its peak roughly 12 million square kilometers — that made France the continent's largest colonial power. (The table's dates 1846–1957 approximate the empire's African arc from the deepening of the Algerian conquest to the eve of decolonization.)
When did French Africa exist?: French Africa existed 1846–1957. On this map it is drawn 1846–1957.
How large was French Africa?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, French Africa covered about 12 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled French Africa?: In West Africa, France built outward from Senegal, where it had traded since the 17th century (Saint-Louis, 1659; Gorée, 1677). Under Governor Faidherbe from 1854 the French pushed inland, abolishing slavery in 1848 while conquering the Wolof states and battling the Toucouleur and Mahmadou Lamine; these territories were grouped as French West Africa (AOF).
How did French Africa end?: Decolonization was violent where settlers were entrenched — the Algerian War raged to 1962 — but comparatively peaceful elsewhere after 1960, when nearly all the sub-Saharan colonies gained independence within the evolving French Union/Community framework. France's African empire left enduring ties: the Francophonie, the CFA franc, French military bases, and the francophone elites of some 20 successor states.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia – French colonial empire en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 10 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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