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The Second French Empire was an Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third French Republics. The period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted itself as the dominant power in Europe .
France began colonizing the Americas in the 16th century and continued into the following centuries as it established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France established colonies in much of eastern North America, on several Caribbean islands, and in South America.
The French colonial empire (French: Empire colonial français) comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates, and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward.
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over 10,000,000 km 2 (3,900,000 sq mi), the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire.
Map of North America in 1702 showing forts, towns and (in solid colors) areas occupied by European settlements. In 1688, King William's War began and the English and Iroquois launched a major assault on New France, after many years of small skirmishes throughout the English and French territories.
The map shows three forts built between 1679 and 1680: Conty fort (near Niagara Falls), Miamis Fort (south of Michigan lake), and Crèvecœur fort (Left bank of the Illinois River). Mississippi river course is only shown upstream of the Ohio confluence. Map by French Claude Bernou in 1681.
Dec 1, 2021 · The Second French Colonial Empire consisted of the colonial territories seized by France from 1830 until the mid-20 th century. Having lost or ceded most of the colonial possessions of their First Colonial Empire, the French set about conquering new territories.
