French colonial empire

The French colonial empire comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the sixteenth century onward. Historians distinguish a first French colonial empire, lasting until 1814 and covering the Americas, the Caribbean and India, from a second French colonial empire that began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830 and grew to become the second largest in the world after the British Empire by the eve of World War I. After losing most of its North American possessions to Britain and Spain following the Seven Years War, France rebuilt its empire after 1850, concentrating on Africa, Indochina and the South Pacific and supplying raw materials to the metropole. French colonial policy was shaped by the doctrine of the mission civilisatrice, the aim of spreading French language, institutions and values, a policy some French politicians themselves contested. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/