French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Dahomey and Niger. The federation existed from 1895 until 1958. Its capital was Saint-Louis in Senegal until 1902, and then Dakar until the federation's collapse in 1960.
Afrique occidentale française Commercial Relations Report, showing the profile of a Fula woman, January–March 1938
The former Governor's palace on Gorée Island, Dakar, Senegal
A gathering of former Governors of Senegal in Paris, 1950s
Native Africans forced into labor for the construct of the Guinée railway, 1904
The French colonial empire comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates, and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French colonial empire", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the "Second French colonial empire", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. On the eve of World War I, France's colonial empire was the second largest in the world after the British Empire.
French North America was known as 'Nouvelle France' or New France.
1767 Louis XV Colonies Françoises (West Indies) 12 Diniers copper Sous (w/1793 "RF" counterstamp)
British attack on the French-controlled island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal during the Seven Years' War in 1758
The British invasion of Martinique in 1809
