France

In West Africa trade was the main interest. Originally, trading stations had been set up on the West African coast to deal in slaves to be transported to the Americas. By the late 19th century, trade in palm oil and timber was interesting Europeans. French colonists were particularly active in West Africa. After defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, some French politicians, led by Jules Ferry, sought commercial gain and prestige by expanding eastwards into the African interior from Senegal and southwards from Algeria and Tunisia. At the same time, Ferry was interested in Indo-China and Madagascar. He claimed that these new colonies were in France's commercial interests, but perhaps the need to compensate the loss of Alsace-Lorraine with a large empire was a more important consideration.

• The 'Scramble for Africa' : Introduction
• British Colonisation
• Belgian Colonisation
• German colonisation
• A Map of Africa (1914) showing the extent of colonisation
• The Conference of Berlin (1884-1885)
• The Fashoda Crisis
• Colonies: Conclusion
• Top of Page