Group of realms · 1796–1799

French Directory

French Directory brings together several realms, from 1796 to 1799. At its greatest recorded extent, in 1799, its lands covered about 756,142 km².

One of the realms of French Colonial Empire. France's first colonial empire began with Jacques Cartier's voyages to the St Lawrence in 1534 and grew into New France, a vast fur-trading realm reaching down the Mississippi to Louisiana, plus rich sugar islands such as Saint-Domingue worked by enslaved Africans. Defeat by Britain in 1763 cost Canada and most of India, the Haitian Revolution freed Saint-Domingue, and Napoleon sold Louisiana in 1803.

See French Directory on the map in 1799 →

On the map

1796–1799

Greatest extent

1799, about 756,142 km²

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Wikipedia: French Directory · Wikidata Q219817