Group of realms · 1853–1870
Second French Empire
Second French Empire brings together several realms, from 1853 to 1870. At its greatest recorded extent, in 1870, its lands covered about 1.30 million 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 Second French Empire on the map in 1870
- On the map
- 1853–1870
- Greatest extent
- 1870, about 1.30 million km²
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Second French Empire · Wikidata Q71092
Territory through time
| Years | Area drawn |
|---|---|
| 1853–1855 | 868,245 km² |
| 1856–1858 | 865,379 km² |
| 1859 | 888,911 km² |
| 1860–1861 | 1.02 million km² |
| 1862 | 1.03 million km² |
| 1863–1867 | 1.05 million km² |
| 1868–1869 | 1.14 million km² |
| 1870 | 1.30 million km² |
Member realms
- French Africa 1846–1957
- Second French Empire 1853–1870
- French Indochina 1860–1954
Related
- French Colonial Empire empire