Chapter 1. French Discourses of Empire

T he particular shape and characteristics of French postcolonial discourse today cannot be understood without an exploration of the specific historical legacy of French imperialism and colonialism and the discourses or ideologies through which these processes were articulated and rationalised.This chapter will highlight a number of key issues and contradictions, some of which still have a bearing on present difficulties.The French Empire did not develop in a steady linear progression, but passed through a number of distinct stages in its history, or rather we should say their histories, in which each stage was marked by a clear setback, a defeat or loss, which, temporarily at least, put a brake on the process of expansion.One can distinguish, broadly speaking, three distinct phases: (1) from the early sixteenth century to the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815; (2) from 1830 (the conquest of Algiers) to 1870 (the fall of the Second Empire); and (3) the period of imperialist expansion under the Third Republic from 1875 to the culmination of the decolonisation process with Algerian independence in 1962.Each of these phases had its own specific features, in terms of the nature of the economic, political and military forces at play and the relations within which they operated.The different historical stages were also characterised by very different rationalisations of the whole imperial undertaking.Thus each phase was characterised by a specific set of discourses or ideologies, which had developed in tune with the times and historical conditions and which were used in the different stages to rationalise, or indeed to oppose, the process of colonial expansion (Girardet 1972; Ruscio 2002).However, just as there was also an underlying continuum in the historical processes involved in the development of imperialism, in spite of the discontinuities, so too was there a strong element of continuity at the level of the ideas and discourses, in which earlier forms retained their power to influence and shape the new forms of later periods.This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched.Not for resale. The First Phase of Modern French Imperialism (Early Sixteenth Century to 1815)The first stage coincided with similar attempts by other European powers at the beginning of the modern period to expand beyond their own borders into the socalled 'New World', Africa and the East, to bring back gold, silver, spices and other riches (Ferro 1996).The acquisition of natural resources, extracted minerals, agricultural produce and artefacts through various forms of trade and plunder, characterised by a greater or lesser use of force and deception, soon developed into new forms of agricultural production overseas in some of the territories, particularly in the Americas and the Caribbean.Colonial entrepreneurs of a new type thus took over from the older seafaring adventurers and privateers, with the intention of getting involved in the production process itself and developing it along new lines, through the establishment of vast plantations for the production of tropical or semitropical produce, often of new products that would become crucial for mass consumption back home, such as sugar, cotton and coffee.These new operations in the Americas and the Caribbean depended on the development of the slave trade into an operation of hitherto unheard-of scale and the transportation of slave labour to work the plantations.At the same time, colonial settlement by European settlers was taking place in what were sometimes known as 'virgin territories', and therefore seen as ripe opportunities for the enterprising settlers, willing to leave their homeland, often under the pressures of poverty and persecution, to start anew in a strange and foreign land.In this way, vast tracts of the North American continent were colonised by French settlers in what came to be known as 'New France'.All of these endeavours were inspired by the sense of opportunities for making money or a better life, opportunities that were there for the taking or creating.There was no shortage of arguments for the validation of such enterprises.In the case of France, the conquests had been carried out in the name of the greater glory of the French king and the development of the earthly reign of Christendom.It was the French king François I who sent the Italian sailor Giovanni da Verrazano, to North America to attempt to find a route through to the Pacific in 1524/25.He also sent off the Breton sailor Jacques Cartier in 1534 to search for the north-west passage to Asia and explore the opportunities for riches in the Americas.Cartier is credited with 'discovering' much of Canada, claiming possession of the islands of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon in the name of the French Crown in 1535, for instance.However, attempts in 1555 to establish French settlements in Brazil, at Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere were strongly resisted by the Spanish and Portuguese, and it was not until 1605 with the founding of Port Royal in the territory of Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia), followed by the founding of Quebec in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, with the support of the king, Henri IV, subsequently to become the capital of French Canada, or 'New France', that the French really developed a foothold.Further territory was claimed in what is now the southern United States.

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