French India

True but it was still an oversized plantation economy - there wasn't really a French colonial population of any consequence (c. 30,000) compared to say Virginia (500,000) or the Carolinas (400,000)

Those plantation economies were hugely profitable though, far more than the settler colonies, which mainly existed in the imperial system to supply the sugar islands with foodstuffs and lumber, etc, and to buy manufactured goods from the home country.

Losing Saint Domingue was the main reason the French lost interest in developing Louisiana, because without Saint Domingue, Louisiana wasn't that valuable. (Of course, the Cotton Boom hadn't hit yet)
 
I always thought the problem with settlers colonies in France was the need to maintain an army and a lot of warm bodies.

Maybe it's more for after 1870 colonisation but always felt France didn't develop because they needed to maintain a big continental presence AS WELL as a navy. Thoughts?
 
Top