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Geography of the French Empire

Can you guess these facts related to the geography of the French Empire?
Includes modern-day France and all European and colonial empires
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 7, 2025
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First submittedMarch 16, 2017
Times taken25,387
Average score70.0%
Rating4.49
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Answer
Massive territory which France sold to the U.S. in 1803
Louisiana
Territory
African canal that was built by a French company
Suez Canal
The most populous city in French Indochina
Saigon
The largest island in the Indian Ocean, a former French colony
Madagascar
Modern-day French region located in South America
French Guiana
Conqueror who briefly incorporated parts of Spain, Italy, other countries into France
Napoleon
Small Caribbean island that France shares with the Netherlands
Saint Martin
French colony that became independent after a slave revolt in 1804
Haiti
The most populous island in French Polynesia
Tahiti
The most populous French-speaking city in the Americas
Montreal
City founded in 1701 on the strait between Lake Erie and Lake Huron
Detroit
Tiny country, formerly known as French Somaliland, that gained independence in 1977
Djibouti
Country that France intervened in during the "Opium Wars"
China
French territory that lies between Australia and Vanuatu
New Caledonia
The primary export of France’s North American colonies
Fur
The nearest country to the French territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Canada
Colony which became independent in 1962 after a brutal 8-year war
Algeria
Middle Eastern country where more than 40% of people speak French as a second language
Lebanon
Former French possession that is the westernmost city on the African mainland
Dakar
Term for the descendants of the French colonists who were forced out of Nova Scotia
and settled in Louisiana
Cajuns
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52 Comments
Arp2600
+2
Level 88
Mar 16, 2017
Cool quiz. However, I don't think the Suez Canal really belongs here, Egypt was not part of the French Empire.
Yanni47
+25
Level 78
May 27, 2017
Where in the question does it say that Egypt belonged to the French Empire? It is only about who built the canal.
Arp2600
+4
Level 88
Aug 26, 2017
The whole quiz is about the French Empire...
bks961
+11
Level 75
Aug 26, 2017
...and the French built the canal...
InfiniteBulk
+3
Level 69
Apr 7, 2021
...and this quiz is about French Empire Geography. Two things wrong with this. 1. I can barely say that that question is geography. 2. This quiz is about the French Empire not France itself.
Amilcar
+4
Level 69
Mar 12, 2025
Although Egypt was not under French colonial rule when the canal was dug, it was most certainly dug as part of the wider French colonial project. Its construction threatened British control over the existing route to India via the cape. It certainly belongs here.
Amilcar
+1
Level 69
Mar 13, 2025
Plus the canal company was jointly owned by France and Britain from the 1870s to the 1950s when Nasser nationalised it, leading eventually to the last gasp of European colonialism with the Suez crisis.
al314
+7
Level 92
Mar 17, 2017
There are many people of French descent in Louisiana. The term 'Cajun' refers only to some of them, primarily the descendants of those people expelled from Nova Scotia in the 18th century. New Orleanians of French descent would not call themselves Cajuns.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Mar 18, 2017
The question has now been improved.
bezz
+1
Level 70
Aug 27, 2017
A lot of the expelees also came from New Brunswick.
tshalla
+5
Level 77
Dec 30, 2018
The colony was Acadia. The Acadiens who moved to Louisiana became known by the shortened form: Cajuns.
HylianScientist
+3
Level 83
Dec 27, 2024
TIL Cajun is short for Acadian. It seems like it should have been staring me in the face this whole time! Makes so much sense.
roleybob
+6
Level 74
May 18, 2017
'and the other countries' is not very helpful
Malbaby
+1
Level 70
May 27, 2017
Time to give 'French' Guiana a referendum on independence.
Quizmaster
+16
Level ∞
May 27, 2017
In 2010, voters in French Guiana overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that would have given them more autonomy.
idontlikeit2
+16
Level 75
Aug 26, 2017
Times have changed. Unlike previous centuries, empires' treatment of people in their colonies are no longer terrible, and being a French citizen means a much better life than a citizen of another Suriname or Guyana.
amm14
+2
Level 66
Aug 28, 2017
Not really a change, that.
Quizmaster
+10
Level ∞
Jan 8, 2020
Colonialism is kind of like that famous Borscht belt joke. "The food tastes terrible ... and such small portions". Colonialism was bad, and it ended too soon. Many countries that became independent after WWII would have been better off had they stayed colonies.
Yamaneko
+10
Level 73
Aug 30, 2017
People of French overseas regions are generally inclined to stay French nowadays, because they tend to enjoy far better standards of living than their neighbors, even if, to be fair, it's generally lower than what is called Metropolitan France.

The contrast is particularly striking in French Guiana, as it borders Suriname, one of the poorer countries in South America, and Northern Brazil, the least developed part of the country.

This is not to say that the situation could not be improved, as shown by the massive strikes that took place in the region earlier this year, but the issues they're suffering are either way smaller than in other countries in the area, or could not be resolved in any way by independence, which would cut them a critical lot of subventions to Overseas Territories from Metropolitan France.

JonOfKent
+1
Level 58
Mar 12, 2025
Going on strike at the drop of a hat is simply part of French culture, isn't it?

When I started my "year in France" for my degree, my responsable told me that there had been a teachers' strike every year that they had been having an English assistant, which as far as I remember was the previous 18 years. Sure enough they did have a strike a few months in. It had something to do with a mammoth, or something else equally impenetrable.

divantilya
+3
Level 36
Mar 9, 2019
The people of French Guiana choose to remain a part of France because they, wisely, saw what happened on the neighboring former Guianas - (Surinam and Guyana) once they became independent.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
May 27, 2017
should have gotten all of these. Misspelled St Martin I guess and then ran out of time.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Aug 26, 2017
This time got the ones I missed before but read "westernmost" as "easternmost" so missed that one trying to guess Mogadishu.. :P
tshalla
+3
Level 77
May 27, 2017
Does it depend on how we define North America? I certainly wouldn't call Haiti (Saint-Domingue) North American, but quizzes on this site often do. In that case, I doubt that the value of North American furs matched the sugar coming out of the Caribbean. (But I really don't know.)
dasubergeek
+1
Level 74
Aug 26, 2017
The JetPunk definition of North America is everything from Panama north and every independent country in the Caribbean. South America is just the landmass itself, from Colombia to Argentina.
Quizmaster
+4
Level ∞
Aug 26, 2017
It's not really the "JetPunk" definition:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America

kalbahamut
+3
Level 81
Aug 26, 2017
Haiti was undoubtedly rich but the fur trade was huge and basically the whole reason New Orleans exists.
komradtombstone
+3
Level 57
Aug 28, 2017
Much of what is today Canada was owned by the French at one time, and Montreal was one of the most important cities in the fur trade. The entirety of the Northern part of North America was VERY rich in fur-bearing animals. The history of Canada and the fur trade is quite interesting. Give it a look :)
ander217
+9
Level 75
Aug 26, 2017
Couldn't figure out why Ho Chi Minh City wasn't accepted. Duh.
Sterref10
+1
Level 57
Aug 26, 2017
What does it mean by 'countries other than Vietnam' that start with V. What about Vatican City and Venezuela?
Sterref10
+1
Level 57
Aug 26, 2017
Sorry 'besides Vietnam'
idontlikeit2
+8
Level 75
Aug 26, 2017
The question asked for a country that belonged to France, not just any v country...
JWatson24
+10
Level 71
Aug 27, 2017
Could you accept "Ho Chi Minh City" for Saigon? That's the current name, and from my experience, most quizzes on Jetpunk will accept both answers.
Coeck
+1
Level 44
Mar 26, 2023
Ho Chi Minh City is the new name for Saigon, after Vietnam gained Independence from France. So it sounds weird to accept it.
stubart409
+2
Level 68
Aug 28, 2017
I really like Death in Paradise and I missed the Saint Martin question.
fitheach
+1
Level 58
Aug 29, 2017
Does liking Death in Paradise mean you should know about an island where Death in Paradise is NOT filmed then?
Lucam
+7
Level 50
Sep 1, 2017
Accept Ho Chi Minh ville
plattitude
+2
Level 95
Apr 17, 2018
Is the 'the' in 'the other countries into France" unintentional? I think the clue reads better without it.
rosco359
+5
Level 66
May 30, 2019
Left Nova Scotia to settle in Louisiana... I think you mean they were deported.
MungoJerry
+2
Level 61
Oct 25, 2019
Expelled, even
Dontforget
+2
Level 71
Dec 3, 2024
Yeah they don't call it the "great upheaval" for nothing
BaliVibing
+6
Level 77
May 18, 2021
HCMC for Saigon shall be accepted!
milancampion
+1
Level 74
Jan 26, 2023
I'm pretty sure Vanuatu was never formally part of the French Empire, but was jointly administered by Britain and France, originally as a condominium and later as the New Hebrides
Vivelageo
+1
Level 39
Mar 26, 2023
Yeah so ? It was both a French and an English colony
blizzrd33
+2
Level 80
May 15, 2023
That is incorrect, it was a condominium but was never a colony of either France or the United Kingdom. One of the main reasons the country is one of the poorest in the Pacific today is that both European countries heavily exploited the islands but barely invested in creating infrastructure on the islands like roads, airports and port facilities. Most of the infrastructure which exists there today was created during WW2 when the Americans used Vanuatu as a staging area for their struggles with the Japanese in the Solomon Islands at Guadalcanal.
GrammarBeane1
+1
Level 83
Oct 21, 2023
I had no idea what or where Saint Pierre and Miquelon was, but I figured I had enough time to brute force my way through as many countries of the world as I could to guess what's near it. Little did I know the very first country I guessed was the right answer!
GoblinOfCooz
+2
Level 78
Oct 27, 2023
Nitpick, but you should really accept Saint Domingue if you're gonna phrase the question like "which French colony"
Dimby
+1
Level 80
Mar 12, 2025
Dangit. Went with Sint Maarten (or some attempt to spell it) and decided I wouldn’t get that one when it didn’t work. Saint Martin would’ve been a much easier guess to spell!
PietjePuk24
+1
Level 81
Mar 12, 2025
Accept Sint Maarten for Saint Martin?
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 74
Mar 13, 2025
20/20
JesseFromThe6
+2
Level 69
Mar 15, 2025
Given it's the least correctly answered question, maybe the wording about the primary export of France's North American colonies can be tweaked?

Presumably, Quizmaster used the term "colonies" to denote a past state. But without a given date (e.g. in the 18th century), I was left barking up various wrong trees, believing the question pertained to current French possessions in North America. Thus, I guessed "sugar", "rum", and fish etc. Had I understood the question was about New France, I would have got "fur" immediately.

Anybody agree?

sumokitty
+1
Level 84
Mar 21, 2025
Agreed. There's nothing to indicate that the question refers to France's historical colonies, rather than its current ones.
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