All Modern-Day Countries Ever Controlled by French People
Below is a map of modern-day countries that were fully or partially under the control of France. Can you name them all?
Click the map to zoom!
For this quiz, the definition of French people will be ethnic French and Gallicized minorities. Former countries that did not adopt French culture during their occupation (e.g. Nazi Germany) are not considered. French people that occupied other regions and lost their identities as time went on (e.g. Anglo-Normans) are also excluded
Tributaries and regions under heavy influence are included
As this quiz is now featured, there will be at most 1 update per year to avoid resetting the stats too frequently. If there is any issue with the map, feel free to comment below and I will be noting that down for the following update
Looks impressive, but now I wonder if the same map for German People is close to 100% green: Take this map and add the British Empire, the Russian Empire, the Austrian Empire, the Dutch Empire, and the German Empire (and remove some African countries because Vichy lost control).
Congrats on the feature! This is a great quiz :) There's a lot on here I'm curious about. If you have answers or sources I'd love it!
1. When did the French control so much land in India? I'm only familiar with their rule in Pondicherry and maybe a few other coastal towns, but I never realized they went so deep into India!
2. Why did they control a small territory in the middle of Nigeria?
3. How did they get so much territory in Turkey? Did they capture it somehow from the Ottomans, or did they capture it some other time?
4. Where did the territory in southern China come from? When I look up "French Indochina," Wikipedia seems to imply that their rule didn't go beyond the borders of Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia.
They never conquered that much of india, those are just "spheres of influence", in which they had some sort of control over the rulers of those territories, but that's it.
Saint Alouarn explored Shark Bay in Western Australia in 1772 and made a claim of this land on behalf of France, but there was no European settlement made at the time and this is really no different to when Cook visited Eastern Australia 2 years earlier and claimed it for the British. If the quiz is about places that were "controlled" by French people, then the Shark Bay claim doesn't make sense because no follow up expedition ever intended to settle Western Australia.
I edited my post as you were replying I think. I think you've construed a land claim for control, because the two things are not the same in my view. The French didn't settle and nobody came to ever follow up the claim.
I was a bit surprised to see Sweden and Norway there until remembered that the current king of Sweden is of the Bernadotte family. So technically both countries have been ruled by a French although not by France.
On a tablet it is too small for the yellow to be seen (just the outline shows even when zoomed in as far as it goes). It needs to be highlighted like the other too small parts for fairness.
I would recommend adding the show missing countries thing that some other quizzes like "Countries of the World" have if possible. Would have saved me a few seconds hunting for the last missing country I couldn't see without zooming in (Nigeria).
i'd love a source, or at least a description of your methodology - i'm fascinated how you can know so specifically where the french empire extended to, especially those tiny enclaves in nigeria, jordan or bangladesh
I did my research using videos by mapping YouTubers, Wikipedia articles like this, some maps I could find online as well as additional information I missed provided by fellow JetPunkers
I followed you with Colonial France, Napoleonic France and occupied ground, but I lost you on Scandinavia and Colonial Spain. Saw in the comments that they were included because of French kings or something...
I probably won't be able to list all the sources I've used since this was made a while back, but I am pretty sure that those information were mostly from Wikipedia, with a small portion from YouTubers such as Khey Pard
Nothing against you, because this is clearly a well-researched and well-made SVG, but I find these kinds of quizzes intolerable. You don't need to know a single thing about France, you just have to have the 196 badge and have the patience to zoom into corners of the map in search of slivers of yellow. Tremendously uninteresting.
Well, you never need to know stuff to take quizzes. This can help people learn more about the French people and is not entirely pointless.
But well, I definitely do understand your point. I find this gradually becoming a revamped version of the "Modern-Day Countries of the ___ Empire" series and that's exactly why I stopped making them
To be honest, I don't really think about these in terms of the theme, but I do really enjoy typing out random countries on a map. The theme perhaps only adds a bit of extra colour to the quiz, but that colour is very much appreciated.
One of my all-time favourites on this site is Stewart's "Countries in Random Squares of the World Map", and that's even more meaningless!
They once held the south Indian coast. They probably controlled less land than this but the sources online couldn't agree on how much overseas territories the First French Empire controlled
Louis XV lost almost all of it to the British during the Seven Years War. Then France had some minor settlements like Pondichéry until the mid XXth century
I don't quite understand why the south american territories are considered? Doesn't it violate the description? They were never gallicized? They just were colonies of spain which was occupied for a few years? But they never had any sort of control, even nominally over the spanish colonies? Or am I missing something?
So, wait for me to clarify. The Iberian Union does not count as Spain (even though it undeniably did for 60 years), but the 3-year French occupation of Spain and the fact that the kings were Bourbons there does count, right? What hypocrisy and disgusting.
1. When did the French control so much land in India? I'm only familiar with their rule in Pondicherry and maybe a few other coastal towns, but I never realized they went so deep into India!
2. Why did they control a small territory in the middle of Nigeria?
3. How did they get so much territory in Turkey? Did they capture it somehow from the Ottomans, or did they capture it some other time?
4. Where did the territory in southern China come from? When I look up "French Indochina," Wikipedia seems to imply that their rule didn't go beyond the borders of Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia.
1. It was part of the First French colonial empire
2. Enclaves of Forcados and Badjibo
3. Kingdom of Cilicia
4. French sphere of influence in China
I can't fact check that either
Frankish Empire
Napoleon's Empire
Now what if none of them collapsed...
Do you mind if I translate some of your quizzes into Italian?
I am working with marquez100 at the moment, and I wanted to get your permission first:)
If I added that the quiz would just be CotW but easier
I followed you with Colonial France, Napoleonic France and occupied ground, but I lost you on Scandinavia and Colonial Spain. Saw in the comments that they were included because of French kings or something...
Would be nice to have a full list of territories
The Spanish were from the House of Bourbon
I probably won't be able to list all the sources I've used since this was made a while back, but I am pretty sure that those information were mostly from Wikipedia, with a small portion from YouTubers such as Khey Pard
But well, I definitely do understand your point. I find this gradually becoming a revamped version of the "Modern-Day Countries of the ___ Empire" series and that's exactly why I stopped making them
One of my all-time favourites on this site is Stewart's "Countries in Random Squares of the World Map", and that's even more meaningless!
The French period in Indonesia
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_British_interregnum_in_the_Dutch_East_Indies#French_rule_1806-1811
The Republic of Independent Guiana/Free State of Counani
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Independent_Guiana
And some could argue South Africa (as the Cape Colony was ruled by the French-dominated Batavian Republic) may as well be here too.
And some cities and islands in South Korea
is in grey on the map a color used to indicate otherwise not included in the French global empire
but it says that I left it out
It was not yellow or white shaded it is not in a black outlined box
and it did not turn up red on the finished map after the time ran out
Here, people do this sneaky little trick called looking at the map