French colonial empire
Proper noun
Meaning
French colonial empire
English Wikipedia has an article on:French colonial empireWikipedia
(historical) France and its colonies from the sixteenth century forward. It ended when French colonies became independent after World War II.
Examples
The French Foreign Legion (FFL) was primarily used to protect and expand the French colonial empire during the 19th century.
France required manpower to sustain its newly booming industries and the governmental solution was the mass immigration of peoples from regions of past French colonial empire to fill the gaps caused by shortage in personnel.