French diaspora
Encyclopedia
The French diaspora consists of French emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, Canada and Latin America. Although less important than other European countries, immigration from France was numerous from the start of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. As of 2009, there are around 2 million French nationals living abroad but the diaspora includes over 30 million people.
, 1,863 were from the Seine department, 1,458 from Bouches-du-Rhône
, 1,287 from Hautes-Pyrénées
, 1,107 from Haut-Rhin
, 915 from Pyrénées-Orientales
, 936 from Haute-Garonne
, 870 from Bas-Rhin
, 694 from Gironde
and 488 from Aude
.
From 1821 to 1920, around 121,000 Basques
and Bearnese people
from Basses-Pyrénées
emigrated to America—more than 108,000 from 1835 to 1901.
, Canada
and Argentina
while sizeable groups are also found in Brazil
, Chile
, Uruguay
and Australia
.
received the second largest group of French immigrants
after the United States
. According to official figures 239,000 Frenchmen immigrated to Argentina from 1857 to 1946 but the numbers are higher as immigration started in the 1820s (they formed the largest group of immigrants to the country until 1854) and lasted until the end of the 1960s. Unlike the United States
where the immigration from France
was more diverse, half of French immigrants to Argentina were from the Southwestern part of the country. It is now estimated that up to 6.8 million Argentines have some degree of French ancestry (17% of the total population).
has the second largest community of people of French descent
in the world. 7 million Canadians claim French heritage. The French-speaking province of Quebec
has the highest concentration of people with French ancestry in the world: 90% of Québécois have French roots. They are also found in large numbers in the province of New Brunswick
where a third of the population can trace their roots back to France and in Ontario
which is home to the second largest community of French Canadians in the country.
French immigration to Canada dates back to the 16th century with the foundation of Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541. Tadoussac
, the oldest surviving French settlement in the Americas, was established in 1599. From 1627 to 1663, the French population in Canada rose from 100 to 2,500 inhabitants. Within this period, it is estimated that around 1,250 French people immigrated to Canada, most of them coming from the provinces of Normandy, Aunis
, Perche
, Île-de-France
, Poitou
, Maine
and Saintonge
. Between 1665 and 1673, 900 Filles du Roy, half of them coming from Île-de-France
, were sent to Canada to get married to farmers and soldiers. In 1760, the colony had a population of 60,000 inhabitants. It is estimated that from 1633 to 1760, an average of 56 Frenchmen emigrated to Canada each year. Between 1608, date of the foundation of Quebec
, and 1756, only 10,000 French people emigrated to Canada, most of modern-day French Canadians can trace their roots back to them.
French first settled in Acadia
in 1604. In 1667, when the colony went back to France, 441 inhabitants were registered. In 1713, as France ceded the territory to the British Crown, the population had risen to 2,500 Acadians. In 1755, out of a population of 14,000, 7,000 to 8,000 Acadians were deported. Around 1,800 of them fled to Louisiana
where their descendants are known as Cajuns.
At the end of the 19th century, French Canadians started to settle in Northeastern
and Eastern Ontario
, creating the modern-day Franco-Ontarian
communities, and in the Prairies
. At the same time, immigration from France was encouraged and the country received over 144,000 French immigrants between 1881 and 1980.
came to Chile in the 18th century, arriving at Concepción
as merchants, and in the mid-19th century to cultivate vines in the haciendas of the Central Valley, the homebase of Chilean wine
. The Araucanía Region
also has an important number of people of French ancestry, as the area hosted settlers arrived by the second half of the 19th century as farmers and shopkeepers. With akin Latin culture
, the French immigrants quickly assimilated into mainstream Chilean society.
From 1880 to 1930, around 25,000 Frenchmen immigrated to Chile. 80% of them were coming from Southwestern France, especially from Basses-Pyrénées
(Basque country
and Béarn
), Gironde
, Charente-Inférieure
and Charente
and regions situated between Gers
and Dordogne
.
Most of French immigrants settled in the country between 1875 and 1895. Between October 1882 and December 1897, 8,413 Frenchmen settled in Chile. At the end of the century they were almost 30,000.
In World War II, a group of 10,000 to 20,000 Chileans of French descent, the majority have French relatives joined the Free French Forces
and fought the Nazi occupation of France
.
Today it is estimated that 520,000 Chileans are of French descent. Former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet
is of French origin. Former dictator Augusto Pinochet
was another Chilean of French descent. A large percentage of politicians, businessmen and professionals in the country are of French ancestry.
, a sizeable population
can trace its ancestry to France, which was the second largest European contributor, after Spain. The bulk of French immigrants arrived in Mexico during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
From 1814 to 1955, inhabitants of Barcelonnette
and the surrounding Ubaye valley emigrated to Mexico by the dozens. Many established textile businesses between Mexico and France. At the turn of the century, there were 5,000 French from the Barcelonnette region registered with the French Consulate in Mexico. While 90% stayed in Mexico, some returned, and from 1880 to 1930, built grand mansions called Maisons Mexicaines and left a mark upon the city. Today, there are 60,000 descendants of the French "Barcelonnettes
".
In the 1860s, during the Second Mexican Empire
ruled by Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico
-- which was part of Napoleon III's scheme to create a Latin empire in the New World (indeed responsible for coining the term or Amérique latine, or 'Latin America')-- many French soldiers, merchants, and families set foot upon Mexican soil. Emperor Maximilian's consort, Carlota of Mexico
, a Belgian princess, was a granddaughter of Louis-Philippe of France.
Many Mexicans of French descent live in cities such as San Luis Potosí
, Puebla
, Guadalajara
, and the capital, Mexico D.F., where French surnames such as Derbez, Pierres, Betancourt, Alaniz, Blanc, Jurado (Jure), Colo (Coleau), Caire, Dumas, Tresmontrels, and Moussier can be found.
received most French immigrants to South America
. It constituted back then the second receptor of French immigrants in the New World
after the United States
. Thus, while the United States
received 195,971 French immigrants between 1820 and 1855, 13,922 Frenchmen, most of them from the Basque Country
and Béarn
, left for Uruguay between 1833 and 1842.
The majority of immigrants were coming from the Basque Country
, Béarn
and Bigorre
. Today, there are an estimated at 300,000 French descendants in Uruguay.
is home to the largest community of people of French descent
outside of France. According to the last census of 2000, almost 11,800,000 Americans claim French ancestry (French and French Canadian combined), i.e. 4% of the total population. French Americans make up more than 10% of the population in New England
, through the emigration from Quebec
between 1840 and 1930, and in Louisiana
, through the French colonization of the region, the relocalization of deported Acadians and later immigration from Saint-Domingue
and from continental France
. French
is the fourth most spoken language in the United States, after English, Spanish and Chinese with over 1.6 million speakers.
From 1820 to 1986, 772,000 Frenchmen immigrated to the United States.
Between the 1840s and the 1930s, around 900,000 French Canadians emigrated to the United States
, especially in New England
. Half of them eventually returned home. Their descendants number 2,400,000 people.
Emigration
From 1847 to 1857, almost 200,000 French people emigrated abroad. In 1857, 18,800 Frenchmen left the country, out of whom 1,937 were from Basses-PyrénéesPyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
, 1,863 were from the Seine department, 1,458 from Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. It is the most populous department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its INSEE and postal code is 13.-History of the department:...
, 1,287 from Hautes-Pyrénées
Hautes-Pyrénées
Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...
, 1,107 from Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin
Haut-Rhin is a département of the Alsace region of France, named after the Rhine river. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departements of Alsace, although is still densely populated compared to the rest of France.-Subdivisions:The department...
, 915 from Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...
, 936 from Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The...
, 870 from Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...
, 694 from Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
and 488 from Aude
Aude
Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
.
From 1821 to 1920, around 121,000 Basques
Northern Basque Country
The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....
and Bearnese people
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
from Basses-Pyrénées
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
emigrated to America—more than 108,000 from 1835 to 1901.
Distribution
Between 1848 and 1939, 1 million people with French passports emigrated to other countries. The main communities of French ancestry in the New World are found in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
while sizeable groups are also found in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Argentina
From the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
received the second largest group of French immigrants
French Argentine
A French Argentine is an Argentine citizen of full or partial French ancestry. French Argentines form the third or fourth largest ancestry group after Italian Argentines, Spanish Argentines, and perhaps German Argentines...
after the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. According to official figures 239,000 Frenchmen immigrated to Argentina from 1857 to 1946 but the numbers are higher as immigration started in the 1820s (they formed the largest group of immigrants to the country until 1854) and lasted until the end of the 1960s. Unlike the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where the immigration from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was more diverse, half of French immigrants to Argentina were from the Southwestern part of the country. It is now estimated that up to 6.8 million Argentines have some degree of French ancestry (17% of the total population).
Canada
CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
has the second largest community of people of French descent
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
in the world. 7 million Canadians claim French heritage. The French-speaking province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
has the highest concentration of people with French ancestry in the world: 90% of Québécois have French roots. They are also found in large numbers in the province of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
where a third of the population can trace their roots back to France and in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
which is home to the second largest community of French Canadians in the country.
French immigration to Canada dates back to the 16th century with the foundation of Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541. Tadoussac
Tadoussac, Quebec
Tadoussac is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Saguenay rivers. It was France's first trading post on the mainland of New France and an important trading post in the seventeenth century, making it the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in...
, the oldest surviving French settlement in the Americas, was established in 1599. From 1627 to 1663, the French population in Canada rose from 100 to 2,500 inhabitants. Within this period, it is estimated that around 1,250 French people immigrated to Canada, most of them coming from the provinces of Normandy, Aunis
Aunis
Aunis is a historical province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Castrum Allionis the historic capital which gives its name to the province....
, Perche
Perche
Perche is a former province of northern France extending over the départements of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe, which were created from Perche during the French Revolution.-Geography:...
, Île-de-France
Île-de-France (province)
The province of Île-de-France or Isle de France is an historical province of France, and the one at the centre of power during most of French history...
, Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, Maine
Maine (province)
Le Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France . It corresponds to the old county of Maine, with its center, the city of Le Mans.-Location:...
and Saintonge
Saintonge
Saintonge is a small region on the Atlantic coast of France within the département Charente-Maritime, west and south of Charente in the administrative region of Poitou-Charentes....
. Between 1665 and 1673, 900 Filles du Roy, half of them coming from Île-de-France
Île-de-France (province)
The province of Île-de-France or Isle de France is an historical province of France, and the one at the centre of power during most of French history...
, were sent to Canada to get married to farmers and soldiers. In 1760, the colony had a population of 60,000 inhabitants. It is estimated that from 1633 to 1760, an average of 56 Frenchmen emigrated to Canada each year. Between 1608, date of the foundation of Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, and 1756, only 10,000 French people emigrated to Canada, most of modern-day French Canadians can trace their roots back to them.
French first settled in Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
in 1604. In 1667, when the colony went back to France, 441 inhabitants were registered. In 1713, as France ceded the territory to the British Crown, the population had risen to 2,500 Acadians. In 1755, out of a population of 14,000, 7,000 to 8,000 Acadians were deported. Around 1,800 of them fled to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
where their descendants are known as Cajuns.
At the end of the 19th century, French Canadians started to settle in Northeastern
Northeastern Ontario
Northeastern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and east of Lakes Superior and Huron.Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskaming, Nipissing and Manitoulin; and the single-tier municipality of Greater...
and Eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River...
, creating the modern-day Franco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarian
Franco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as "Ontarois"....
communities, and in the Prairies
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...
. At the same time, immigration from France was encouraged and the country received over 144,000 French immigrants between 1881 and 1980.
Chile
The FrenchFrench people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
came to Chile in the 18th century, arriving at Concepción
Concepción, Chile
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
as merchants, and in the mid-19th century to cultivate vines in the haciendas of the Central Valley, the homebase of Chilean wine
Chilean wine
Chilean wine is wine made in the South American country of Chile. The region has a long viticultural history for a New World wine region dating to the 16th century when the Spanish conquistadors brought Vitis vinifera vines with them as they colonized the region. In the mid-19th century, French...
. The Araucanía Region
Araucanía Region
The IX Araucanía Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south....
also has an important number of people of French ancestry, as the area hosted settlers arrived by the second half of the 19th century as farmers and shopkeepers. With akin Latin culture
Latin culture
Latin culture may refer to:*Latin **Latin literature**Classics*Latin Europe**Spanish culture**Portuguese culture**French culture**Italian culture**Romanian culture**Moldovan culture*Latin America**Latin American culture...
, the French immigrants quickly assimilated into mainstream Chilean society.
From 1880 to 1930, around 25,000 Frenchmen immigrated to Chile. 80% of them were coming from Southwestern France, especially from Basses-Pyrénées
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
(Basque country
Northern Basque Country
The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....
and Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
), Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
, Charente-Inférieure
Charente-Maritime
Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
and Charente
Charente
Charente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited.-History:Charente is one of the original...
and regions situated between Gers
Gers
The Gers is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.Inhabitants are called les Gersois or Gersoises.-History:...
and Dordogne
Dordogne
Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...
.
Most of French immigrants settled in the country between 1875 and 1895. Between October 1882 and December 1897, 8,413 Frenchmen settled in Chile. At the end of the century they were almost 30,000.
In World War II, a group of 10,000 to 20,000 Chileans of French descent, the majority have French relatives joined the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
and fought the Nazi occupation of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Today it is estimated that 520,000 Chileans are of French descent. Former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010. She was the first woman president of her country...
is of French origin. Former dictator Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
was another Chilean of French descent. A large percentage of politicians, businessmen and professionals in the country are of French ancestry.
Mexico
In MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, a sizeable population
French Mexican
A French Mexican is a Mexican citizen of full or partial French ancestry. Mexicans of French descent make up the second largest European descended group in Mexico, after the Spanish....
can trace its ancestry to France, which was the second largest European contributor, after Spain. The bulk of French immigrants arrived in Mexico during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
From 1814 to 1955, inhabitants of Barcelonnette
Barcelonnette
Barcelonnette is a commune in the Ubaye Valley, in the southern French Alps, in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, of which it is a subprefecture.-History:...
and the surrounding Ubaye valley emigrated to Mexico by the dozens. Many established textile businesses between Mexico and France. At the turn of the century, there were 5,000 French from the Barcelonnette region registered with the French Consulate in Mexico. While 90% stayed in Mexico, some returned, and from 1880 to 1930, built grand mansions called Maisons Mexicaines and left a mark upon the city. Today, there are 60,000 descendants of the French "Barcelonnettes
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
".
In the 1860s, during the Second Mexican Empire
Second Mexican Empire
The Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. It was created by Napoleon III of France, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times...
ruled by Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
-- which was part of Napoleon III's scheme to create a Latin empire in the New World (indeed responsible for coining the term or Amérique latine, or 'Latin America')-- many French soldiers, merchants, and families set foot upon Mexican soil. Emperor Maximilian's consort, Carlota of Mexico
Charlotte of Belgium
Charlotte of Belgium is remembered today as Carlota of Mexico as empress consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, ex-Archduke of Austria.-Princess of Belgium:The only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians by his second wife,...
, a Belgian princess, was a granddaughter of Louis-Philippe of France.
Many Mexicans of French descent live in cities such as San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
, Puebla
Puebla, Mexico
Puebla, Mexico, may refer to:*Puebla, one of the 32 component federal entities of the United Mexican States*Puebla, Puebla, capital city of that state...
, Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
, and the capital, Mexico D.F., where French surnames such as Derbez, Pierres, Betancourt, Alaniz, Blanc, Jurado (Jure), Colo (Coleau), Caire, Dumas, Tresmontrels, and Moussier can be found.
Uruguay
During the first half of the 19th century, UruguayUruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
received most French immigrants to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. It constituted back then the second receptor of French immigrants in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
after the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Thus, while the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
received 195,971 French immigrants between 1820 and 1855, 13,922 Frenchmen, most of them from the Basque Country
Northern Basque Country
The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....
and Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
, left for Uruguay between 1833 and 1842.
The majority of immigrants were coming from the Basque Country
Northern Basque Country
The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....
, Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
and Bigorre
Bigorre
Bigorre is region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region known as Gascony...
. Today, there are an estimated at 300,000 French descendants in Uruguay.
United States
The United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is home to the largest community of people of French descent
French American
French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...
outside of France. According to the last census of 2000, almost 11,800,000 Americans claim French ancestry (French and French Canadian combined), i.e. 4% of the total population. French Americans make up more than 10% of the population in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, through the emigration from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
between 1840 and 1930, and in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, through the French colonization of the region, the relocalization of deported Acadians and later immigration from Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
and from continental France
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...
. French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
is the fourth most spoken language in the United States, after English, Spanish and Chinese with over 1.6 million speakers.
From 1820 to 1986, 772,000 Frenchmen immigrated to the United States.
Between the 1840s and the 1930s, around 900,000 French Canadians emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, especially in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. Half of them eventually returned home. Their descendants number 2,400,000 people.
Figures
| Destinations of French immigrants from 1857 to 1860 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Destination | Number of immigrants | % immigrants |
| Europe | 12,278 | 23.66% |
| Algeria | 17,823 | 34.35% |
| Other countries | 456 | 0.88% |
| North America | 9,999 | 19.27% |
| South America | 10,252 | 19.77% |
| Australia | 121 | 0.23% |
| Canada | 33 | 0.06% |
| French colonies | 86 | 0.16% |
| Other countries | 839 | 1.62% |
| Total | 51,887 | 100% |
| Frenchmen abroad from 1861 to 1931 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | 1861 | 1881-6 | 1901 | 1911 | 1931 |
| Britain | 13,000 | 26,600 | 22,450 | 32,000 | 15,000 |
| Jersey | 2,780 | - | 8,100 | 8,500 | 7,000 |
| Belgium | 35,000 | 52,000 | 56,580 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| Russia | 2,479 | 5,760 | 8,000 | 12,000 | 1,500 |
| Germany | 6,429 | 1,756 | 20,480 | 19,000 | 15,000 |
| Switzerland | 45,000 | 54,260 | 58,520 | 64,000 | 40,000 |
| Italy | 4,718 | 10,900 | 6,950 | 8,000 | 9,000 |
| Spain | 10,642 | 17,600 | 20,560 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Total for Europe | 128,000 | 185,000 | 220,000 | 269,000 | 220,000 |
| Egypt | 14,207 | 15,700 | 10,200 | 11,500 | 18,000 |
| Asia (mainly China) | 4,000 | 5,000 | 7,000 | 10,000 | 11,000 |
| USA | 108,870 | 106,900 | 104,000 | 125,000 | 127,000 |
| Canada | 3,173 | 4,400 | 7,900 | 25,000 | 21,000 |
| Mexico | - | 8,800 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 |
| Argentina | 9,196 | 20,000 | 24,100 | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| Brazil | 592 | 28,000 | 12,000 | 14,000 | 14,000 |
| Chile | 4,650 | 6,198 | 17,800 | 20,000 | 9,000 |
| Uruguay | 23,000 | 14,300 | 12,900 | 9,500 | 8,000 |
| Total for South America | 56,000 | 92,000 | 130,000 | 138,000 | 113,000 |
| Total for the world | 318,000 | 426,000 | 495,000 | 600,000 | 535,000 |