The French diaspora () consists of French people and their descendants living outside France. Countries with significant numbers of people with French ancestry include Canada and the United States, whose territories were partly colonized by France between the 16th and 19th centuries, as well as Argentina. Although less important than in other European countries, immigration from France to the New World was numerous from the start of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. As of 2013, French authorities estimate that between 2 and 3.5 million French nationals are living abroad but the diaspora includes over 30 million people.
History Several events have led to emigration from France. The Huguenots started leaving in the 16th century, a trend that dramatically increased following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes. French colonization, especially in the Americas, was prominent in the late 17th and 18th centuries. At the end of the 18th century, French emigration (1789–1815) was a massive movement of émigrés mostly to neighboring European countries, as a result of the violence caused by the French Revolution. Later emigration was often associated with economic conditions. From 1847 to 1857, almost 200,000 French people emigrated abroad. 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.
As of 2016, the exact number of people who fled from France during the Revolutionary-era is not known. Between 1848 and 1939, 1 million people with French passports emigrated to other countries. In the Western Hemisphere, the main communities of French ancestry are found in the United States, Canada and Argentina. Sizeable groups are also found in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia.
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 US 108,870 106,900 104,000 125,000 127,000 Canada 3,173 4,400 7,900 25,000 21,000 Mexico 3,500 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
List of countries by population of French heritage
Country Population % of country Criterion French Caledonian 71,721 29.2% New Caledonia 2009 CensusTotalité de ceux se présentant comme « Européens », « Calédoniens » ou « Métis » au recensement de 2009 : il faut y enlever les Métropolitains présents depuis peu sur le Territoire, ainsi que des personnes issues d'autres métissages ou se disant « Calédoniennes » sans se sentir « Caldoches ». French Argentine 8,000,000 17% Canal Academy (Institute of France) citing 2006 data French Canadian 12,000,000 34% 2016 Canadian Census French Uruguayan 500,000 15% Encyclopedia of the Nations French Chilean 950,000 6% Yearbook of the French Colony in Chile French British 3,000,000 4.5% The Daily Telegraph French American 11,800,000 4% 2000 United States census French in South Africa 380,000 2.5% South African National Census of 2011, Deconstructing Jaco: Genetic Heritage of an Afrikaner Franco-Mauritian 24,000 2% French people in Senegal 40,000 0.75% French people in Italy (also including a great number of Piedmontese, as well of Ligurians, Lombards and Sardinian Catalans) 300,000 0.5% French Mexican 30,000 0.02% French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs French Peruvian 1,000,000 4.2% Mirror of Peru French people in Madagascar 123,954 0.618% Encyclopedia of African History Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of African History, CRC Press, 2005, pp. 878–883 French people in Switzerland 2,000,000 25% French people in Sweden French Brazilian 1,000,000 0.5% La France au Brésil French Australian 110,399 0.5% 2006 Australian census French people in the Seychelles 1,900 2% French Lebanese 21,428 0.4% French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs French people in India 12,864 0.001% everyculture.com French people in Belgium 4,500,000 40% French New Zealander 3,819 0.01% The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Total in diaspora ~40,000,000 French people 66,000,000 The French have equated their nationality with citizenship, regardless of ethnicity or country of residence. Bilan démographique 2012 – INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques – French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies) Total worldwide ~106,000,000
Distribution
In the Western Hemisphere, the main communities of French ancestry are found in Canada, the United States and Argentina. Sizeable groups are also found in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay.
Africa Senegal
During the period of French rule, there were almost no official controls on settlement by French nationals into the colonies. The European community of Dakar was ruled by the French, but also including Whites from outside France. French men in the colonial administration looked down on the rest of the European population. Aside from the administrators, the French population in Senegal during the period between the world wars contained rich merchant families from Bordeaux as well as smaller traders and their employees, as well as a large transient population of missionaries and travellers. The French required no identity cards or passports to travel in Senegal, making it easy to assume false identities and creating significant difficulties in policing them. Administrators expressed frustration with the influx of criminals and other "undesirables" from metropolitan France, which ran counter to what they saw as the French "civilising mission" to present "morally upright" role models for Africans to emulate. During the Independence of Senegal, there were estimated to be 40,000 French people in the country, three-quarters in Dakar alone in 1960. Though Dakar in particular featured a far higher proportion of non-indigenous population than many surrounding African countries in which racial conflict had become apparent, inter-ethnic relations there were characterised by an "apparent absence of any colour problem". It had been expected that most French citizens would soon return to France after independence, but a decade later, there were still 29,000 living in the country, involved with French aid and capital investment; their presence reflected the continued dependence of France's African colonies on the métropole. Some Senegalese people of French descent had illnesses of meningoencephalitis, staphylococcal infection of the skin, and the like, worsened by their failure or inability to seek medical attention. There are still some of the French who remained in Senegal.
Mauritius
The first French settlers arrived in Mauritius (then Isle de France) in 1722, after the previous attempts of settlement by the Dutch had failed, and the island had once again become abandoned. They lived and prospered on the island, ruling it until the British invasion of 1810. The French by now strongly identified with the island, and the terms of capitulation allowed the settlers to live on as a distinct francophone ethnic group for the next 158 years under British rule before Mauritius attained independence.
Not all Franco-Mauritians have pure French lineage, many also have British or other European ancestors that came to Mauritius and were absorbed in the Franco-Mauritian community or the gens de couleur (Coloureds). There are an estimated 15,000–20,000 Franco-Mauritians; French lineage is also found within the gens de couleur community with many having predominantly French ancestors—a further 30,000 people with considerable French bloodline. Within the Afro-Creole community, a large number of people have some French ancestors from slavery.
Latin America According to estimates, there are more than 8 million people with French ancestry living in Latin America, three-quarters of them in Argentina. Following the independence of Latin American countries in the first decades of the 19th century, a great wave of French immigration towards the region appeared, mainly directed to the River Plate basin. It lasted until the 1960s, when the economic situation in Latin America deteriorated and military dictatorships came into power. During this period of time, Argentina and Uruguay received more than 300,000 French immigrants, appearing as the second destination for French immigration worldwide after the United States.
Argentina
From the beginning of the 19th century, to the middle of the 20th century, Argentina 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 estimated that more than 8 million Argentines have some degree of French ancestry (17% of the total population).
Chile
The French 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 80,000 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 19th century, they were almost 30,000.
In World War II, a group of 10,000 to 20,000 Chileans of French descent joined the Free French Forces and fought the Nazi occupation of France.
Today, it is estimated that there are to 950,000 Chileans of French descent. President Michelle Bachelet is of French origin, as was former dictator Augusto Pinochet. Several prominent politicians, businessmen and professionals in the country have French ancestry.
Costa Rica
French immigration before the 19th century was scarce. This situation changed over the turn of the 19th century with French migrating mainly from South of France and BordeauxLemistre Annie, "Amon El Incognito", pag. 26. San José. 2015 as a consequence of international trade increase across the Atlantic and the independence from the Spanish Empire.