France gets 90 million tourists a year. More than any other country on Earth. More than its entire population shows up as visitors every single year.
But while everyone’s busy dreaming about the Eiffel Tower and croissants, almost nobody is talking about the bigger picture.
France still controls 13 territories spread across every corner of the globe. The Caribbean. The Pacific. The Indian Ocean. Antarctica. French soil exists on nearly every continent, and most people have no idea.
The French Empire didn’t fall like the British one. It didn’t collapse dramatically or get dismantled piece by piece in the history books. It just… quietly rebranded. They stopped using the word empire, kept the territories, and carried on.
In this video, we’re pulling back the curtain on the France they don’t show you in the travel ads. The France that never really gave up its place in the world. The France that figured out how to hold onto global power while the whole world was distracted by its wine and its cheese and its very good bread.
This is the story of how one country managed to keep an empire hiding in plain sight.
If you’ve ever looked at a world map and wondered why there are little patches of France in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, this one’s for you.
Drop a comment below telling us which French territory surprised you the most. And if you’re new here, make sure you subscribe because we cover the stories that don’t make the front page.
1 Comment
I think it's the same for the uk