Abstract

If the period from the 1770s to 1842 was the first era of the French presence in the South Pacific, the age of discovery and exploration, then the years from 1842 to the First World War marked the second epoch of colonisation, and the period from the First World War to the Second was that of the consolidation of France’s activities. The events of the 1940s then transformed the geopolitical context of the South Pacific and French colonial policy in general. But already in the 1930s conditions were changing in the South Pacific, both with the increased concentration of business activities (notably in the New Caledonian nickel industry) and the first calls for local self-government. The great Colonial Exhibition of 1931 marked the apogee of the French empire; although the French did not foresee the development, not in 1940 and certainly not in 1931, the next few decades would witness the coming-apart of that empire. Ironically, the Pacific colonies, small and distant as they were, would be among the confettis de l’empire which retained their links with the métropole.1KeywordsShipping LinePanama CanalFrench ColoniWhite SettlerImperial HistoryThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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