French Africa includes all the historic holdings of France on the African continent.

• Egypt (1798-1801)
• French Algeria (1830–1962)
• Protectorate of Tunisia (1881–1956)
• Protectorate in Morocco (1912–1956)
• Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames (1943–1951)

• Ivory Coast (1843–1960)
• Dahomey or French Dahomey (now Benin) (1883–1960)
  • Independent of Dahomey, under French protectorate in 1889
  • Porto-Novo (protectorate) (1863–1865, 1882)
  • Cotonou (protectorate) (1868)
• French Sudan (now Mali) (1883–1960)
  • Senegambia and Niger (1902–1904)
• Guinea or French Guinea (1891–1958)
• Mauritania (1902–1960)
  • Adrar emirate (protectorate) (1909)
  • The Taganit confederation's emirate (protectorate) (1905)
  • Brakna confederation's emirate (protectorate)
  • Emirate of Trarza (protectorate) (1902)
• Niger (1890–1960)
  • Sultanate of Damagaram (Zinder) (protectorate) (1899)
• Senegal (1677–1960)
• French Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) (1896–1960)
• French Togoland (1918–1960) (formerly a German colony, mandate became a French colony) (now Togo)
• Nigeria
  • The Enclaves of Forcados and Badjibo (territory under a lease of 30 years) (1900–1927)
  • The Emirate of Muri (Northeast of Nigeria) (1892–1893)
• Gambia
  • Albreda (1681–1857)
  • Kunta Kinteh Island (1695–1697, 1702)

• Chad (1900–1960)
• Oubangui-Chari (currently Central African Republic) (1905–1960)
  • Dar al Kuti (protectorate) (1897) (in 1912 its sultanate was suppressed by the French)
  • Sultanate of Bangassou (protectorate) (1894)
• Present-day The Republic of Congo, then French Congo (1875–1960)
• Gabon (1839–1960)
• French Cameroon (91% of current Cameroon) (1918–1960) (formerly a German colony, Mandate, Protectorate then French Colony)
• São Tomé and Príncipe (1709)

• Madagascar (1896–1960)
  • Kingdom of Imerina (protectorate) (1896)
• Isle de France (1715–1810) (now Mauritius)
• Djibouti (French Somaliland) (the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas) (French Somalia) (1862–1977)
• French Egypt (1798–1801, 1858–1882, 1956)
• Mayotte (1841–present)
• Seychelles (1756–1810)
• Chagos Archipelago (1721–1745, 1768–1814)
• The Scattered Islands (Banc du Geyser, Bassas da India, Europa Island, Juan de Nova Island, Glorioso Islands, Tromelin Island)
• Comoros (1866–1975)
• Réunion (1710–present)

• French colonial empire
• History of Africa
• Overseas France
• Scramble for Africa
• Troupes coloniales – French colonial forces

• Langley, Michael. "Bizerta to the Bight: The French in Africa." History Today. (Oct 1972), pp 733–739. covers 1798 to 1900.
• Hutton, Patrick H. ed. Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870–1940 (2 vol 1986)
• Northcutt, Wayne, ed. Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946– 1991 (1992)
• Singh, Gurjit. "France in Africa: Trying a youthful look, Gateway House, 21 October 2021" online; Available at SSRN

• Aldrich, Robert. Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996)
• Baumgart, Winfried. Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion, 1880–1914 (1982)
• Betts, Raymond. Tricouleur: The French Overseas Empire (1978), 174pp
• Betts, Raymond. Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890–1914 (2005) excerpt and text search
• Chafer, Tony (2002). The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization?. Berg. ISBN 9781859735572.
• Clayton, Anthony. The Wars of French Decolonization (1995)
• Cogneau, Denis, et al. "Taxation in Africa from Colonial Times to Present Evidence from former French colonies 1900-2018." (2021): online
• Conklin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895–1930 (1997) online
• Evans, Martin. "From colonialism to post-colonialism: the French empire since Napoleon." in Martin S. Alexander, ed., French History since Napoleon (1999) pp: 391–415.
• Gamble, Harry. Contesting French West Africa: Battles over Schools and the Colonial Order, 1900–1950 (U of Nebraska Press, 2017). 378 pp. online review
• Jennings, Eric T. Imperial Heights: Dalat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina (2010).
• Lawrence, Adria. Imperial rule and the politics of nationalism: anti-colonial protest in the French empire (Cambridge UP, 2013).
• Newbury, C. W.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1969). "French Policy and the Origins of the Scramble for West Africa". The Journal of African History. 10 (2): 253–276. doi:10.1017/S0021853700009518. JSTOR 179514. S2CID 162656377..
• Klein, Martin A. Slavery and colonial rule in French West Africa (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
• Manning, Patrick. Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa 1880-1995 (Cambridge UP, 1998).
• Neres, Philip. French-speaking West Africa: From Colonial Status to Independence (1962)
• Priestley, Herbert Ingram. France overseas: a study of modern imperialism (1938) 464pp.
• Quinn, Frederick. The French Overseas Empire (2000)
• Pakenham, Thomas (1991). The Scramble for Africa, 1876–1912. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-51576-2..
• Poddar, Prem, and Lars Jensen, eds., A historical companion to postcolonial literatures: Continental Europe and Its Empires (Edinburgh UP, 2008), excerpt also entire text online
• Petringa, Maria (2006). Brazzà, a life for Africa. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. ISBN 1-4259-1198-6. OCLC 74651678.
• Priestley, Herbert Ingram. (1938) France overseas;: A study of modern imperialism 463pp; encyclopedic coverage as of late 1930s
• Roberts, Stephen H. History of French Colonial Policy (1870-1925) (2 vol 1929) vol 1 online also vol 2 online; Comprehensive scholarly history
• Segalla, Spencer (2009). The Moroccan Soul: French Education, Colonial Ethnology, and Muslim Resistance, 1912–1956. Lincoln: Nebraska UP. ISBN 978-0-8032-1778-2..
• Strother, Christian. "Waging War on Mosquitoes: Scientific Research and the Formation of Mosquito Brigades in French West Africa, 1899–1920." Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences (2016): jrw005.
• Thomas, Martin. The French Empire Between the Wars: Imperialism, Politics and Society (2007) covers 1919–1939
• Thompson, Virginia, and Richard Adloff. French West Africa (Stanford UP, 1958).
• Wesseling, H.L. and Arnold J. Pomerans. Divide and rule: The partition of Africa, 1880–1914 (Praeger, 1996.)
• Wesseling, H.L. The European Colonial Empires: 1815–1919 (Routledge, 2015).

• Betts, Raymond F. Decolonization (2nd ed. 2004)
• Betts, Raymond F. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960 (1991)
• Chafer, Tony. The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonization (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2002).
• Chamberlain, Muriel E. ed. Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 2014)
• Clayton, Anthony. The wars of French decolonization (Routledge, 2014).
• Cooper, Frederick. "French Africa, 1947–48: Reform, Violence, and Uncertainty in a Colonial Situation." Critical Inquiry (2014) 40#4 pp: 466–478. in JSTOR
• Ikeda, Ryo. The Imperialism of French Decolonisation: French Policy and the Anglo-American Response in Tunisia and Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
• Jansen, Jan C. & Jürgen Osterhammel. Decolonization: A Short History (Princeton UP, 2017). online
• Jones, Max, et al. "Decolonising imperial heroes: Britain and France." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 42#5 (2014): 787–825.
• Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews
• McDougall, James. "The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonization of France, 1945–1962," The Journal of Modern History 89#4 (December 2017) pp 772–811 excerpt
• Rothermund, Dietmar. Memories of Post-Imperial Nations: The Aftermath of Decolonization, 1945–2013 (2015) excerpt; Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
• Rothermund, Dietmar. The Routledge companion to decolonization (Routledge, 2006), comprehensive global coverage; 365pp
• Shepard, Todd. The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France (2006)
• Simpson, Alfred William Brian. Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention (Oxford University Press, 2004).
• Smith, Tony. "A comparative study of French and British decolonization." Comparative Studies in Society and History (1978) 20#1 pp: 70–102. online Archived 2015-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
• Smith, Tony. "The French Colonial Consensus and People's War, 1946–58." Journal of Contemporary History (1974): 217–247. in JSTOR
• Thomas, Martin, Bob Moore, and Lawrence J. Butler. Crises of Empire: Decolonization and Europe's imperial states (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015)
• Von Albertini, Rudolf. Decolonization: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960 (Doubleday, 1971), scholarly analysis of French policies, pp 265–469..

• Andrew, Christopher M., and Alexander Sydney Kanya-Forstner. "France, Africa, and the First World War." Journal of African History 19.1 (1978): 11–23.
• Andrew, C. M.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1976). "French Business and the French Colonialists". Historical Journal. 19 (4): 981–1000. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00010803. S2CID 159812995.. online
• Andrew, C. M., and A. S. Kanya-Forstner. "The French 'Colonial Party': Its Composition, Aims and Influence, 1885-1914." Historical Journal 14#1 (1971): 99–128. online.
• August, Thomas G. The Selling of the Empire: British and French Imperialist Propaganda, 1890–1940 (1985)
• Chafer, Tony, and Amanda Sackur. Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda and Visions of Empire in France (2002)
• Confer, Vincent (1964). "French Colonial Ideas before 1789". French Historical Studies. 3 (3): 338–359. doi:10.2307/285947. JSTOR 285947..
• Conkin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895-1930 (1997) online
• Dobie, Madeleine. Trading Places: Colonization & Slavery in 18th-Century French Culture (2010)
• Martin, Guy (1985). "The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases of France's African Policy". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 23 (2): 189–208. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00000148. S2CID 154727976..
• Rosenblum, Mort. Mission to Civilize: The French Way (1986) online review
• Rothermund, Dietmar. Memories of Post-Imperial Nations: The Aftermath of Decolonization, 1945–2013 (2015) excerpt; Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
• Singer, Barnett, and John Langdon. Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire (2008)
• Thomas, Martin, ed. The French Colonial Mind, Volume 1: Mental Maps of Empire and Colonial Encounters (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D) (2012); The French Colonial Mind, Volume 2: Violence, Military Encounters, and Colonialism (2012)

• Bennington, Alice. "Writing Empire? The Reception of Post-Colonial Studies in France." Historical Journal (2016) 59#4: 1157–1186. abstract
• Emerson, Rupert (1969). "Colonialism". Journal of Contemporary History. 4 (1): 3–16. doi:10.1177/002200946900400101. S2CID 220878619..
• Lawrence, Adria K. Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire (Cambridge UP, 2013) online reviews