Talk:French Colonial Empire

Article name?

According to w:French_colonial_empire, this era ended in 1980. Therefore isn't it inaccurate to refer to this as 'modern'? Andrewssi2 (talk) 03:23, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

1980 is still modern, but the main point is that "French colonial empire" would be clearer, so that's what we should go with. Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:29, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

One wrinkle is that the French colonial empire absolutely cannot be completely divorced from Napoleon. He sent troops to Egypt, where French archeologists did really important work. Plus, French colonialism in India and the Americas goes back to the 17th century. Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:33, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

The current title seems strange to me too. French colonial empire seems clearer, though in that case I guess the article's scope should be expanded to include pre-1830 colonies. By the way, why is France listed as a former colony? —Granger (talk · contribs) 03:37, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

I plunged forward and moved the article without looking at this discussion. I still think it's the best name. Otherwise it could be called the "Second French colonial empire" which refers to the empire post-1830. Gizza ^(roam) 04:22, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

[Edit conflict] That reminds me of the scene in the show in the movie "The Producers", when the Nazis suggest attacking Germany. Of course we should delete that. I'll take care of it. Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:23, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

Ardennes?

Why is the Ardennes specifically relevant to colonialism, any more than any other battle site in France? Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:47, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

Original version of quote

@ThunderingTyphoons!: As our resident Francophile, do you by any chance have access to the original French version of the quote? I think it will be nice to have the original French version above the English translation in the article. See the Portuguese Empire article for an example of how this is done. The dog2 (talk) 17:02, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

I assume you mean the horrible Jules Ferry quote? The original quotes, spoken in Parliament are: Messieurs, il faut parler plus haut et plus vrai ! il faut dire ouvertement qu'en effet les races supérieures ont un droit vis-à-vis des races inférieures... and Je répète qu'il y a pour les races supérieures un droit, parce qu'il y a un devoir pour elles. Elles ont le devoir de civiliser les races inférieures.

Do we really want such a quote on WV? --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 17:46, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

Yes, I know it's horrible. But I think in the context of this article, it is fine. We're not endorsing racism here, but simply showcasing the horribly racist attitudes that many of these European imperialists had. After all, the whole point of colonialism was to exploit others. The dog2 (talk) 17:53, 2 April 2021 (UTC)