Chapter 1 - A Colonial Empire in Crisis

Summary

Chapter 1 illuminates the inherent weaknesses of the French colonial empire on the eve of the Seven Years War and examines initial efforts to embark on imperial reform during peace negotiations between France and Britain. The chapter uses the correspondence of Jean-Antoine Riqueti de Mirabeau, governor of Guadeloupe in the Îles du Vent between 1753 and 1755, to shed light on the problems of the French Caribbean plantation complex and to show how Mirabeau’s experiences influenced the intellectual vision of his older brother, Victor Riqueti de Mirabeau, who co-founded Physiocracy together with François Quesnay. From here, the chapter analyses war-time discussions on the future of the French colonies within the Ministries of the Marine and of Foreign Affairs. While these discussions culminated in the well-known strategy to enhance the French Caribbean plantation complex, the chapter reveals that government officials were also contemplating alternative paths to empire rooted in a vision of mutual prosperity between the metropole and the colonies and a reorientation of colonial empire from the Americas to West Africa.