French Rendezvous in Rio

In this episode of Compendium Trivia, we dig into the forgotten history of France’s short-lived attempt to create a colony in the heart of Brazil. Tune in as we unravel the forgotten story of this bold venture, the struggles it faced, and why it ultimately collapsed. Turns out, even the finest French cheese couldn't handle the tropical conditions—and neither could their plans!

Transcript

Imagine Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro renamed Riviera de Napoléon. Sunseekers snack on freshly baked baguettes with Camembert cheese and sip Bordeaux wine under the palm trees. Does it sound a bit bizarre? Probably — but this is something that actually almost happened! Today, we dive into the surprising true story of France’s attempt to turn Rio de Janeiro into tropical Paris. 

Everyone knows that Brazil used to be a Portuguese colony, but in fact France also actively tried to claim this land for itself.

The first attempt came in 1555 when the French vice-admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon (pardon my French if I just butchered his name) led an expedition of 200 colonists to the modern-day Rio de Janeiro area. 

You may ask , how did they know where to go ? This area was not well mapped back then because this was shortly after America was officially discovered right, at the end of XV century. 

Well, there were some stories that French merchants from Normandy had reached the Brazilian coast shortly after Columbus—or even before him. However, let’s be honest, the evidence for that is about as solid as a half-baked baguette.

Still, I think there was something to it, because the French were confident enough to make establishing a colony a clear goal of this expedition, so they probably knew something about these lands.

Anyway, apart from poor mapping there was one other problem - according to the infamous Treaty of Tordesillas from 1494, which was confirmed by the pope himself, which was a big thing back then, the coast of Brazil officially belonged to Portugal. 

So, technically, France’s little adventure was not exactly legal, but hey, who cares when there is a whole new continent out there to explore.

Probably this is why this whole escapade was kept rather hush-hush. The French spread rumors that the voyage wasn’t heading to America at all, but rather to the Guinea coast of Africa. 

And also listen to this - it is said that when the King Henry II put up the funds for the mission, he vaguely stated that the money was for “a certain enterprise that we do not want to be specified or clarified.” 

Sounds like Henry he was not the most transparent guy ever when it comes to spending public funds right?

But this also kinda confirms that the expedition was quite secretive from the very beginning. 

So the venture started off well, they managed to establish the colony in Guanabara Bay, where modern-day Rio de Janeiro now stands. The trade business with the natives was growing, and the future looked bright — especially after more reinforcements and colonists arrived from France.

On the flip side, not everything was smooth sailing. There were some internal power struggles and religious disputes within the colony between Catholics and Protestants. And this even lead to some colonists packing up and heading back to Europe. Even de Villegaignon himself left, leaving his nephew in charge.

So in general it was all going ok but soon the young colony attracted the attention of some nasty neighbors.

And guess who I am talking about? The Portuguese of course who were, already established in Brazil from the early 1500. They quickly learned of the French presence in South America and they were definitely not happy about it.

In 1560, they sent troops to deal with the intruders and destroyed the rival colony. Some French settlers actually managed to escape and put up a fight, but by 1566, they were completely expelled from the area.

And basically that was the end of the first French colony in Brazil — curiously named France Antarctique. The surprising name comes from the fact that back then European geographers often referred to lands in the Southern Hemisphere as Antarctic lands—not because they were cold, but simply because they were the opposite of the Arctic in the north. 

And the name Artic itself comes from the Greek “Arktos” meaning “bear” referring to the constellations Ursa Major (Great Bear) and Ursa Minor (Little Bear), which are visible in the northern sky.

It all may sound a little misleading, perhaps, but let’s be honest— accuracy in geographical labeling wasn’t exactly at its peak in the 16th century.

Speaking of oddly named colonies, another French venture in Brazil was called Equinoctial France or France Équinoxiale — again, pardon my French. The name means "of equal nights", which makes sense since the colony was established near Equator, where days and nights are roughly of the same length.

The colony was located in what is now Maranhão state, in northern Brazil. The French settled it in 1612 and named it San Louis in honor of King Louis XIII— although some sources claim it was named after Louis IX. Honestly, with so many French kings named Louis, it’s hard to know. 

What was the colony’s fate? Well, it played out pretty much the same like France Antarctique.

Things were going smoothly for a couple of years—until 1615, when, once again, those nasty, protective Portuguese decided they were not in the mood for sharing Brazil. They attacked and expelled the colonists, once again bringing France’s colonial ambitions in Brazil to an early end.

However, the town of San Louis survived— it was rebranded by the Portuguese as São Luís—and it still exists today as the capital of Maranhão state. So, in a way, the French left their mark on this part of Brazil, just in a more limited way than they had hoped.

You’d think that after these defeats, the French would wave the white flag—something they have a reputation for. But no ,they proved to be persistent and tried again—not technically in Brazil, though but just north of it, in what is still, to this day, French Guiana.

This attempt, which began in 1624 was a difficult one from the very beginning. The had to restart the colony multiple times due to a mix of tropical diseases, fights with natives and attacks from Dutch, British, and Portuguese — who all had their own colonies nearby. But against all odds, France managed to hold onto this territory for good.

Over time, the French Guiana became a place where they used to send exiles and other people who had fallen out of favor with the French state. For example followers of revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre and Alfred Dreyfus, the victim of the well known antisemitic scandal in the French army at the end of the XIX century and also many other political opponents.

Some of these unfortunate individuals were locked up in the infamous Devil’s Island prison, where they faced horrific conditions, malnutrition, and tropical diseases all that stuff. It definitely wasn’t the kind of tropical holiday in far away land for them.

Another dark chapter in French Guiana’s history was slavery. Thousands of Africans were brought to work on plantations, but many managed to escape and formed their own communities, similar to the ones they had left behind in Africa before being enslaved.

Also with time the colony also saw waves of immigrants from French colonies in Asia, plus India and China, who established themselves as a merchant class within society.

So, as you can see, the cultural and ethnical landscape of French Guiana is incredibly diverse and fascinating.

To this day, French Guiana remains a part of France and despite being in South America, it is an integral part of the European Union, even using the Euro as its currency. One good thing about it is that unlike its Brazilian neighbors, it is not suffering from the rampant deforestation—nearly 90% of its land is still covered in a virgin tropical forest. In fact, it’s home to the EU’s largest national park, Guiana Amazonian Park, which covers a staggering 41% of the territory.

French Guiana is also home to Europe’s rocket launch site, making it a valuable asset for the entire European Union. This is due to its proximity to the Equator, which helps to reduce fuel consumption when launching rockets, that’s why it is located there.

And one interesting bonus fact: thanks to French Guiana, France’s longest land border is actually with Brazil! It’s around 100 km longer than the French-Spanish border in Europe.

So, to wrap things up, the French colonization of Brazil didn’t go exactly according to plan — there is no tropical Paris, no baguettes on Ipanema—but they didn’t leave completely empty-handed either.

They still have French Guiana, they have a place to launch rockets from and they left their mark in more subtle ways as well. For example in in place names like the city of San Luis or Villegaignon island in Rio. 

And as a side effect, the French also ensured that future history nerds would have something interesting to talk about!

Guys thanks a lot for listening to today’s episode. Don’t forget to like and subscribe and I will see you in the next one. Ciao!