French India

French India, formally known as the Établissements français dans l'Inde, was a French colony established in 1668. It comprised five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian subcontinent, which initially served as factories for the French East India Company. These enclaves included Pondichéry, Karikal, and Yanaon on the Coromandel Coast, Mahé on the Malabar Coast, and Chandernagor in Bengal. The colony was de facto incorporated into the Republic of India in 1950 and 1954, and formally dissolved on November 1, 1954. By 1950, its total area was 510 km2, with Pondichéry accounting for 293 km2.