Genealogy in DROM-Coms and former colonies
Genealogy antics - Find the trace of your ancestors and put up your family tree thanks to many archives and resources
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Update: January 8, 2025
The colonial past of France has left traces on more than thirty territories, all continents and oceans combined. From North America to the Pacific, from the Antilles to Africa and from the 16th to the 20th century, many French people marked these territories with their French presence and culture-your ancestors may have been a part.
📜 Overseas National Archives (ANOM)
THE Overseas National Archives (ANOM), located in Aix-en-Provence, retain documents relating to French colonial history and the ultramarine territories. They offer online access to many funds:
- Marital status Since the 17th century
- Military registers Until the 1921 class
- Nominative basis of convicts to the prison Between 1851 and 1953
- Ulysses image base
The Overseas National Archives site gives you the opportunity to facilitate your research thanks to a base nominative des personnes et des familles (all those mentioned in the archives) and a geographic base (Historical information and geolocation).
THE territoires à retrouver dans les archives d’outre-mer
DOverseas arrangements and regions
Consult our antiseries dedicated to the overseas departments and regions:
COverseas Ollectivities
Find information on overseas communities in the heart:
- Polynésie Française (îles Australes, îles du Vent, île Gambien, îles Marquises, Tuamotu)
- Saint-Barthélémy
- Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
- Wallis and Futuna
Anciens territoires
Also find in the Overseas National Archives of funds concerning the old territories:
- Algeria-1830-1962
- Equatorial Africa (Gabon, Congo, Chad and Oubangui Chari)-1910-1960
- West Africa (Senegal, French Sudan (Mali), French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Haute-Volta, Mauritania and Niger)-1895-1960
- Cambodia - 1863-1954
- Canada (Quebec and New France) - 1608 to 1763
- Comoros (Mayotte islands, Anjouan, Grande Comore and Mohéli)-1843-1975
- French coast of Somalis - 1862-1977
- Egypt-1798-1801
- Ile de France (Mauritius)-1715-1810
- French India and India Company-1649-1954
- French Indochina - 1887-1954
- Laos-1813-1954
- Louisiana - 1682-1803
- Madagascar - 1896-1959
- Saint Domingue (Haïti) et îles sous le vent - 1659-1804
- Sainte Lucie - 1642-1814
- Seychelles-1781-1814
- Chad-1900-1940
As well as the other location territories:
- Cap de Bonne Espérance – en1688, près de 240 huguenots y rejoignent les colons hollandais
- Chine(Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankéou, Canton) – 1849-1949
- Nouvelles-Hébrides - 1906-1980 – condominium Franco-Britannique
🎞️ Videos, articles and books in free access
INSI videos
- Beach scene in French Algeria - 1934
- Life in French Algeria - 1934
- Exhibition "Colonial influence on the decor of French life" - 1944
- French Black Africa - 1944
- THE séparatistes malgaches à genoux devant la France – 1947
- Madagascar today - 1954
- Cameroon today - 1957
- Oil in Gabon - 1957
- Official ceremony - 1958
- Vehicle of the French army in Algeria - 1960
- French army patrol in Algeria - 1960
- Opening of community Olympic Games - 1960
- O Poor Virginie - Mauritius - 1963
- Independence of Mauritius - testimony of a Mauritian of French origin - 1967
- Independence of Mauritius - Testimonies - 1967
- THE Caraïbes à la Dominique – 1976
- Guadeloupe: visit to the island of Saint Martin - 1976
- Mayotte attached to France - 1976
- Djibouti, Independence - 1977
- The eruption of the montage peeled in 1902 - 1982
- Statut de Mayotte : Historique et Interview de Georges Lemoine - 1984
- History New Caledonia-1988
- Overseas: French-speaking space-1991
- Gabon: discovery, colonization - 1993
Free access books and articles
- THE archives anciennes des colonies françaises aux archives nationales
- Mixing in the old French colonies
- Algeria and the French colonies
- Memory for French colonies
- Instruction for French colonies
- Notices statistiques sur les colonies françaises
- History of French, Spanish, English, Danish and Swedish colonies and colonies
- THE colonies françaises : géographie, histoire, productions, administration et commerce
- THE colonies françaises : géographie, histoire, statistiques
- History of the French colonies: establishment in India, Madagascar, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Senegal
- History of the French colonies: Antilles, Ile Bourbon, French Guiane
- History of French colonies and French establishments in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania from their foundation to the present day
- Abolition of slavery in the French colonies, proposals of Mr. Passy
🖥️ Sites useful for your research
- Geneafrance-Research for DOM-TOM
- Genealogy and History of the Caribbean
- Martinican association of research on the history of families
- Celtic circle of Noumea
- Genealogical circle of Bourbon (Réunion)
- Genealogy Algeria Morocco Tunisia
- Association Fronténac-Amériques - La généalogie en France, aux Antilles et en Nouvelle-France
- National Archives: Research sheet
Good research!
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