What question did this study set out to answer?

This article aims to investigate how French colonial imagery shaped perceptions of imperialism in Senegambia and New Orleans.

June 19, 2026

To Spawn a Competent Empire: French Architectural Imagery in Early Colonial Senegambia and New Orleans

Key Points

This article aims to investigate how French colonial imagery shaped perceptions of imperialism in Senegambia and New Orleans.
Analysis of architectural imagery produced by French emissaries in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Examination of representations of African house types in Senegambia and the use of native woods in New Orleans.
Colonial representations illustrated French capability to exploit African landscapes.
Imagery helped craft a multicultural identity for France before the French Revolution.
Depictions in architecture emphasized the French colonial narrative of efficiency and skill.

Abstract

This article engages the architectural imagery that French emissaries produced in Senegambia and New Orleans in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. I reveal how French colonizers represented themselves and their country as skillfully able to exploit non-European landscapes. In Senegambia, colonizers depicted their purportedly efficient usage of African house types. In New Orleans, images showcased how French functionaries could employ native woods to craft necessary buildings. This paper explores the origins of modern imperialism. Imagery registered how colonial travelers competently spawned a multicultural France that came to define the nation’s global identity long before the French Revolution.

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