What happens after discovery—when a landing becomes an empire?

In this episode, we follow the rise of a world where France, not Spain, becomes the first great Atlantic power. After Christopher Columbus opens the western route under the French banner, discovery quickly turns into domination: island bases become permanent colonies, coastal outposts become cities, and trade routes become the arteries of a new French America.

From the Caribbean to Mexico and deep into North America’s river systems, France builds a vast imperial space shaped by governors, merchants, missionaries, soldiers, and settlers. Plantation wealth, precious metals, fur routes, and Atlantic trade bind the New World to Paris, Bordeaux, and Saint-Malo—while French language, law, religion, and urban culture spread across continents.

But empire never grows without  ...