By the late 17th century, a French colonial empire began to take shape. Although some French traders and fishermen had ventured overseas earlier, the French colonial empire effectively began under Francis I. He supported French voyages of exploration along the Atlantic coast of North America and in the Canadian interior. Sponsored by trading companies enjoying state monopolies, the first permanent French settlements were made in the Americas under Henry IV. The explorations of Samuel de Champlain led to the founding of Québec City in 1608 as a fur-trading post. Competition with England arose immediately, and in 1613 the English attacked a French encampment in present-day Maine. Both powers allied with opposing factions among the Native American tribes, thereby amplifying the conflict.

Under Louis XIII, the first French colonies in the Caribbean were established in Martinique and Guadeloupe. At first these colonies relied on indentured white servants for labor in the sugarcane fields, but gradually they shifted to African slaves.