Why France Hides Countries Outside Its Borders 

Fun fact: if youre from a country belonging to the Schengen zone, so nearly all of EU countries, you can go to Bora Bora, Madera, Reunion, Azores and many more French or Portugal overseas territories without the passport, just with your ID.

Looked into the Children of the Creuse case and I was surprised to find that the French National Assembly actually took responsibility and guilt for it in 2014.

Good thing about france territory is they have same right as france citizen, unlike some US territory

Every thing is fun and games until Penguins start speaking french

A positive point (yeah France as many country is sometimes fucked up: nukes, chloredecones etc.) is that the government now protects these areas a lot, like Guyana forest against illegal gold extractions, island reefs, etc.

him: concerned about bora bora being few hundred KM away from those atolls me: what about vegas?

great video, just one thing moruroa is 1500 km away from bora bora, same distance that chernobyl is from france ( fukushima is only 230 km away from tokyo. I just mean Bora bora is safe come and enjoy !!!

Very good video, but "wards of the state" has never meant in any way, that those childrends "belonged" to the state. "Pupilles de la Nation" (orphan from war) or "Pupille de l'État" are under the responsability of the State, more specificaly the "ASE" (Childhood Proetction ). The Childrens of Creuse was a terrible, misguided action done by the French governement exposing those kids to racism, exclusion and worse, but the childrens never "belonged" to the State. As a french social worker, thois was my 2 cents ;)

I travelled from South Africa to Reunion just 4 hours from Johannesburg and found it so interesting this French European sizeable island so close so far out of its way thriving like a little piece of France on my doorstep in the Southern Hemisphere. I have been to Paris only in France so it added to some of the atmosphere. Don't forget the former size of the empire had included Vietnam / Indo-french china and Mauritius , Rodrigue etc

ne soyez pas jaloux de la France,je suis métis-vièt ,j'habite en nouvelle-calédonie,je me sent complètement français et içi c'est la france nous sommes français et nous leresteront

So, even more than England, France can truly say that the Sun never set on his territory, not just it's Empire.

This was a great video. Now I require part 2. Been looking into France lately, and the more you dig into it, the more fascinating it becomes. Especially in the modern era. They are a classic case where everyone mainly due to the English has given them a bad reputation for surrendering. When you look at it from above, makes you question. Did they really lose? And to be frank. When it comes to old empires, out of all of them, I think I would have declared France the winner. Being the only one that still maintains large areas of territories. Not only that, consider their history, and time and time again with a change of government and system, rebellions and occupations. They somehow still manage to cling to these territories. And then in the current era, France is the only nation that outright does mostly whatever it feels like. And something you could have mentioned in the video: French Guiana is one of the main bases for training the French Foreign Legion. Talking about the Foreign Legion, you should make a video about that one day!

I hate to inform you but French Guiana 🇬🇫 is literally in the same hemisphere as France, according to your map.

So you can take a flight from Paris to the south Pacific and it'll still be considered domestic.

If you really think that remote oceanic islands inhabited by enormous flocks of birds have no strategic importance, then you have never heard of bird guano, which was used as fertilizer before we figured out how to manufacture the stuff from crude oil.

Join me on Wren and start offsetting your carbon footprint today! We'll plant 10 extra trees for the first 100 people who sign up! wren.co/start/obf

The children were all "born under X", their mother decided to give them away at their birth...Orfans with no family. Most of them do have a family now, and are actively searching for their real mother. I know, I live in la Reunion.

The sun never set on the French Empire =))))

As an inhabitant of French Guiana I’m quite surprise It’s featured here. We’re so unknown in the UE apart the occasional mention from the space industry.

Growing up in Newfoundland I remember the French class taking a trip to st pierre miquolon every year

You seem to find a lot of things ‘strange’ that are actually quite logical.

Everyone was testing nukes in the Pacific. The US blew up the Bikini atoll, the UK tested in Australia. Of those three the US would actually be the only one that has enough empty space to do it at home.

I am Portuguese and I had my honeymoon in Martinique (small Caribbean island). I loved it because, even though not having the best beaches/hotels in the Caribbean (still good nonetheless), We felt it was quite safe to freely travel around the island, eat on any local restaurant, visit some farms, villages, museums, etc. Much better than being in a "bubble for tourists", on a very poor/dangerous place.

Now I know why French Guyana is being used in Battlefield 2042 with space platforms

What a silly headline title for this video. These parts of France are in no way hidden, and they are actually within the borders of France, not outside them. You may not have heard of them, in which case you should learn more about the world before making these videos, but they are not hidden and are well known to many other people. As for whether it's strange to include Pacific islands as an integrated part of a main country, isn't that what the US of A does with Hawaii and Guam? Bora Bora is only 20% further from Paris than Guam is from Washington DC.

Nice video ! That was really nice :) As a Frenchman, it's cool to see this type of content for the English speakers.

Interesting video, but disappointed by the ignorance about radioactivity. The USA's Nevada test range was next to Las Vegas, so it's not unusual.

From one creator to another keep posting good content. Millions of subscribers are coming. Great video.

Birds AND penguins. That's like Africa, they have big cats AND lions.

France effectively protects the ecology of the waters surrounding it’s South Indian Ocean islands with their rich fish stocks... by contrast much of the same sea life off the coast of S Africa has been almost completely wiped out by Korean, Taiwanese , Filipino and Japanese trawlers... Reason? The SA navy doesn’t have the skills to take their ships out of harbor.

French Guiana was once a notorious penal colony that included Devil's Island!

What you said about the "Wards of the Nation" who are children who "BELONG" to the State is simply outrageous and a real insult to what this actually means. Those children absolutely don't belong to anyone or anything. You make it sound like a horrible thing when it's literally a great thing for many of those wards. To make it clear, this status is a privileged usually given to children whom their father or mother died for France as a military or in duty in any kind of public service, or who were killed by terrorists. It gives some insurances to those kids that the States will pay for their studies and to make sure their basic needs are fulfilled. It is meant to help those kids. What you said about this status is really shameful... Now about les Enfants de la Creuse, it is completely other subject, absolutely unrelated to this status, but mostly related to a very poorly and cruel way of dealing with some demographic problems in both la Creuse and la Réunion. This event is a disgrace for France and the National Assembly has recognized their fault in this back in 2014.

Don’t also forget that there has been since the 80s the government started to recognize and atone for some of their past colonist behavior thanks to influx of key political and cultural figures from all these overseas territories (and départements). It’s not all rosy but it’s better than before…

Soo, the sun never sets on France?

extremely enjoyable presentation, thank you OBF!

**view from space** Astronaut: "Wait a minute....It's all France?!" Other Astronaut: **cocks gun** "it always has been" **shoots**

The British realizing that France has more random Islands that them: "How in the bloody hell did you keep all of those?"

Please do a video of the US territories, specifically Puerto Rico, Guam, CNMI, And American Samoa, and the USVI. Many Americans unfortunately don’t know that they are our fellow Americans

An important thing to note concerning the "children of the Creuse". The idea of sending them to metropolitan France coming from Michel Debré, former Prime Minister and at the time deputy for Reunion Island. Yes. The person behind the transfer of these children was an elected official from their native island. The goal was not simply to repopulate rural areas but mostly to fight the demographic explosion of the Reunion Island. To be clear. Yes, the method was clearly inhuman, cruel and stupid. But the basic idea was to help the development of the Island. "Hell is paved with good feelings."

ward of the state does not mean slave to the state. It means responsibility of the state. Such as children from anonymous birth, found abandoned, unregistered etc. Most of the time they are looking for adoptive parent for them. Still, the relocations to the creuse were messed up, but everyone acknowledge this.

The French territory I’m most interested about is “St. Pierre and Miquelon”, since it’s the closest French territory to me. The fact that it is so close to Newfoundland island, Canada makes it more cool

On the Battlefield 2042 Beta the only map we can play is a French Guiana one and you know what the two main features are? A huge tornado and a Rocket Launch by the ESA and the CNES. Now it makes more sense as to why the French and EU presence is there.

Thanks for the vid king, love it

New vid from my fellow scandinavian, time to grab the popcorn 🍿 :) Much love from Sweden!

Great video! I comment for the algorithm! May it shine on your channel

The uk also has overseas territory islands and really it's a pretty good deal for French and British islands . No one else is going to invade them look what happened to Argentina when they tried that with the falklands . And these islands are great bases in a war

I liked this video however I can’t understand the title, like who was preventing you to know about these territories ? They are not secret and are really willing to share their stories and culture, and also at 2:00 when you say that kerguelens islands are useless, you said yourself they are home to a large biodiversity and so aren’t useless at all, mostly for science and nature.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video, thanks!

Thanks for the awesome video. Every term you mentioned that I do not understand and was about to Google when you explained them right after. I always thought these islands are just owned by France but not France proper (as in being first class citizen if you live there).

As always, incredible content!

Bit uncritical regarding the nuclear aspect For me it's really oriented Most of countries equipped with nuclear weapons made tests quite devastating for environment. That's the problem, it's not about France

Great interesting work, keep it coming!

Brilliant info. Another interesting fact is that the uk govt included France’s overseas territories when calculating the average temperature of France to deny British expats the winter heating allowance!

Really cool no idea how large their island empire was, I haven’t looked but have u made any video on frances influence and control/operations in Africa?

Great geography and infos. Thanks, obf!

So because of this, could a French passport holder be able to live, work and travel freely within any of these territories simply because they were French ? Similarly to how a US citizen can just pack up and move to the USVI, Guam or others ?

"Birds and penguins..." Errr, last time I checked, penguins ARE birds...

never heard of thoses creuse kids but it seems that it worked so well the region is still called the diagonal of the void

absolutely amazing video! good job!

awesome vid as always man!

very nice to learn things about my own country, great video

Brit who thought that UK still an Empire left the chat

Awesome video and great editing.

I didnt know penguins and birds mate in France, must be an expensive trip.

The Clipperton island have a very interesting history.

Honestly France having 3 Islands where nothing but mating happens. Sounds extremely normal when considering French.

Dope document. Nice job. Thanks.

Nice video keep up the good work👍

Great video, and info. I love when people make learning more interesting than most of my teachers did.

Make certain to touch upon St. Pierre-Miquelon, the islands that are a bit of Continental France not far from Quebec and the Maritime provinces, where the joual/Quebecois dialect reigns over SP-M's Standard Français. Fun fact: in grade 5 or 6, I got the French territories and Prince Edward Island mixed up by misreading my school atlas. I wrote that PEI's capital was St. Pierre, and wondered what the little curved province was a part of. It's a long story that involves having a "map phobia"; I don't recall what this weirdness was sparked by, but I was 5 or 6, perhaps 7. My kingdom for a time machine... If I had to use a map or atlas, or point to a place on a rolldown wall map (the kind that advertised chocolate bars with illustrations in the far corners), I could only do it with the quickest of glances and peeking sidelong at pages from the atlas' corners, carefully revealing as much as my nerves tolerated.

The sun never sets in the French Empire

Thanks for the video, subbed!

Its not shady at all. I think its an amazing thing france did. Britain should have definitely followed their lead for once and made their territorys fully part of core england

Funny, i though about french guyana as soon as you mentioned you left something out Also knew about rhe military base This video was very good

Excellent video! As a suggestion i would like to see a video about the Kerguelen islands, i find them so fascinating!

Nice and succinct. As an Antipodean, I know you could spend an entire episode talking about just the Kanaky and New Caledonia.

the space thing in french guiana was the most interesting thing in this video imo

Penguins = birds, so basically the islands you refer to at the beginning of the vid should be specified as being inhabited by birds in general. A plethora of birds. Some of which are capable of flight, and some of which are not capable of flight. In this case, those not capable of flight are known as penguins. There are, as we know, other birds also not capable of flight, but those are not relevant in this context. Regardless they are birds, all of them... ;)

I love your videos they give me so much joy

im from the southeast, i learned alot and realized something that i didnt know it waz that deep to think about and its very important to know, Thanks my man ✌️🇫🇷😚

Saying 'Birds & Penguins' implies that Penguins are not birds...

Lol you censored a penguin feeding his child 😂

That was interesting! Learned something new today

Hey, I wanna say I love your content, that's it!

Mes grands-parents ont recueilli plusieurs enfants réunionnais qui avaient été placés en Lozère, un département qui a beaucoup de points en commun avec la Creuse. A aucun moment, ils n'ont été obligés de travailler à la ferme, à aucun moment ils n'ont été des "esclaves", ils venaient tous de familles avec de très importants problèmes sociaux, des familles où l'alcoolisme faisait des ravages. Certains ne se sont jamais adaptés et ont mal vécu les choses et sont retournés à la Réunion, d'autres ont eu un autre parcours de vie bien plus heureux et sont soit restés, soit repartis mais dans de meilleures conditions que celles qu'ils avaient laissées. Mais les choses sont autrement plus nuancées que le discours absolument ignoble et mensonger que vous tenez dans cette vidéo. Vos propos sont honteux.

Mrs Richards: " I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam. " Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment?

Wow this is a good channel! I have a question. At 5:12 is this island and the other really have it's own "giant lake"? I mean, as far as I can see on the first island there is a land border sorounding a lot of water and only 1 entrance. For Maraura there are more entrances.

What an excellent video. A bit confusing @ time, but all in all very informative.

Never heard such a funny pronunciation of the word Brazil

Concerned about a 200 distance between an the atol they used for the A bomb tests? Not worried about Los Vegas at all.... Frances 200 bomb test in that Atol V 1,021 nuclear tests in Nevada... I guess it's because you don't like Yanks (Neither do the US Government by the looks of it)

Thanks for making me learn stuff about my own country

Great stuffs !!!

This is why I love the EU and I call it my home. I can move in places that are located in 4 different continents and never have to worry about visa or something like this. I can just go to the local town office, register and become a resident in a few mins just like I did in Austria, Germany or the UK (when it was still part of the EU).

"Space exploration is easier near the equator" Russia: lol.

5:38 The Licorne test was so messed up it blew clean off part of the clouds and froze them in place

It may be "hidden" for foreigners but like this is the geography lesson I've learned every year since I entered middle school I actually have a test on it next monday (but it's okay because I'm graduating this year which means no more of this ever for the rest of my life)

As someone from New England (US) I wish you dove into St Pierre, I just found out recently France is technically so close to Maine

Your videos are amazing and you have got a new subscriber

Great video!

don't forget to publish similar videos about all the other countries with overseas territories, including the US, the UK, Danemark,...