<P> The last French and Indian War resulted in the dissolution of New France, with Canada going to Great Britain and Louisiana going to Spain . Only the islands of Saint - Pierre - et - Miquelon are still in French hands . </P> <P> In 1802 Spain returned Louisiana to France, but Napoleon sold it to the United States in 1803 . The French left many toponyms (Illinois, Vermont, Bayous ...) and ethnonyms (Sioux, Coeur d'Alene, Nez Percé ...) in North America . </P> <P> A major French settlement lay on the island of Hispaniola, where France established the colony of Saint - Domingue on the western third of the island in 1664 . Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles", Saint - Domingue became the richest colony in the Caribbean due to slave plantation production of sugar cane . It had the highest slave mortality rate in the western hemisphere . A 1791 slave revolt, the only ever successful slave revolt, began the Haitian Revolution, led to freedom for the colony's slaves in 1794 and, a decade later, complete independence for the country, which renamed itself Haiti . France briefly also ruled the eastern portion of the island, which is now the Dominican Republic . </P> <P> During the 17th and 18th centuries, France ruled much of the Lesser Antilles at various times . Islands that came under French rule during part or all of this time include Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Marie - Galante, Martinique, St. Barthélemy, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent and Tobago . Control of many of these islands was contested between the French, the British and the Dutch; in the case of St. Martin, the island was divided in two, a situation that persists to this day . Great Britain captured some of France's islands during the Seven Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars . Following the latter conflict, France retained control of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Marie - Galante, St. Barthélemy, and its portion of St. Martin; all remain part of France today . Guadeloupe (including Marie - Galante and other nearby islands) and Martinique each is an overseas department of France, while St. Barthélemy and St. Martin each became an overseas collectivity of France in 2007 . </P>

Who established the first permanent french settlement in the new world