<P> On 24 September 1853, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia and Port - de-France (Nouméa) was founded 25 June 1854 . A few dozen free settlers settled on the west coast in the following years, but New Caledonia became a penal colony and, from the 1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897, about 22,000 criminals and political prisoners were sent to New Caledonia to be killed . </P> <P> At the beginning of Napoleon III's reign, the presence of France in Senegal was limited to a trading post on the island of Goree, a narrow strip on the coast, the town of Saint - Louis, and a handful of trading posts in the interior . The economy had largely been based on the slave trade, carried out by the rulers of the small kingdoms of the interior, until France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848 . In 1854, Napoleon III named an enterprising French officer, Louis Faidherbe, to govern and expand the colony, and to give it the beginning of a modern economy . Faidherbe built a series of forts along the Senegal River, formed alliances with leaders in the interior, and sent expeditions against those who resisted French rule . He built a new port at Dakar, established and protected telegraph lines and roads, followed these with a rail line between Dakar and Saint - Louis and another into the interior . He built schools, bridges, and systems to supply fresh water to the towns . He also introduced the large - scale cultivation of Bambara groundnuts and peanuts as a commercial crop . Reaching into the Niger valley, Senegal became the primary French base in West Africa and a model colony . Dakar became one of the most important cities of the French Empire and of Africa . </P> <P> In 1857, after the murder of a French priest and the arrest by the Chinese police of the crew of a British merchant ship, Napoleon III joined together with Great Britain to form a military expedition to punish the Chinese government . The object of his policy was not to take territory, but to assure that the vast and lucrative Chinese market was open to French commerce, and not the exclusive trading partner of Britain . In January 1858 a combined British and French fleet bombarded and occupied Canton, and landed troops at the mouth of the Hai River in northern China . In June 1858 the Chinese government in Peking was forced to sign the Treaty of Tientsin with Britain, France, Russia and the United States . This treaty opened six additional Chinese ports to European merchant ships, allowed Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium into China . </P> <P> The Chinese government was reluctant to observe the treaty, so Napoleon III and the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston decided to take more forceful action, in what became known in history as the second phase of the Second Opium War . A joint French - British expeditionary force of 8,000 men was created under a French general, Charles Cousin - Montauban, who had commanded French forces in Algeria . At the beginning of 1860 the French - British fleet sailed from Europe, and in the spring of 1860 landed the army in China . The Anglo - French army force, led by Cousin - Montauban, captured Tientsin, and then marched on the capital . On 21 September 1860 it defeated the army of the Chinese emperor at the Battle of Palikao and seized the capital Beijing . At the orders of the British commander Lord Elgin, the British and French forces burned and pillaged the Old Summer Palace of the Chinese Emperor . On 25 October 1860, the Chinese Emperor was obliged to accept a second treaty of Tientsin, opening an additional eleven new ports to European trade, making westerners immune to prosecution by Chinese courts, and establishing western diplomatic missions in Beijing . Some of the art objects taken from the looted Summer Palace were carried to France, where the Empress used them to decorate a Chinese - themed salon at the Palace of Fontainebleau, where they can be seen today . </P>

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