French North Africa

French North Africa (French: Afrique du Nord française; Arabic: شمال إفريقيا الفرنسية) is a term that is often applied to the three territories that were controlled by France in the Maghreb region of North Africa during the colonial era, comprising Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. In contrast to French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa, which existed as federations of French colonies, French North Africa was never more than a term of convenience to refer to the three separately-governed territories, with different forms of French administration. Algeria was originally a colony and later a collection of French departments, while Morocco and Tunisia were protectorates.