The Conclusion traces the fruits of Ancien Régime imperial innovation and colonial experimentation into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to establish a new perspective on how continuity, innovation, and rupture conditioned the broader narrative of French colonial empire. It looks at the long road to the creation of the DOM-TOM (départements et territoires d’outre-mer) as well as at the ideological underpinnings of French imperial incursions into West and North Africa. Based on this brief overview, it proposes a non-linear history French colonial empire.