French Colombians

French Colombians (French: Franco-Colombien, Spanish: franco-colombianos) are Colombian citizens of full or partial French ancestry, or persons born in France residing in Colombia. The French form the third largest European immigrants in Colombia after the Spanish and Italians. It is estimated that there are 1,350,000 Colombians of French descent today.

History
During the early 18th century, many French explorers traveled to the Caribbean coast of Colombia, called Urabá. At around 140 French registered as Protestants who undertook to grow cocoa beans. After a violent conflict between the European explorers and the indigenous, the survivors were able to flee from war and began settling in the department of Córdoba.

Some of the French veterans participated in the liberation armies, which was a mission of Jean Baptiste Boussingault arrived in Colombia in 1822. French zoologist François Désiré Roulin, signed a four year contract to teach mineralogy and chemistry at the School of Mines, and to serve the role of mineralogist researcher and engineer of the mines of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

In 1855, a group of French immigrants landed in Colombia that deeply impacted the history of mining in the Antioquia region during the second half of the 19th century. The members who worked in the mining were Count Adolphe de Gaisne de Bourmont, Adolphe and Paul de Bedout, Augustin de Colleville, Henri Brèche and Eugène Lutz. Bourmont bought in 1856 a part of the shares of the Titiribí smelting farm, which belonged to the English Tyrell Moore, and also of different mines located in the area. The collapse of most French agricultural, industrial or mining companies stand out, including the fruitless attempt by a French geographer Elisée Reclus, who installed a crop in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, or the French Sinu Company.

Until 1870, nearly all French immigrants to Colombia originated from the Pyrenees. French immigrants in Colombia came from Southwestern France, including Béarn, the Basque Country (Basses-Pyrénées), Rouergue and Charente. Others were from Paris and the Savoy region.

As of 2017, only 5,799 French citizens are residing in Colombia. Most of them are highly concentrated in Bogotá.

Institutions

 * Lycée Français Louis Pasteur
 * Lycée Français Paul Valéry de Cali
 * Lycée Français de Medellin
 * Lycée Français de Pereira

Notable people

 * Sandra Bessudo, marine biologist.
 * Emilio de Brigard Ortiz, prelate of Catholic church.
 * Mario Yepes, retired professional football player.
 * Juan Carlos Lecompte, author.
 * Patricia Janiot, journalist and news anchor.
 * Mario Laserna Pinzón, educator and politician.