French overseas orders
By a decree of 1 September 1950, the Fifth French Republic set up two French overseas orders of knighthood (French:"Ordre de la France d' Outre-mer"):
These two orders were leftovers from the French colonial empire in which distinctions in colonies such as Dahomey or Comores were recorded in the French system of orders. Decolonisation and re-structuring of the French empire also necessitated changes in its system of orders.
Three other former colonial orders were added in 1896, as "orders of states associated with France" :
- Royal Order of Cambodia (Cambodia)
- Order of the Dragon of Annam (Vietnam)
- Order of Nichan El-Anouar (Somaliland)
In 1963 the provision of all overseas orders was stopped, and they were replaced by the Ordre national du Mérite.