Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T03:21:29.757Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Formation of the Government General of French West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

C. W. Newbury
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

French colonial history, during the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, was marked by two significant developments—a steady devolution of executive power from Paris to administrators abroad, and the creation of the Ministry for the Colonies in 1894. The basic reason for these changes was simply pressure of work. As communications with an expanding empire improved, the tendency to over-centralize the management of colonial affairs placed an excessive burden on the colonial section of the Ministry for the Navy. The appointment of an Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies who was responsible to a variety of ministers in the 1880's had provided no solution to the volume of business brought from Africa and Asia by the cable and the mail-steamer. Indeed, the example of Algeria where officials had been closely bound to government departments in Paris since 1871 had showed that the formulation of coherent colonial policy under these conditions was too often frustrated by divided responsibilities and changing politicians. Towards the zenith of French expansion, therefore, a single ministry took charge of all, territories except North Africa; and its first task was to apply to other areas the framework of federal administration set up in Indo-China some eight years previously. No longer were the colonies dependent for directives on a sub-department of the French Navy that had founded and protected them. The heterogeneous posts and annexed territories were grouped, as far as pacification and diplomatic conventions would permit, under governors-general who were at once military pro-consuls of empire and civil representatives of republican presidents.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , January 1960 , pp. 111 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ma, Pierre, L'Organisation du Ministére des Colonies (Paris, 1910), 160–8Google Scholar; Rolland, Louis et al. , Législation et Finances Coloniales (Paris, 1930), 64–70.Google Scholar

2 For the reports of the Commission on Algeria, presided over by Jules Ferry, see Cambon, Jules, Le Gouvernement Général de l'Algérie (Paris, 1918), passim.Google Scholar

3 Sénatus-consulte, 3 May 1854Google Scholar; François, G., Mariol, H., Législation coloniale (Paris, 1929), 91.Google Scholar

4 Duchéne, Albert, La Politique Coloniale de la France: Le Ministère des Colonies depuis Richelieu (Paris, 1928), 263.Google Scholar

5 Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Correspondance Commerciale, 1867–1901, Sierra Léone/2, 3 and 4; Hervet, G., Le commerce extérieur de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1911), 26–31.Google Scholar

6 Le Régime des Protectorats, Bibliothéque Coloniale Internationale (Bruxelles, 1899), 4me série, 11, 215–23Google Scholar; Terrier, Auguste, Mourey, Charles, L'expansion française et la formation territoriale (Paris, 1910), 249–54.Google Scholar

7 Haut Commissariat, Dakar, Série G/I/195, ‘Notices générales sur le Soudan’; Frantz, Jean P., Étude sur le Soudan Français (Paris, 1907), 28–39.Google Scholar

8 Paramountcy over El Hadj Omar's Fulani and Toucouleur states of the Upper Senegal and Niger was disputed, but finally went, in the 1860's, to his son Ahmadou. The best unpublished history of the area is in Haut Commissariat, G/I/63, ‘Notices sur El Hadj Omar' MS. 1878. See too, Gouilly, Alphonse, L'Islam dans I'Afrique Occidentale Francaüe (Paris, 1952), 72–6.Google Scholar

9 The Almamy, Samory, was an intelligent brigand who carved out his fief in Upper French Guinea. It was never an empire—in the sense of the earlier Sudanic states—but rather a nomadic court which lived off and recruited from the local populations, leaving some external forms of Islam behind it. See, Gouilly, op. cit. 80–1Google Scholar; Mévil, A., Samory (Paris, 1899).Google Scholar

10 Méniaud, Jacques, Les Pionmers du Soudan avant, avec et après Archinard, 1879–1894, 2 vols. (Paris, 1931), II, 470, and map, 450Google Scholar; Frantz, op. cit. 42–5.Google Scholar

11 By 1893, diplomacy had assured the Guinea frontier with Portuguese territory and with Sierra Leone. The frontiers of the Ivory Coast were also demarcated, as far as the ninth parallel, with Liberia and the Gold Coast. Farther east, the French enclave in southern Dahomey was recognized by Germany in 1885 and England in 1888. See Hertslet, E., Map of Africa by Treaty, 3 vols. (London, 1894).Google Scholar

12 Terrier, Mourey, op. cit. 277–85.Google Scholar

13 Ministére de la France d'Outre-Mer, Afrique/Administration Générale/VII. For reports and draft of text of the Decree, l'Annuaire de l'A.O.F. (Paris, 1912), 23Google Scholar; Francois, G., l'Afrique Occidentale Française (Paris, 1907), 16.Google Scholar

14 Annales du Sénat (Paris, 1895), XLIIIGoogle Scholar, Séance, 17 June 1895.Google Scholar

15 Jean-Baptiste Chaudié, born in 1853, had served under the Ministère de la Marine as naval commissioner and inspector. He had reached the rank of inspector-general in the Ministére des Colonies by 1894, and it was largely in this capacity, though with a change of title, that he was expected to serve in West Africa.Google Scholar

16 The cercle of Bakel, an important river post, and a portion of the cercie of Kayes were transferred to Senegal. The Farana cercie on the northern Sierra Leone frontier passed to French Guinea.Google Scholar

17 Ministère de la France d'Outre-mer, Afrique/Correspondance Générale/I, Chautemps to Chaudié, II Oct. 1895.Google Scholar

18 Ibid.

19 This was later done. Haut Commissariat, sous-série 13/G, ‘Affaires Politiques, Administratives et Musulmanes, Sénégal.’Google Scholar

20 Chautemps (like most French officials) was dissatisfied with the provisions of the Convention of Aug. 1890, based on the Joint Declarations of 10 Aug. 1889, which limited French rights along the Niger on a line from Say to Lake Chad, drawn so as to leave the Sokoto area to the Niger Company. Ministère des Affaires Etrangeres, Possessions Anglaises de la Côte Occidentale/128, ‘Résumé de la situation respective de la France et de l'Angleterre à la Côte Occidentale d'Afrique, avant et après l'arrangement définitif signé le 10 août 1889 au Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.’ Minute, n.d. See too, Hertslet, op. cit. 11, 763–5.Google Scholar

21 The General Council was a body of officials and traders elected from the coastal towns of Senegal since 1879. It had certain restrictive powers over the Senegal budget—including the expense of subsidies to the Soudan. The revenues of the Senegal local budget were set at some 4,000,000 fr. for 1895, about 3,000,000 of which were from customs. Chautemps thought the Soudan should have at least 150,000 fr. of this. The Soudan's own budget for 1895 was set at 890,500 fr. in revenues and 885,927 fr. in expenses, excluding credits from France for the Kayes-Bamako railway. Rolland, op. cit. 79–80Google Scholar; Ministère de la France d'Outre-Mer; Afrique/Correspondance Générale/I, Chautemps to Chaudié, II Oct. 1895.

22 Haut Commissariat, Conseil Supérieur de l'A.O.F., procés-verbaux/5/E/I. Present were Chaudié, Boilève, Mouttet (Director of the Interior, Senegal), Girard (Attorney-General), Linder (Head of Administrative Services, Senegal) and Delavau (Deputy Colonial Commissioner) as secretary.

23 Quinquand, J., ‘De Beeckmann au Fouta-Djallon’ in L'Expansion Française en Afrique Occidentale (Société de l'Histoire des Colonies Françaises, Paris, n.d.), 1–77.Google Scholar The area, however, was not completely pacified till after the revolt of the Almamy, Alfa Yaya, in 1903. See Demougeot, A., ‘Notes sur l'organisation politique et administrative du Labé avant et depuis l'occupation française’ Mémoires de l'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire, no. 6 (Paris, 1944), 23–9, 47–56.Google Scholar

24 Haut Commissariat, Correspondance Confidentielle/2/B/72, Chaudié to Lebon, 10 Nov. 1896. The expenses of the État-Major at Saint-Louis were set at 92,000 fr.—or some 66 per cent of Chaudié's budget for the Government General itself.Google Scholar

25 Ibid. Chaudié to Chautemps, 6 Oct. 1895.

26 Ibid. Chaudié to Chautemps, 5 Nov. 1895.

27 Soudan receipts in 1896 for the local budget—as distinct from credits from the State Budget—were 2,034,500 fr. The bulk of these consisted in head taxes, paid in specie, or more usually in gold, ivory, gum and hides—minus 10 per cent of revenue for village chiefs and tax collectors. Other sources were market fees and the oussourou—a caravan tax of one-tenth of produce and one-fortieth part of livestock passing through French territory. Frantz, op. cit. pp. 78–9.Google Scholar

28 Haut Commissariat, Correspondance Confidentielle/2/B/72.Google Scholar

29 Samory was exiled to the French Congo where he died in 1900.Google Scholar

30 Haut Commissariat, Correspondance Confidentielle/2/B/72, Ballay to Ministère des Colonies, 31 Oct. 1898.Google Scholar

31 Haut Commissariat, Correspondances Ministérielles, 1896–1901, Chaudiè and de Trentinian to Ministère des Colonies, 13 Dec. 1898.Google Scholar

32 Ibid. Chaudié to Ministère des Colonies, 6 Apr. 1899. By Sept. 1899, it was estimated that the credits from the State Budget for the Colonies to the Soudan would be over- spent by 3,000,000 francs. The reason given by Acting Lieutenant-Governor Viniard ‘erreurs de calcul lors des évaluations'—especially for the cost of military personnel. Ministère de la France d'Outre-Mer, Afrique Occidentale Française/I/2, Secretary. General, Senegal, to Minist`re des Colonies, 19 Sept. 1899.

33 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/2, Chaudié to Binger, 23 March 1899.Google Scholar

34 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/2. Compare Chaudié to Decrais, 23 Mar. 1899, which was more diplomatically worded and did not mention resignation.Google Scholar

35 Ibid. Minutes and report.

36 Ibid. Destenave (Commandant of East Macina under de Trentinian), ‘Projet d'organisation politique, administrative et défensive de l'Afrique Occidentale Française’, 1898.

37 Ibid. De Trentinian, ‘Réformes nécessaires dans nos possessions de l'Afrique Occidentale. Nécessité de l'Organisation d'un Gouvernement Général de l'Afrique Occidentale’, 1899.

38 De Trentinian cited figures to show that between 1892 and 1896 France's share of the total trade of the French West African possessions was only 36,000,000 fr. (or 47 per cent), while Great Britain's share of total trade in her West African colonies was 52,000,000 fr. (or 51 per cent). Eight million francs of the French imports, he noted, were destined for the French army; and many imported items, valued as French imports, were of British origin—notably cloth.Google Scholar

39 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/2, correspondence from French traders at Rufisque and Chambers of Commerce at Gorée, Saint-Louis, Dakar, to Ministère des Colonies, Sept. 1899.Google Scholar

40 Ibid. Report (n.d.), signed by Chaudié, Binger and Ballay.

41 Decree, 17 Oct. 1899, Journal Officiel, 18 Oct. 1899, 6893.Google Scholar

42 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/2, Chaudié, ‘Instructions données par le Gouverneur Général aux Gouvemeurs des Colonies de l'Afrique Occidentale Française pour la mise en vigueur du Décret du 17 Octobre 1899’, 1 Feb. 1900.Google Scholar

43 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Financières/T/30Google Scholar; François, G., L'Afrique Occidentale Française (Paris, 1907), 127–35.Google Scholar

44 Compare the Customs revenues of Lagos Colony and Protectorate which, in 1902, accounted for 90 per cent of general revenues. By 1904, Southern Nigeria earned £766,744 from customs—about one-third as much as the total trade revenues in French West Africa. Blue Books, 1903–5 (Lagos, 1903–1905).Google Scholar

45 Noel-Eugéne Ballay who had been previously Governor of French Gabon and French Guinea died at Saint-Louis in Jan. 1902.Google Scholar

46 Decree, 15 Oct. 1902, l'Annuaire de l'A.O.F., 1912, 24–6. The Governor-General was also president of the Senegambia-Niger Administrative Council. Senegal now had a Lieutenant-Governor of its own.Google Scholar

47 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/3, Roume, ‘Instructions aux Lieutenants-Gouverners’, 11 Nov. 1902. Ernest Roume was a career administrator in the Ministère des Colonies where he had risen to the position of Directeur des Affaires Politiques, Économiques, Administratives, in the Asian, American and Oceanic section. He had travelled widely on missions of inspection, particularly in Indo-China during the Downer administration which he admired as an example for West Africa.Google Scholar

48 Ibid. Doumergue to Roume, 28 Nov. 1902.

49 Haut Commissariat, Conseil de Gouvernement de l'A.O.F., procès-verbaux/5/E/r, 3 and 4, sessions 15 Oct., 19 Dec. 1902, 6 June, 17 Nov. 1903. Present were: Roume, Houry (Commander-in-Chief, French West Africa), Picatier (Director of Public Works), Carpot and Cros (members of the Senegal General Council), Schneider (member of the Ivory Coast Administrative Council), Bruneau (President of the Court of Appeal, Senegal), the Lieutenant-Governors of the four colonies, the Kayes delegate and Malan, Roume's Secretary-General.Google Scholar

50 Ibid. Senegal's loan of 2,654,662 fr. in 1892 and Guinea's loan of 11,648,052 fr. in 1899 and 1901 were recontracted by the Government General for repayment. The loan of 65,000,000 fr. was divided into two parts—40,000,000 fr. of credits issued in 1903, and the remainder in 1905, at 3 per cent interest. The immediate projects for which these credits were to be used were: land reclamation at Saint-Louis, Dakar, Rufisque and port construction (17,050,000 fr.); the Dakar-Saint-Louis-Kayes railway (500,000 fr.); navigation on the Senegal and Niger (5,000,000 fr.); the Guinea railway (17,000,000 fr.); ports and railway in the Ivory Coast (10,000,000 fr.).

51 Decree, 18 Oct. 1904, l'Annuaire de l'A.O.F., 1912, 26–8.Google Scholar

52 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/4, Roume, ‘Circulaire relative à l'application du décret du 18 Octobre 1904’, 24 Jan. 1905.Google Scholar

53 The Attorney-General, however, was allowed to communicate directly with territorial magistrates.Google Scholar

54 Mauretania joined the federation in 1904, under a civil commissioner.Google Scholar

55 Haut Commissariat, Affaires Administratives/18/G/4, Roume to Ministére des Colonies, 22 June 1904.Google Scholar

56 Haut Cominissariat, Statistiques/22/G/19 and 20. Early demographic data on West Africa are, however, notoriously unreliable.Google Scholar