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UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
E VA N S TON
ILLINOIS
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^ » 7».3
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION IN WEST AFRICA,
THE SUDAN, AND THE SAHARA.
NORMAN DWIGHT HARRIS.
Northwestern University.
The conclusion of a definite treaty of diplomatic alliance
between France and Morocco, in February, 1910, marks one of
the last steps in a long series of moves to establish for France a
vast colonial empire in the Dark Continent. Between the
years 1830 and 1850, France acquired the whole of Algeria and
Constantine. In 1881 she annexed Tunisia; and, in the ten
years that followed, she participated with Germany, Great
Britain and Italy, in the race for territory in Africa. But it
is only within the past twenty years that she has successfully
created a great colonial state there.
French colonial enterprise in Africa began in 1637, when *
Claude de Rochefort built fort St. Louis at the mouth of the
Senegal river on the west coast and explored the interior for
100 miles. He was followed during the 18th and early 19th
centuries by other intrepid explorers who made settlements at
Millicourie on the Guinea coast and at Assinié and Grand Bassam
on the Ivory Coast, and who penetrated further and further
into the interior until the valiant Réné CaiUe, after marvelous
adventirres, reached Timbuktu, near the Upper Niger, in 1837.
The French holdings on the Senegal were extended and con¬
solidated into an effective base for future operations by the
energetic General Faidherbe from 1854 to 1865, who added the
Oulof country as far south as Cape Verde and the kingdom of
Cayore, and built the harbor at Darkar. He was the first to
recognize the possibilities of West Africa as a colonial center.
"Our possession on the West Coast," he wrote to the Colonial
OflSce, "is possibly the one of all our colonies that has before
it the greatest future; and it deserves the whole sympathy and
attention of the Empire."
353
354
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
By the middle of the 19th century, other trade centers had
been established at Libreville on the Gaboon river and at Porto
Novo on the Dahomey coast; but it was not until the early 80's
that the dream of a wonderful colonial empire stretching from
the Mediterranean to the Congo was first conceived. It arose
when the Senegal colonists had reached the Niger and De Brazza
was exploring the Gaboon and Congo rivers. The French
statesmen, studying eagerly the map of the continent, deter¬
mined to push their pioneers and explorers east from the Upper
Niger, and north from the Upper Congo until they met at Lake
Chad, and then to join hands with them from Algeria across
the Sahara desert.
In order to carry out successfully such a plan, it was necessary
first of all for the French Republic to consolidate its holdings
and establish itself firmly in West Africa and on the Congo.
Under the able leadership of such men as Captain Calliené,
Colonel Frey and Colonel Auchinard, their forces worked their
way rapidly east and south, setting up a strong outpost at
Bamako on the Niger, subduing the kingdoms of the Ahmadu
and of Samori, making alliances and treaties with many different
tribes, and finally joining hands with their little colony of French
Guinea.
In September, 1887, Captain Binger left Bamako on what
appeared to be a mad-cap attempt to reach the Ivory coast.
Passing in the rear of the British colony of Sierra Leone he visited
Bissandougu and Sikasso in the Samori country, pushed on
south and east into the Courounsi and Mossi districts where
for a time he was thought to have lost his life, made treaties
with the chiefs of Kong and Bandoukou, and reached Assinié
finally in the spring of 1889. A distance of 4,000 kilometres had
been traversed and the French possessions of Senegal and the
Ivory Coast definitely united. Between 1890 and 1895 Captains
Quiquandon and Destanave completed the union of the two
districts by establishing the French supremacy from Tiola to
the Bobos country and by making treaties with the chiefs of the
Courounsi and Mossi countries. In December of the year 1890
M. Monteil left the eastern border of Senegal and crossed the
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION
355
whole of Central Sudan via Kano to Lake Tchad and returned
to Europe by way of Tripolis which he reached on December
10th, 1892. He had traveled 5,000 miles and explored a path by
which France might reach the lake.
Meanwhile Colonels Frey and Auchinard were taking over
for France the whole of the great district between the Senegal
and the Upper Niger, as far north as Nioro and Lieutenants
Caron Jaime and Davoust explored the Niger northward from
Bamako to Kourioumé.^ Jenne was permanently occupied in
1893 and the gallant Colonel Bonnier took Timbuktu in 1894.
In this latter year over in Dahomey which had been created a
French colony in 1893 through the campaigns of General Dodds
against the King of Behensin, Captian Tontee was starting on
the famous journey from Porto Novo to Badjibo on the Niger,
from which point he ascended the Niger, past Boussa and Say
to Tibi-Farca (opposite Zinder). On November 8th, 1895,
Lieutenant Hourst left Timbuktu in an aluminum boat, brought
from France in sections and specially constructed for running
the cataracts ; and, carefully surveying the river as he proceeded,
he made his way to Zinder, Say and Boussa. After remarkable
adventures he reached the northern outposts of the British
Royal Niger Company, by whose agents he was escorted to the
coast; and he finally found himself knocking at the doors of the
French consulate at Porto Novo on November l^t, 1896. Thus
accurate knowledge of the Upper Niger was obtained for the
first time by the French and a definite connection established
between their Senegal-Niger lands and the colony of Dahomey.
To make sure of this connection, the French had already
begun active operations in the Dahomey "hinterland." In
1893-94 Captain Decoeur founded Carnotville and pushed
northeast to the Borgu country, while Lieutenant Baud made
treaties with the chiefs of Gambarri and Gourma and pushed
North to Say. But the Royal Niger Company had been trading
for some years in this region. Under the energetic leadership of
Sir George T. Goldie, this company, organized as the United
National African Company in 1870 and, chartered by Great
^ Port for Timbuktu.
356 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
Britain as the Royal Niger Company in 1886, had negotiated
over 300 treaties with native chieftains by 1894 and placed nearly
500,000 square miles of Nigeria, as far north as Gando and
Sokoto, under British protection. A military government was
established. An efficient constabulary was organized from the
Hausa tribes. The headquarters moved north to Lokoja in
1889; and a treaty made with France in 1890 fixed the boundary
roughly between the British and French spheres of influence
by a line drawn from Say on the Niger due east to Lake Tchad.
But the western boundary of Nigeria—the Lagos-Dahomey
hinterland—remained undermined.
The officials of the company were busy consolidating their
holdings and developing the trade of the region, when the news
of the arrival of Captain Decoeur in the vicinity of West
Nigeria reached them. Captain Lugard who had distinguished
himself in East Africa by saving Uganda for Great Britain,
was ordered to the Nigeria frontier. By forced marches he
reached Borgu, Nikki, Kishi and Gambaga and made treaties
with the chiefs there, while Captain Wallace was renewing the
alliances with the kings of Sokoto and Gando in July, before
Captain Decoeur's appearance on the scene in October. Thus
in the initial moves of the contest, the Niger company scored
first.
Still the French pioneers were not discouraged. They held
with great determination to their plan of securing a hold on
the lower Niger as an outlet for the trade of upper Dahomey,
and of establishing a thorough connection between Dahomey
and their Senegal-Niger possessions. The next year—1895-96
—we find Captain Tontee quietly making his way through the
"debatable lands" as far as Boussa, signing treaties wherever
possible; and Lieutenants Voulet and Chanoine securing protec¬
torates over Mossi, Gourounsi, and the Bobos. The British
Foreign Office notified the French government as early as Jan¬
uary, 1895, of its treaties with the rulers of this district, and
complained of these incursions of the Senegal officials. A diplo¬
matic correspondence ensued concerning the limits of the French
and British spheres of influence in West Africa, which lasted for
FRENCH COLONIAL. EXPANSION
357
nearly three years and which, though pressed with considerable
firmness and heat at times, was conducted with the utmost
courtesy and conciliation on both sides.
Before the questions at issue could be satisfactorily adjusted,
however, the situation was complicated by events in Nigeria.
In February, 1897, the French troops entered Borgu and crossed
to Nikki and Boussa on the Niger. Late in 1896 a rebellion
had broken out in Nubé and Ilorin; and Major Arnold and Sir
George T. Goldie were busily engaged, during January and
February, 1897, in overthrowing the insurgent forces and restor¬
ing peace and order in the district, when the news of the French
approach reached them. They hastened North to Nikki and
soon found themselves face to face with the determined French
officials who refused to withdraw without orders from Paris.
Serious trouble seemed imminent and the wires between Europe
and Africa were kept busy for days. The troops conducted
themselves well. The officers held the situation well in hand.
The two foreign departments acted promptly with a calmness
and conciliation admirable in such a time of public excitement;
and a settlement was finally reached in June, 1898, the military
forces of both powers evacuating simultaneously between the
15th and 17th the lands in their possession on the Middle Niger.
This agreement of 1898 (June 14th) was the first of a series
of treaties between Great' Britain and France, that were destined
to break down the old barriers of hatred, distrust, and personal
ambition engendered by three centuries of almost uninterrupted
rivalry, and to establish a thorough understanding and a prac¬
tical cooperation in all matters of importance effecting Africa
and Asia. In 1889-90 Great Britain and Germany had ad¬
justed satisfactorily and amicably a great controversy in East
Africa without recourse to force and in spite of the violent
diatribes and opposition of the imperialist leaders in both coun¬
tries. And now France and England, declining an appeal to
arms, reached a similar agreement in West Africa. This con¬
ciliatory policy and willingness to make reasonable concessions
and adjustments, when great issues and problems effecting the
future of a whole continent were at stake, is a striking example
358
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
of the new spirit which has played a dominant part in European
diplomacy in recent years. It is a long step toward the estab¬
lishment of a genuine world peace and the creation of an inter¬
national comity and competition of the right sort.
By 1880 Great Britain and France had been convinced by
the increasing border difficulties that some understanding must
be reached, with regard to boundaries at least, concerning their
respective spheres of influence in West Africa. The frontier
of all the west coast colonies was open and undetermined at
the rear, exact geographical knowledge of the region was lack¬
ing, and no attempt had been made to deliminate accurately or
completely the lines of division between the settlements. No
scientific surveys of the "hinterland" had been made anywhere;
and conflicting claims and over-lapping jurisdictions were
everywhere in evidence. In the agreements of 28th June, 1882,
10th August, 1889, and 26th of June, 1891, the boundaries be¬
tween the British colonies of Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast
and Lagos, and the adjoining French possessions were carefully
outlined. Gambia was to comprise 10 kilometres on both sides
of the river and to extend as far into the interior as Yarbatenda.
Sierra Leone was to end at 10 degrees north latitude. Gold
Coast and Lagos at the 9th degree and Dahomey and Lagos to
be separated by a line from the intersection of the meridian of
the Ajarra creek and the coast to the 9th degree. Joint delimi-
nation commissions were to be appointed to survey and mark
out these lines accurately; and some general agreements were
reached concerning freedom of trade on the rivers and in the
interior, and the amount of custom duties to be levied. But
the western limits of the British Lagos-Nigeria protectorate
were left indefinite north of the 9th degree north latitude;
and various other vital matters were not seriously considered.
On March 30th, 1892, Lord Salisbury wrote to the Marquis
of Dufferin, then British minister at Paris, calling attention to
the history of the relations of France and England in West
, Africa and the unsatisfactory status of affairs there then, and
urging him to secure the cooperation of the French, if possible,
in completing the boundaries and in arriving at a complete
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION
359
understanding on the whole matter. The question was constantly
in the minds of both foreign ofRces and the pressure to have it
adjusted increased steadily, until an agreement was signed on
January 15th, 1896, to appoint a commission of four to deter¬
mine by an examination of the titles and claims the most equit¬
able delimination of the French and British possessions on the
Lower Niger.
The first session of the delegates lasted from February 8th
to May 22d, 1896, but was discontinued because no definite
agreement concerning the general line of partition seemed possi¬
ble. But the consistant conciliatory policy of M. G. Hanotaux
and Lord Salisbury triumphed and the negotiations were re¬
sumed again on October 24th, 1897. Réné Lecomte, first secre¬
tary of the foreign ofiice, and M. Louis Binger, director of Afri¬
can affairs in the ministery for the colonies, ably represented
France; while Martin Gosselin, secretary of the British Embassy
and Colonel William Everett supported the British interests,
as skillfully as Edwin Egerton and Sir Joseph Crowe had done
in the earlier treaties. The results of their negotiations were
summoned up in two "Notes" presented by England and
France respectively on February 18th and 24th and embodied
in the convention of 14th of June, 1898, referred to above as
settling the Nikki-Boussa dispute.
In this treaty the northern boundary of the British Gold
Coast colony was pushed up from the 9th degree to the 11th
degree north latitude, the "debatable" Bergu-Boussa district
was practically divided between France and Great Britain,
and the French claims to the "Septentrionale et orientale"
shores of Lake Tchad were confirmed. France did not get
Boussa and as much of a hold on the Lower Niger, as she aspired
to; but a hundred miles of cataracts between her "claims" and
the navagable part of the Lower Niger reconciled her to this
concession. As a compensation she was permitted to rent a
piece of land for trading purposes, either on the Lower Niger
opposite the chief trading center of northern Dahomey or at
the mouth of the Niger. Nor did Great Britain secure all the
territory to which she laid claim in the Say-Borgu country;
360
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
but she was more than compensated by her gains on
Coast frontier and in the advantages incident to the s
of the whole question of the boundary lines between tl
and British spheres of influence in West Africa. Thu
state of French expansion was complete. Her coloni
sions reached from the Atlantic, via the Senegal and
rivers, to Lake Tchad; and with this vast tract she 1
and securely joined her enlarged southern colonies o
Ivory Coast and Dahomey.
Meanwhile before the details of the agreement wei
out, an incident occurred in the eastern Sudan, which t!
for a time to undo the good work of the commissioners
lomats in western Africa, but which ended finally in an
delimination of the French and British spheres of in:
the eastern Sudan and Sahara.
This incident is intimately connected with the atten
the French to unite their Congo possessions with th(
Sudan territories and is best understood when studi
light of these operations. Savorgnan de Brazza, wl
years—1875-1885—was the inspirer and energetic
of French expansion on the Gaboon and Congo rivers
was only prevented from crossing the Congo by t]
arrival there of Henry M. Stanley and the subseque
ties of the Congo Free State corporation, was the orij
this design. He performed a remarkable work expl
whole region between the Gaboon and Upper Congo i
trating far to the east and north. His third journe;
officially as 'Ta Mission de L'Ouest Africain," If
accomplished a particularly splendid piece of exploring
veying for some 4,000 kilometres from Franceville on t
Ogoone river northwards towards Lake Tchad. Betw(
91, Paul Crampel tried to establish a connection beL
Congo colony and Lake Tchad. He traveled without "
comnanions or interoreters and exnerienced astoundii
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION
361
severely punished by the French under M. Dybowsky in October,
1891. Lieutenant Mizon attempted to make the connection
in the reverse order, by going up the Niger and Benue rivers
to Yola and making his way south to the French Congo. He
got as far as the Adamaoua country in 1892; but the complaints
of the British and German governments who had claims in this
region prevented him from accomplishing anything of importance
in this way. However, Casimir Maistre succeeded in the next
year (1893) in mounting northwards from the Congo and
Oubingui to the basin of the Gribingui river, to Adamaoua and
returning via Yola and the Niger. In the same year the last
portion of the Nigeria-Cameroon frontier was worked out by
Germany and England to Lake Tchad, so that England received
Yola and Adamaoua went to Germany. The French objected
vigorously to this partition and refused to recognize the treaty
until her claim to Baguirmi and access to Lake Tchad from the
south was recognized in the German-French treaty of 15th of
March, 1894. The southern boundary of the French Congo was
definitely determined by a delimination treaty with the Congo
Free State on August 14th, 1894; and finally after M. Closel
had founded Carnot and made his way north via the rivers
Lobay and Bali to the Ouahm branch of the Bahr-Sara, a
tributary to Lake Tchad in 1894-95, the whole Cameroon-Congo
frontier was satisfactorily adjusted in a treaty with Germany in
February 1896.
The northeastern portion of the French Congo, bordering
on the Bahr-el-Ghazal district of the Egyptian Sudan remained
still unexplored and lacking in definite frontiers. The Egyptian
Sudan from Khartoum south had been lost to Egypt since the
Mahdi insurrection and the death of Gordon in 1884-85. The
rule of the Khaliphate had steadily declined after the death of
the Mahdi-Mohammed Ahmed in June, 1885, until the govern¬
ment of the whole region was honeycombed with corruption and
the extent of the atrocities committed by the leaders horrified
the civilized world. M. Liotard, who had become commissioner
general of the Upper Congo, determined to round out the north¬
east frontier of his colony; and, at the same time, by taking ad-
362
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
vantage of the situation in the Sudan he hoped to a(
portion of Bahr-el-Ghazal to the French possessions ar
an outlet by way of the Nile for the trade of the north(
region. The establishment of a definite connection
the French protectorates in the Sudan and Upper C(
Abyssinia and the Frenchcol ony of Obeck was even con
Accordingly, on June 25th, 1896, he sent out Major ]
with a small company of eight officers and one hur
twenty men, who explored the Ubangi district and
the Bahr-el-Ghazal country successfully. He reachei
ultimately, equipped a small flotilla and pushed nor
shoda, where he raised the French fiag and took possess
territory on the left bank on July 10th, 1898. He re
attack of the Dervishes in August ; but his position—s
any reliable source of supplies—was extremely precari
Meanwhile Sir Herbert Kitchener was reconquering
for Egypt. In 1896 he defeated the Dervishes and
the province of Dongola. He constructed a railway
vanced steadily southward the next year. On Septi
1898, he indicted a decisive defeat on the chief Dervis'
Omdurman and two days later entered Khartoum in
Without stopping to rest, he pushed on down the Nil
army of 23,000 men, until he had captured on Septer
the great camp of the Dervishes at Renkh—300 milei
the capital of the Sudan. Here he learned of the pi
M archandatFashoda, through Said Sogheir, the captm
of Dervishes; and he continued his advance the s
When within 12 miles of Fashoda, Kitchener receiv
19th inst. a letter from the French commander notii
of the French occupation of Bahr-el-Ghazal and the
country from the confiuence of the Bhar-el-Jebel alon
bank of the White Nile to Fashoda. He reached i
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION 363
England would never tolerate the occupation of any part of
the Nile valley by a foreign power.
Marchand replied that he was unable to oppose the raising
of the Egyptian flag, but that he was acting under the orders
of the French Government and could not leave until ordered
to do so officially. Kitchener left a garrison at Fashoda and
proceeded south as far as Sobat reclaiming the country for the
Khedive of Egypt; but he returned soon after, informing Mar¬
chand that the whole country was under martial law and the
transport of munitions of war was forbidden, yet offering to
furnish a boat and escort to accompany him down the river
to Cairo.
Meanwhile the news of the encounter at Fashoda was heralded
over the two continents, great excitement prevailed in Paris
and London, and a lively correspondence ensued between the
foreign offices of both countries. A discussion of the British
rights in Bahr-el-Ghazal, started by statement of Sir E. Grey
in a speech before the Chamber of Commerce on March 28th,
1895, to the effect that England's sphere of influence based on
the rights of the Khedive embraced the whole of the Nile valley,
had been carried on for some time by M. Hanotaux and Lord
Kimberly. It was now taken up vigorously by M, Delcassé
and Lord Salisbury. The French claimed that they had never
concurred in the British claim to all of the Nile valley; that
England could not claim lands never effectively occupied by
her; that only Egypt could rightfully assert any ownership
over the Upper Nile; and that the successful revolt of the Sudan
separated that country distinctly from the Egyptian possessions
and gave any nation the right to participate in the reconquest
and partition of it. They asserted, moreover, that Major
Marchand was not in charge of a "Mission" sent out by the
French government to seize the Upper Nile district, but an
"Envoyé de la civilization" sent out by M. Liotard to assist
in putting an end to the frightful disturbances and misrule
of the Dervishes. They were pleased with the successes of Lord
Kitchener and very desirous of avoiding any serious difficulty
with England ; but they would not enter upon negotiations until
364
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
they had received Marchand's official report, and th(
a basis of an equitable division of Bahr-el-Ghazal.
The British consistantly and firmly refused to d
matter seriously until Marchand should be recalled
Upper Nile, They asserted that Kitchener's conqi
Sudan revived all the earlier titles of Egypt to the
the Sudan and the Upper Nile; that England was onl
the Khedive to reclaim these land^ which, she had stea
tained, had been in his possession since the early d
19th century; that "effective occupation" was a vag
defined term that could not be applied in Central Á
is used in Europe ; and that, while the powers decline»
nize Turkey's claim to Tunis in 1856 out of courtesy
nothing was said at that time, or in 1878, as to the ii
lands in the equatorial regions acquired after 1856.
was ready to join with France in the delimination of t]
frontiers of the Egyptian Sudan, and assured the Frei
men that the withdrawal of Marchand would in no wa
mise their claims; but he declined to consider any (
the Bahr-el-Ghazal district.
While this discussion was in progress, the British
a message from M. Delcassé to Major Marchand,
his report; and in October one of his officers through
tesy and assistance of the British officials made h
Paris via Cairo. In November Marchand received ir
*
to withdraw from Fashoda by way of the Sobat river
siiiia. In due time he reached French Somaliland
and arrived in Paris towards the end of May, 1899,
was welcomed with a great ovation. But the fate of
Nile had already been definitely determined in an
signed by Salisbury and Paul Cambon on the 21st of
The whole frontier between the French possessions
Africa and the British-Egyptian spheres of influen
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION 365
By this arrangement France rounded out her Sahara possessions
south of Tripoli, joined them securely with the Lake Tchad
lands, and these again with the Upper Congo. And thus a
definite and permanent connection was established between
all the French spheres of infiuence in Western, Central and
South-Central Africa.
But already a movement was on foot to unite politically and
scientifically these separate French territories, by means of
three special and thoroughly equipped expeditions. The first,
known as the "Mission Gentil" after its leader, left Loango in
the French Congo on July 27th, 1895, and proceeding via the
Congo, Oubangui and Kemo rivers, and the Baguirmi and
Rabah kingdoms, reached the southern end of Lake Tchad on
November 1st, 1897. Here it remained over two years estab¬
lishing firmly the French suzerainty over the entire district
between the Lake and the Rabat kingdom. The "Voulet-
Chanoine Mission," changed later to the "Joalland-Meynier
Mission" because of the insubordination of its two leaders, left
northern Dahomey in February, 1897, crossed northern Nigeria
taking Zinder en route in July, 1898, where the gallant Captain
Cazemajou had been slain in the previous April, and reached
the western shore of Lake Tchad in October, 1899. The third,
' ' Mission Foureau-Lamy, ' ' set out from Biskra in 1898 and crossed
the Sahara desert by way of Temassinin, Tassili, In-Azaoua,
Tadjenout, Air, and Aguellal, making treaties with the desert
chieftains en route. They arrived in the neighborhood of the
Lake early in 1900. The three missions, after the satisfactory
conclusion of their individual tasks, achieved triumphantly a
union of their forces at Mandjafa on April 11, 1900.
Meanwhile the French protectorates in the Sudan and on the
Guinea and Ivory Coasts were being effectively joined. On
November 3d, 1896, the French occupied Timbo by force; and
during 1896-99 Doctor McLaud and Captain Salesses explored
thoroughly a large part of French Guinea and its hinterland with
a view to railroad construction, as well as to political con¬
trol. And Dr. Noël Ballay, who was governor of the colony
from 1891 to 1902, established an excellent seaport at Konakry,
366
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
paid great attention to the trade and internal develo
the province, and made strenous efforts to construct
and roads that should open a direct connection be1
colony and the Upper Niger.
During the years 1895-98, Captains Pobéguin, IV
Blondiaux, and Clozel explored all the hinterland c
the Ivory Coast, covering the country between Beyla ai
dieri and penetrating into Indenie, Finally Colone'
occupied Sikasso on May 1st, 1898; and Captains Gou
Gaden subdued and captured Samory—the Napolec
Sudan—who was transported to the Congo where h
June 2nd, 1900. The subjection of Sudan was now <
and in 1899 the mission of Governor Hostains and L
D'Ollone explored and surveyed the country from B(
Cavally to Beyla, where they joined hands with th(
of Lieutenants Woelfel and Mangin, which had come fr
in the northwestern part of the Ivory Coast colony b
Touba. Thus effective connection between the three
rates—the Sudan^ Guinea and Ivory Coast—was esi
The union of the French colonial possessions was r
tically acci^plished ; yet five things remained to be do
this union could be said to be permanent and complete
were: the complete pacification of the Upper Congo, t
gation of Mauretania making direct connection bet'
Senegal and Algeria possible, the extention of the Fre
trol over the Algerian hinterland and the central Sa
inclusion of Morocco within the French sphere of influí
the establishment of proper means of communication a
port between the various parts of this colonial emp:
first of these was speedily accomplished during the ye:
1901 through the capture of Dikoa and the subjugati
kingdom of Rabah by Commander Almy and Captai
ville with the combined forces of the three missions.
Q-f■fúTY^T-»+C! Tirzi-rÄ 4-/% WTr\c%^r\^'
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION
367
Paul Blanchet reached Atar, the capital of Adrar (T-Marr),
in 1900. On June 27th, 1900, the Sebkha d'Idjil was added in
a delimination treaty with Spain. In the two years that fol¬
lowed, the French power was firmly established in the northern
portion; and in 1903 the districts of Trarza and Brakna, just
north of Senegal, were added. Finally the whole region was
formed into the Territory of Mauretania including five circles—
Tratza, Barkna, Gorgol, Guidimaka, and Tekna—and governed
by a commissioner. •
During the years 1859-61 Henri Duveyrier executed a
series of remarkable explorations covering nearly the whole of
southern Algeria and the desert immediately south, and pene¬
trating as far into the central Sahara as Ghadames, Ghat and
Zouila. Then came a number of unsuccessful attempts during
the years 1873-89 to establish a direct connection between
southern Algeria and the Upper Niger via the oases of central
Sahara. Of these the "Mission Choisy" penetrated 1,200 kil¬
ometres south from Laghouat and the ill-starred "Mission
Flatters," going by way of Biskra, in 1879-80 passed beyond
Ouargla, only to be massacred in the heart of the Sahara by
the Touaregs. Two natives survived and after incredible experi¬
ences wandered into Biskra with the terrible news. In 1886
Lieutenant Palet lost his life in a similar expedition; and in
1889 the gifted explorer, Camille Douls, perished.
The real work of southern expansion in the central Sahara
was begun by Fernand Foureau, probably the greatest of the
Sahara travelers, who explored carefully a number of routes
acros's the desert between the years 1890-94, acquired an
intimate knowledge of the leading oases and their inhabitants,
and extended his researches as far as In-Salah and Äir. He
was the first to recognize the strategical importance of the great
oases of In-Salah and Tidikelt as a key to the control of the
Sahara; and upon his advice the French decided to use force
against the Touaregs, as the only method likely to give them
control of the desert and to furnish security for life and property.
"There is a constant succession of pillaging forays," he wrote.
"The consequence is, that the Sahara is in a constant state
368 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
of turmoil and insecurity ; murders, theft, pillage, and
are of everyday occurrence. It is quite certain that
of things must stop all intercourse and commerce, as
hope of exploring the country. "
Accordingly the forward movement of the Frei
began. At that time, 1890, the outposts were El Ou
gurt, Ouargla, Ghardaia and Ain-Sefra. El Golea í
Inifei were now occupied and fortified; and between
1895 the line was pushed forward ICQ to 150 miles,
of forts connecting the French outposts were erecte*
railway extended from Ain-Sefra to Duveyier. In
reau with Commandant Lamy set out on the great misi
was to bring him to Lake Tchad and to a junction
Missions from Dahomey and the Congo in 1900. The
Flamand," two columns proceeding southeast from
Oranais and occupying the oases of Igli, Gourara, A
and Timminoun, joined the third coming southwest frc
successfully in securing control over the oases of Tidiki
Salah in May, 1900. General Servière occupied Adgha
during August of the same year; and by 1901 he had (
the subjection of the whole region of the central o
July 20th of that year the Convention of Figuig was si:
Morocco, which confirmed these holdings to France,
Figuig to Morocco and provided for a joint coopérât
policing of the Morocco-Oranais frontier. Thus tl
protection over the central Sahara and a direct connec
the Sudan via the desert were practically complete.
An amicable division of the West and Central Afri
having been successfully effected and her own territor
been effectively occupied and organized, France now t
attention to securing the recognition by European ;
her position in Northern Africa as well as in the Suda
Sahara. Already for years she had been weaving a
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION
369
This was an essential step in her African expansion policy and
vitally necessary, if her long and patient labors in the Sahara
and Mauretania were to amount to anything. Morocco was
the key-stone of the arch and without it her colonial fabric in
Africa was likely to fall to pieces at the moment of completion.
In the Franco-British treaty of 1904, Great Britain recognized
France's paramount interest in Morocco and agreed to allow her
a free hand there, as long as the integrity of the kingdom was
maintained, her position in Egypt to be reciprocally recognized
by France. In October of the same year a similar agreement
with Spain was signed. In the famous Conference of Algeciras,
called in 1906 through the diplomatic interference and insistence
of Germany who felt that she had not been sufficiently consulted
in the settlement of North African affairs, the peculiar rights
of France and Spain were again confirmed and to them was
assigned the duty of policing, and of reforming the finances,
of the country. Spain, France and England signed an agree¬
ment in 1907 to preserve the "status quo" in Northern Africa,
implying an effective cooperation to achieve the ends in view;
and Germany ultimately withdrew her opposition to French
control in Morocco in February 1909. Finally, in February,
1910, France, after a prolonged occupation of portions of the
Sultan's territory and an extended diplomatic controversy con¬
ducted with skill and firmness, secured the consent of the
Moroccan government to her supremacy, protection, and right
of interference in that country.
In this treaty the French government agreed to furnish the
Maghzen with sufficient funds to enable it to pay its debts and
place its affairs on a stable basis. These included: $1,000,000
a year to organize and equip an efficient army (under French
officers) that would enable the Sultan to maintain peace and
security throughout his domains; $3,000,000 to liquidate the
debts to foreign powers contracted previous to June 30, 1909;
and $8,600,000 for public improvements such as harbor works,
railways, government buildings, and other things necessary to
establish an effective administration and to develop the trade
and natural resources of the country. With exceptional gen-
«hmimmémmi
370 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
erosity, the French offered to waive their own claims to
nity ($520,000 a year for 75 years) for the expenses of 1
occupation of Shawia and Oudida, until the Moroccai
paid off these loans.
Before the movement to carry out these wise stipul
well under way, difficulties arose again between tl
chieftains and the Sultan's government, owing to th
and avarice of the prime minister. On January 14, 1Í
enant Marchand and several comrades were slain b-'
%
tribesmen, near Rabat, and soon several tribes wei
revolt. The movement spread. A brother of Mi
was proclaimed as a rival Sultan; and in a few wee
portion of the country was in arms. The warring fa(
verged on the capital, defeated the Sultan's forces, í
besieged him in Fez. On May 21 last the French rel
umn reached the beleaguered sovereign; and now th
gaged in restoring peace and security to the land. '
is that Mulai Hafid is more dependent upon and une
obligations to the French than before. The corn
vizier has been forced from office; and the French g<
is in a better and stronger position for carrying out thi
reforms and procuring an efficient administration for IV
Thus a magnificent colonial empire was won for Fra
lion's share of West Africa, the western Sudan and t
together with a large portion of the Congo region, hi
under her control. To these Morocco, Algeria and
now joined so that her protection extends over an i
to that of the United States including Alaska. From
experience of France in Algeria and the East, it was ini
the efforts of the Republic to establish a successful a
tion in these regions, would more than likely end in fail
the world was happily disappointed. The twenty-
of progressive and enlightened government just pa
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION
371
racy which came to life with the new Republic in 1871 and which
rejuvenated the French nation, awakened the ambition of her
leaders, saved the old stagnant colonies and gave her a new
colonial empire.
The work of unification and development has progressed
steadily and intelligently. In 1895 the whole of French West
Africa was brought under one government which was still further
systematized in 1904. A governor-general responsible to the
cabinet in Paris, rules the entire district. Under him are
lieutenant-governors who administer the colonies of Senegal,
Upper Senegal and Nigeria, French Guinea, Ivory Coast and
Dahomey. In addition there are commissioners superintend¬
ing the five circles of Mauretania, that portion of the west Sahara
reaching from the Morocco-Algerian to the Senegal-Niger
frontier. The area thus administered amounts to more than
2,300,000 square miles and has a population of about 9,000,000.
By the use of native troops and methods—particularly the
employment of camels in patrolling the desert,—the French have
succeeded in estabhshing a high degree of order and security. In
the colonies of Senegal and the Upper Senegal and Nigeria
excellent roads have been built between the important centers
and railways run from Dakar to St. Louis and from Keyes on
the Senegal to Koulikaro (near Bamako) on the Niger—alto¬
gether about 512 miles. So it is now possible to travel by rail
and steamer from Europe to Timbuktu. Dakar, connected by
surmarine cable with Brest, is fast becoming one of the finest
harbors on the African coast. A remarkable system of telegraph
lines has been established, extending from Dakar as far as
Zinder and Say on the Niger, and connecting with the Ivory
Coast and with Porto Novo on the Dahomey coast. In 1908
France spent over $3,200,000 for the defense and development
of this region. A uniform system of education was introduced
in 1903, the present annual expense of which amounts to about
$250,000 to $300,000. Some 10,000 children are regularly
enrolled, of whom 3,000 are girls.
Protection and increased transportation facilities effected
immediately the economic condition of the region; and rapid
372 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW
strides have been made in the development of natural
and in the increase of wealth. In 1906 the total trade (
West Africa reached $18,000,000, of which the Frencl
about $11,000,000.
Before the development of this section of the conti
been placed upop a firm and progressive basis, the Fr
already established a successful administration in
Africa. There she controls an area nearly twice her
with a population of 7,400,000.
Some grave mistakes were made at first in Algerii
Tunis, the conciliatory and friendly spirit of the offic
almost at once, the confidence and support of the
During the past twenty-five years the administratior
countries has been remarkably successful. Thousands
of splendid roads have been constructed with the uns
skill of the French engineers. A net-work of railroads
graphs has been built from Tlemcem and Duveyier (i
from Figuig) on the Moroccan frontier, to Biskra in tl
and to Gafsa and Gabes in the Tunesian hinterland,
of francs have been expended upon public impro
and, although the French have kept the direction of
and civil service with the best results, the Tirailleur ri
of Northern African, with their red tarbushes and w
forms, are devoted to their French officers and have pi
finest of fighting material. There has been no flaunti
tricolor; but everywhere the local religion, customs and
have been respected. Justice has been impartially ai
tively administered through a system of mixed tribu
native courts. And the combined commerce of the t
tries has risen from $95,000,000 in 1896 to $160,000,00(
of which France enjoys $112,000,000.
Southern Algeria, bordering upon an uncertain des*
turbulent Morocco, has been the source of considerabl*
But in 1905, it was effectively organized into the four t
^ A • n ñ t 1 • rr^ i i ••
FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION 373
Niger on the other. And the entire region is thoroughly policed
by the assistance of friendly native tribes and the "Meharis,"
the camel police. In 1905, Prof. E. F. Gautier of the Col¬
lege of Arts in Algiers crossed the desert from Figuig to Gao on
the Niger—a distance of thirteen hundred miles,—unattended
except by a guide and a servant. He was surveying the path
of the new telegraph line which is being constructed to connect
Algeria with the Senegal-Niger country. It is now proposed
to establish wireless stations at the chief centers. Thus the great
Sahara has been conquered and French North, West and Central
Africa permanently united. There remains only the Eastern
Sahara, the Bornu-Wadai regions. These are under military
rule; and France and England are actively engaged at this
very time in making secure the Wadai-Dafur boundary.
^ û. cT-
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