France in Africa

28.3: France in Africa

28.3.1: French West Africa

French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte d’Ivoire, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin), and Niger.

Learning Objective

List some of the modern-day countries that were once part of France’s West African territories

Key Points

  • As a part of the Scramble for Africa, France planned to establish a continuous west-east axis of the continent.
  • During this time the Voulet–Chanoine Mission, a military expedition, was sent from Senegal in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa.
  • Until the unification of these colonies into French West Africa, these conquered areas were usually governed by French Army officers and dubbed “Military Territories.”
  • The administrative structure of French colonial possessions in West Africa, while more homogeneous than neighboring British possessions, was marked by variety and flux. However, the Cercle system at the lowest level was a constant.
  • A Cercle was the smallest unit of French political administration in French Colonial Africa as headed by a European officer. It consisted of several cantons, each of which in turn consisted of several villages headed by village chiefs.

Examples

Key Term

Cercle system
The smallest unit of French political administration in French Colonial Africa that was headed by a European officer. A cercle consisted of several cantons, each of which in turn consisted of several villages, and was instituted in France’s African colonies from 1895 to 1946.

French West Africa (French: Afrique occidentale française, AOF) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte d’Ivoire, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. The capital of the federation was Dakar. The federation existed from 1895 until 1960.

As the French pursued their part in the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s and 1890s, they conquered large inland areas, and at first ruled them as either a part of the existing Senegal colony or as independent entities. These conquered areas were usually governed by French Army officers and dubbed “Military Territories.” In the late 1890s, the French government began to rein in the territorial expansion of its “officers on the ground,” and transferred all territories west of Gabon to a single governor based in Senegal, reporting directly to the Minister of Overseas Affairs. The first governor general of Senegal was named in 1895, and in 1904, the territories he oversaw were formally named French West Africa (AOF). Gabon would later become the seat of its own federation, French Equatorial Africa (AEF), which would border its western neighbor on the modern boundary between Niger and Chad.

King N’Diagaye, a local chief near Dakar Senegal, receiving a French Administrator. c.1910.

Colonial Structure of the AOF

The administrative structure of French colonial possessions in West Africa, while more homogeneous than neighboring British possessions, was marked by variety and flux. Throughout the history of the AOF, individual colonies and military territories were reorganized numerous times. Each colony of French West Africa was administered by a lieutenant governor responsible to the governor general in Dakar. Only the governor general received orders from Paris, via the minister of Colonies. The minister, with the approval of the French National Assembly, chose lieutenants governor and governors general.

Despite this state of flux, and with the exception of the Senegalese Communes, the administrative structure of French rule at the lower levels remained constant, based upon the Cercle system. This was the smallest unit of French political administration in French Colonial Africa that was headed by a European officer. They ranged in size, but French Sudan (modern Mali) consisted of less than a dozen Cercles for most of its existence. Thus, a Cercle Commander might be the absolute authority over hundreds of thousands of Africans. A Cercle consisted of several cantons, each of which in turn consisted of several villages, and was almost universal in France’s African colonies from 1895 to 1946.

Below the “Cercle Commander” was a series of African “Chefs de canton” and “Chefs du Village”: “chiefs” appointed by the French and subject to removal by the Europeans. Regardless of source, chiefs were given the right to arm small numbers of guards and made responsible for the collection of taxes, the recruitment of forced labor, and the enforcement of “Customary Law.” In general, Canton Chiefs served at the behest of their Cercle Commander and were left to see to their own affairs as long as calm was maintained and administrative orders carried out.

Attributions