Everything about French West Africa totally explained
French West Africa was a
federation of eight
French colonial territories in
Africa:
Mauritania,
Senegambia and Niger,
French Sudan (now
Mali),
French Guinea (now
Guinea),
Côte d'Ivoire,
Upper Volta (now
Burkina Faso) and
Dahomey (now
Benin).
History
Originally created in 1895 as a union of
Senegal,
French Sudan,
French Guinea and
Côte d'Ivoire only, the federation was placed on a permanent footing in 1904 with a governor-general based first in
Saint-Louis, then (from 1902) in
Dakar (both in Senegal, the oldest French settlement). The AOF subsequently expanded to neighbouring French-ruled territories:
Dahomey was added in 1904, after having been put under colonial tutelage in 1892;
Mauritania in 1920,
(External Link
) and when the territory of
Upper Volta was divided from
French Soudan by colonial decree in 1921, it automatically also entered the AOF.
(External Link) Between 1934 and 1937, the
League of Nations Mandate territory of
French Togoland was subsumbed into
Dahomey, and between its seizure from
Germany in
World War I and independence it was administered through the AOF. In 1904, both
Mauritania and
Niger were classed "
Military Territories": ruled by the AOF in conjunction with officers of the
French Colonial Forces.
Throughout the history of the AOF, individual colonies and military territories were reorganised numerous times, as was the
Government General in Dakar. In theory the Governors General of the AOF reported directly to the
Minister of Colonies in Paris, while individual colonies and territories reported only to Dakar.
The federation ceased to exist after the September 1958
referendum on the future
French Community, in which the constituent territories voted to became autonomous
republics except for Guinea,
(External Link) which voted overwhelmingly for independence. Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey subsequently formed the short-lived
Sahel-Benin Union, later the
Conseil de l'Entente.
Governors General
- Jean Baptiste Chaudier : 1895-1900
- Noel Ballay : 1900-1902
- Ernest Roume : 1902-1907
- William Merlaud-Ponty : 1908-1915
- François Joseph Clozel : 1916
- Joost van Vollenhoven : 1917-1918
- Martial Merlin : 1918-1923
- Jules Carde : 1923-1930
- Jules Brévie : 1930-1936
- Marcel de Coppet : 1936-1938
- Léon Cayla : 1939-1940
- Pierre Boisson : 1940-1943
- Pierre Cournarie : 1943-1946
- René Barthès : 1946-1948
- Paul Béchard : 1948-1951
- Bernard Cornut-Gentille : 1952-1956
- Gaston Custin : 1956-1957.
High Commissioners
Gaston Custin : 1957-1958
Pierre Messmer : 1958
Geography
With an area of some (mostly the desert or semi-desert interior of Mauritania, Sudan and Niger) extending from Africa's westernmost point to the depths of the Sahara, the federation contained more than ten million inhabitants at its creation, and some 25 million at its dissolution.
Further Information
Get more info on 'French West Africa'.
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