France–Africa relations

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Map of France-Africa relations.

France–Africa relations cover a period of several centuries, starting around in the Middle Ages, and have been very influential to both regions.

First exchanges (8th century)

Main article:
Islamic invasion of Gaul
Pépin le Bref
, in 759, after 40 years of occupation.
The Almoravid Empire at its greatest extent

Following the invasion of

Rhône valley as far as Avignon, Lyon, Autun, until the turning point of the Battle of Tours in 732.[1]

Cultural exchanges followed. In the 10th century, the French monk

Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco.[2]

France would become again threatened by the proximity of the expanding Moroccan Almoravid Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries.[3]

Early French explorations (14–15th century)

According to some historians, French merchants from the

Hundred Years War in France.[6]

In 1402, the French adventurer

Canary islands.[7]

Barbary States

Further information: Franco-Ottoman alliance

Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt

Hayreddin Barbarossa, ruler of Algiers, led an Ottoman embassy to France in 1533.

France signed a first treaty or

Mamluk Sultanate in 1500, during the rules of Louis XII and Sultan Bajazet II,[8][9] in which the Sultan of Egypt
made concessions to the French and the Catalans.

Important contacts between

Northern Africa, which were in the process of becoming vassals to the Ottoman Empire. In 1533, the first Ottoman embassy to France was led by Hayreddin Barbarossa, then head of the Barbary States in Algiers
.

Suleiman ordered Barbarossa to put his fleet at the disposition of Francis I to attack

Asia Minor.[11]

Various military actions were also coordinated during the Italian War of 1551–1559. In 1551, the Ottomans, accompanied by the French ambassador Gabriel de Luez d'Aramon, succeeded in the Siege of Tripoli.[12]

Morocco

In 1533, Francis I sent Colonel

Fes, Ahmed ben Mohammed
, welcomed French overtures and granted freedom of shipping and protection of French traders.

France started to send ships to Morocco in 1555, under the rule of

Fez, Morocco, in the person of Guillaume Bérard, the first European country to do so.[15][16] Bérard was succeeded by Arnoult de Lisle and then Étienne Hubert d'Orléans in the position of physician and representative of France at the side of the Sultan. These contacts with France occurred during the landmark rules of Abd al-Malik and his successor, Moulay Ahmad al-Mansur
.

Mogador was explored as a possible French settlement by Isaac de Razilly
under Louis XIII.

In order to continue the exploration efforts of his predecessor

Mulay Zidan.[18]

In 1630, Razilly was able to negotiate the purchase of French slaves from the Moroccans. He visited Morocco again in 1631 to participate in the negotiation of the Franco-Moroccan Treaty (1631).[19] This treaty gave France preferential treatment, known as Capitulations: advantageous tariffs, the establishment of a consulate, and freedom of religion for French subjects.[20]

Senegal (1659)

Main article: French conquest of Senegal

In 1659, France established the trading post of

Seven Years' War
, but was later returned to France in 1783.

Maghreb

French conquest of Algeria (1830)

The

First Franco-Moroccan War
, drove him out of Morocco. He surrendered to French forces in 1847.

First Franco-Moroccan War (1844)

First Franco-Moroccan War
(1844).

Treaty of Lalla Maghnia
.

Algeria 1958

The

May 1958 seizure of power in Algiers by French army units and French settlers opposed to concessions in the face of Arab nationalist insurrection ripped apart the unstable Fourth Republic. The National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic with a strengthened presidency, and he was elected in the latter role. He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the Pieds-Noirs (Frenchmen settled in Algeria) and the military; both previously had supported his return to power to maintain colonial rule. De Gaulle granted independence to Algeria in 1962.[23]

French West Africa

Main article: French West Africa
In 1904, Dakar became the capital of French West Africa.

From 1880, France endeavoured to build a railway system, centered on the

Dakar-Niger Railway also began at the end of the 19th century under the direction of the French officer Gallieni
.

The first Governor General of Senegal was named in 1895, overseeing most of the territorial conquests of Western Africa, and in 1904, the territories were formally named French West Africa (AOF: "Afrique Occidentale Française"), of which Senegal was a part and Dakar its capital.

Sub-Saharan Africa 1940–1981

Further information: Françafrique

French conservatives were disillusioned with the colonial experience after the disasters in Indochina and Algeria. They wanted to cut all ties to the numerous colonies in French sub-Saharan Africa. During the war, de Gaulle had successfully based his Free France movement and the African colonies. After a visit in 1958, he made a commitment to make sub-Saharan French Africa a major component of his foreign-policy.[25] All the colonies in 1958, except Guinea, voted to remain in the French Community, with representation in Parliament and a guarantee of French aid. In practice, nearly all the colonies became independent in the late 1950s, but maintained very strong connections.[26] Under close supervision from the president, French advisors played a major role in civil and military affairs, thwarted coups, and, occasionally, replaced upstart local leaders. The French colonial system had always been based primarily on local leadership, in sharp contrast to the situation in British colonies. The French colonial goal had been to assimilate the natives into mainstream French culture, with a strong emphasis on the French language. From de Gaulle's point of view, close association gave legitimacy to his visions of global client grandeur, certified his humanitarian credentials, provided access to oil, uranium and other minerals, and provided a small but steady market for French manufacturers. Above all it guaranteed the vitality of French language and culture in a large slice of the world that was rapidly growing in population. De Gaulle's successors Georges Pompidou (1959–74) and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1974–1981) continued de Gaulle's African policy. It was supported with French military units, and a large naval presence in the Indian Ocean. Over 260,000 Frenchmen worked in Africa, focused especially on delivering oil supplies. There was some effort to build up oil refineries and aluminum smelters, but little effort to develop small-scale local industry, which the French wanted to monopolize for the mainland. Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Cameroon were the largest and most reliable African allies, and received most of the investments. [27] During the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), France supported breakaway Biafra, but only on a limited scale, providing mercenaries and obsolete weaponry. De Gaulle's goals were to protect its nearby ex-colonies from Nigeria, to stop Soviet advances, and to acquire a foothold in the oil-rich Niger delta.[28]

Mitterrand: 1981–1996

Main article: Foreign policy of the François Mitterrand administration

Socialist rhetoric had long attacked the imperialistic program of the French overseas empire, and its continuity in Francophone Africa after those states gained independence. Socialist president François Mitterrand (1981–1996) ignored that old rhetoric, and maintained the benevolent French supervision of the former colonies. However, unlike his predecessors who maintained strong ties with South Africa, Mitterrand denounced the crimes of Apartheid.[29]

Gabon

Mitterrand paid special attention to Gabon because of its strategic location and important economy. Mitterrand generally supported the regime of Gabon's president Omar Bongo, who had ruled since 1967. He mostly ignored the long-standing socialist and communist complaints about injustice and corruption in Gabon.[30]

Rwanda

Main articles:
Rwandan Genocide and Paul Barril

The French daily newspaper

assassination of Habyarimana which triggered a full-scale genocide.[31]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Tricolor and crescent: France and the Islamic world by William E. Watson p.1
  2. ^ The Champions of Change Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik p.29ff
  3. ^ Reconquest and crusade in medieval Spain by Joseph F. O'Callaghan p.31
  4. ^ African glory: the story of vanished Negro civilizations by John Coleman De Graft-Johnson p.121 [1]
  5. ^ Carter G. Woodson: a historical reader by Carter Godwin Woodson p.43 [2]
  6. ^ a b African glory: the story of vanished Negro civilizations by John Coleman De Graft-Johnson p.122 [3]
  7. ^ Canary Islands by Sarah Andrews,Josephine Quintero p.25
  8. ^ Three years in Constantinople by Charles White p.139
  9. ^ Three years in Constantinople by Charles White p.147
  10. ^ Suleiman the Magnificent 1520–1566 Roger Bigelow Merriman p.139
  11. ^ Suleiman the Magnificent 1520–1566 Roger Bigelow Merriman p.140
  12. ^ The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II by Fernand Braudel p.920- [4]
  13. ^ "Francois I, hoping that Morocco would open up to France as easily as Mexico had to Spain, sent a commission, half commercial and half diplomatic, which he confided to one Pierre de Piton. The story of his mission is not without interest" in The conquest of Morocco by Cecil Vivian Usborne, S. Paul & co. ltd., 1936, p.33
  14. ^ Travels in Morocco, Volume 2 James Richardson p.32
  15. ^ The International City of Tangier, Stuart, p.38
  16. ^ Studies in Elizabethan Foreign Trade p.149
  17. ^ "The narrative really begins in 1619, when the adventurer, Admiral S. John de Razilly, resolved to go to Africa. France had no colony in Morocco; hence, King Louis XIII gave whole-hearted support to de Razilly." in Round table of Franciscan research, Volumes 17–18 Capuchin Seminary of St. Anthony, 1952
  18. ^ [The chevalier de Montmagny (1601–1657): first governor of New France by Jean-Claude Dubé, Elizabeth Rapley p.111]
  19. ^ A man of three worlds Mercedes García-Arenal, Gerard Albert Wiegers p.114
  20. ^ France in the age of Louis XIII and Richelieu by Victor Lucien Tapié p.259
  21. ^ International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa by Trudy Ring p.303 [5]
  22. ^ Navies in modern world history Lawrence Sondhaus p.71ff
  23. ^ Winock, Michel. "De Gaulle and the Algerian Crisis 1958–1962." in Hugh Gough and John Home, eds., De Gaulle and Twentieth Century France (1994) pp 71–82.
  24. ^ Slavery and colonial rule in French West Africa by Martin A. Klein, p.59 [6]
  25. ^ Julian Jackson, De Gaulle (2018), pp 490–93, 525, 609–615.
  26. ^ Patrick Manning, Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa 1880–1995 (1999) pp 137–41, 149–50, 158–62.
  27. ^ John R. Frears, France in the Giscard Presidency (1981) pp 109–127.
  28. ^ Christopher Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970." Small Wars & Insurgencies 26.1 (2015): 114–135.
  29. ^ "François Mitterrand et l'Afrique: "Il a toujours eu une forme de paternalisme autoritaire"". TV5MONDE (in French). 2021-05-08. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
  30. ^ David E. Gardinier, "France and Gabon since 1993: The reshaping of a neo-colonial relationship." Journal of Contemporary African Studies 18.2 (2000): 225–242.
  31. ^ a b c Génocide rwandais : ce que savait l'Elysée, Le Monde, 2 July 2007 (in French)

Further reading

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