Louis Faidherbe
Louis Faidherbe | |
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National Assembly |
Louis Léon César Faidherbe (French pronunciation: [lwi leɔ̃ sezaʁ fedɛʁb]; 3 June 1818 – 29 September 1889) was a French general and colonial administrator. He created the Senegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor of Senegal.
Early life
Faidherbe was born into a lower-middle-class family in
West Africa
In 1852 he was transferred to
The work he accomplished in
Direct control of the Senegal River
Faidherbe's actions were not of his own creation, but were an implementation of "The Plan of 1854": a series of ministerial orders given to
Within three months of his appointment as governor, he had begun work on the first in a series on inland forts up the Sénégal, at Médine just below the Félou Falls (1855). By 1860, Faidherbe had built a series of forts between Médine and Saint-Louis, launching missions against the Trarza Moors in Waalo (north of the Sénégal river), who had previously collected taxes on goods coming to Saint-Louis from the interior.
Conflict in the interior
French military forces had previously avoided conflicts with the most powerful states in the area, the
War with the Toucouleur
To accomplish even the first part of his design, he had very inadequate resources, especially in view of the opposition from
War with the Serer people
At
Economics
Saint-Louis was placed under formal military control, and a telegraph and road link was set up to the other French colonies in
Faidherbe's large-scale projects included the building of bridges and provisioning of fresh drinking water.[9] But Saint-Louis's place as a door of French trade into an African interior began to wane with the expansion of direct colonial rule. Access to its port became increasingly awkward in the age of the steamship; and the completion of the Dakar-Saint Louis railroad in 1885 meant that up-country trade effectively circumvented its port. Large French firms, many from the city of Bordeaux, took over the new commercial networks of the interior, marginalizing the Métis traders who had always been the middle men of upstream commerce.
Faidherbe also placed under direct French control large-scale seasonal
Legacy in French colonialism
When he resigned his post, French rule had been firmly established over a very considerable and fertile area and the foundation laid upon which his successors built up the position occupied after 1904 by France in West Africa.
The first half-century of French colonialism in Senegal produced neither solid political control nor economic gains. However, it established the basic principles for the later French advance. Senegal became the principal French base, not Guinea. French expansion was aimed towards the interior (which also encouraged expansion south in Algeria), and Faidherbe's vision of empire was confirmed.[11]
In 1863 he became general of brigade. From 1867 to early 1870, he commanded the subdivision of Bona in Algeria, and was commanding the Constantine division at the commencement of the Franco-Prussian War.
Marriage and family
Soon after his arrival in Saint-Louis Faidherbe took as a mistress, Diocounda Sidibe (Dionkhounda Siadibi), a fifteen-year-old Sarakolé girl. She helped him in his study of the Wolof, Pular, and Sarakolé languages.[12][13] On 15 February 1857, they had a son, Louis Léon Faidherbe.[13] In 1858, when Faidherbe was 40, he married his 18-year-old niece, Angèle-Emilie Marie Sophie Faidherbe. She was the daughter of his older brother, Romain, who had died eight years earlier. The marriage produced three children: Gaston, Mathilde and Wilhem. Angèle also helped care for Louis, the son of Sidibe.[14]
Another of Faidherbe's nieces, his wife's older sister Clarence, married the naval officer Théophile Aube in May 1861.[15] At the time Aube was serving in Senegal. He would later be promoted to admiral.[16]
Franco-Prussian War
After the defeat of
Faidherbe quickly proved himself to be the most able of the generals fighting Prussian forces in the French provinces,[
Political life and retirement
During the course of his military career Faidherbe was decorated with the five degrees of the
Faidherbe was named as candidate for the legislature on several lists in the Somme department in the elections of 8 February 1871, and was elected. He decided not to accept his election while retaining his military command in the north. After he resigned from the army he was reelected on 2 July 1871 as representative for the Somme, for Pas-de-Calais and for Nord. He chose to represent Nord.[19][a] However, he resigned on 26 August 1871 after voting against giving the Assembly the power to define a constitution, because he said the Assembly had given itself that right rather than receiving it from the electors.[19] On 8 October 1871 he became a member of the departmental Council of Nord for the canton of Lille center.[19]
Between October 1871 and May 1872 Faidherbe undertook a scientific mission to Upper Egypt, where he studied the monuments and inscriptions. On the same trip he visited Jerusalem and Italy.[21]
He ran for election to the senate in Nord as a republican on 30 January 1876 but was defeated.[19]
Faidherbe was elected on 5 January 1879 to the senate for the
An enthusiastic geographer, historian, philologist and archaeologist, he wrote numerous works, including Collection des inscriptions numidiques (1870), La Campagne de l'armée du Nord (1871), Epigraphie phenicienne (1873), Essai sur la langue poul (1875), and Le Zénaga des tribus sénégalaises (1877), the last a study of the
He was elected a senator in 1879,[22] and, in spite of failing health, continued to the last a close student of his favorite subjects.
Death
Faidherbe died on 29 September 1889, his body receiving a public funeral.[23]
Statues and monuments to his memory were erected at
Works
- Faidherbe, L. (1854). "Les Berbères et les Arabes des bords du Sénégal". Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris). 4th series. 7: 89–112.
- ——— (1856). "Populations noires des bassins du Sénégal et du Haut Niger". Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris). 4th series. 11: 281–300.
- ——— (1859). Notice sur la colonie du Sénégal et sur les pays qui sont en relation avec elle. Paris: A. Bertrand.
- ——— (1859). Vocabulaire d'environ 1,500 mots français les plus usuels avec leurs correspondants en ouolof de Saint-Louis, à l'usage des écoles indigènes. Saint-Louis, Senegal: Imprimerie du Gouvernement. OCLC 249063491.
- ——— (1863). "L'avenir du Sahara et du Soudan". Revue maritime et coloniale. 8: 221–248.
- ——— (1864). Vocabulaire d'environ 1,500 mots français avec leurs correspondants en ouslof de Saint-Louis, en poular, Toucoulor, du Fouta, en Soninké, Sarakhollé, de Bakel. Saint-Louis, Senegal: Imprimerie du Gouvernement. OCLC 559326045.
- ——— (1864). Chapitre de géographie sur le Nord-Ouest de l'Afrique à l'usage des écoles de Sénégambie. Saint-Louis, Senegal: Imprimerie du gouvernement. OCLC 82569267.
- ——— (1865). "Étude sur la langue Kéguem ou Sérè-Sine". Annuaire de Sénegal et dépendances. Saint-Louis, Sénegal: Imprimerie du Gouvernement: 173–245.
- ——— (1866). "Résumé historique et géographique du voyage de MM. Mage et Quintin à Ségou". Annales des voyages, de la géographie, de l'histoire et de l'archéologie. 4: 223–270.
- ——— (1870). "Collection complète des inscriptions numidiques (libyques), avec des aperçus ethnographiques sur les numides". Mémoires de la Société des sciences, de l'agriculture et des arts de Lille. 3rd Series. 8: 361–425.
- ——— (1871). Campagne de l'armée du Nord en 1870-1871, avec une carte, des notes et des pièces justificatives. Paris: E. Dentu.
- ——— (1872). "Épigraphie phénicienne". Mémoires de la Société des sciences, de l'agriculture et des arts de Lille. 3rd Series. 10: 293–299.
- ——— (1873). Armée du nord. Réponse à la relation du général Von Goeben pour faire suite à la "Campagne de l'armée du nord". Paris: E.Dentu.
- ——— (1875). Essai sur la langue poul, grammaire et vocabulaire. Paris: Maisonneuve.
- ——— (1877). Le Zénaga des tribus sénégalaises: contribution à l'étude de la langue berbère. Paris: E. Leroux.
- ———; Quintin, L. (1881). "Dictionnaire de la langue poul, par le général Faidherbe, augmenté par le Docteur Quintin". Bulletin de la Société de géographie. 7th Series. 2: 334–354.
- ——— (1882). Grammaire et vocabulaire de la langue poul : à l'usage des voyageurs dans le Soudan. Paris: Maisonneuve.
- ——— (1887). Langues sénégalaises : wolof, arabe-hassania, soninké, sérère, notions grammaticales, vocabulaires et phrases. Paris: E. Leroux. OCLC 6967898.
- ——— (1889). Le Sénégal: la France dans l'Afrique occidentale. Paris: Hachette.
References
- ^ A by-election was held to replace him in Pas-de-Calais on 7 January 1872 in which the Bonapartist Charles Levert was elected.[20]
- ^ Saint-Martin 1989, p. 234.
- ^ Coursier 1989, p. 15.
- ^ Barrows 1976, p. 97.
- ^ Barrows 1976, p. 95.
- ^ Kanya-Forstner 1969.
- ^ Diouf, Cheikh, "Fiscalité et Domination Coloniale: l'exemple du Sine: 1859–1940", Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (2005).
- ^ Klein, Martin A., Islam and Imperialism in Senegal – Sine-Saloum, 1847–1914, Edinburgh University Press, 1968, p. 55.
- ^ a b Klein, Martin A., Islam and Imperialism in Senegal – Sine-Saloum, 1847–1914, Edinburgh University Press, 1968, pp. 57–58.
- ^ Graëff, Eddy. "Histoire de Saint-Louis du Sénégal". Retrieved 10 April 2015.
- ^ Jean Suret-Canele. French Colonialism in Tropical Africa 1900–1945. Trans. Pica Press (1971) pp. 14, 46–47, 244–47.
- ^ Jones, Jim. "Commentary on "The Conquest of the Western Sudan" by A. S. Kanya-Forstner". West Chester University.
- ^ Barrows 1976, p. 99.
- ^ a b Coursier 1989, p. 101.
- ^ Coursier 1989, p. 102.
- ^ Saint-Martin 1989, p. 471.
- ^ Saint-Martin 1989, p. 271.
- ^ Coursier 1989, pp. 190, 214.
- ^ Coursier 1989, p. 215.
- ^ a b c d Robert & Cougny 1890.
- ^ Robert, Bourloton & Cougny 1891.
- ^ Coursier 1989, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Coursier 1989, p. 12.
- ^ Coursier 1989, p. 201.
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Faidherbe, Louis Léon César". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Barrows, Leland C. (1976). "Faidherbe and Senegal: a critical discussion". African Studies Review. 19 (1): 95–117. S2CID 143877276.
- Coursier, Alain (1989). Faidherbe, 1818–1889: du Sénégal à l'Armée du Nord (in French). Paris: Tallandier. ISBN 978-2-235-01888-3.
- Kanya-Forstner, A.S. (1969). The Conquest of the Western Sudan: A Study in French Military Imperialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-10372-5.
- Robert, Adolphe; Cougny, Gaston (1890). "Faidherbe (Louis-Léon-César)". Dictionnaire des Parlementaires français (1789–1889) (in French). Vol. 2: CAY-FES. Paris: Edgar Bourloton. pp. 590–592.
- Robert, Adolphe; Bourloton, Edgar; Cougny, Gaston (1891). "Levert (Charles Alphonse)". Dictionnaire des Parlementaires français (1789–1889) (in French). Vol. 3: LAV-PLA. Paris: Edgar Bourloton. pp. 147–148.
- Saint-Martin, Yves-Jean (1989). Le Sénégal sous le second Empire: Naissance d'un empire colonial (1850–1871) (in French). Paris: Karthala. ISBN 2-86537-201-4.
Further reading
- Barrows, Leland Conley (1974). "The merchants and General Faidherbe. Aspects of French expansion in Sénégal in the 1850s". Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 61 (223): 236–283. .
- Cohen, William B. (1971). Rulers of Empire: the French Colonial Service in Africa. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 978-081791951-1.
- Demaison, André (1932). Faidherbe (in French). Paris: Plon. OCLC 5752225.
- Gann, Lewis H.; Duignan, Peter (1978). African Proconsuls : European Governors in Africa. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-911190-1.
- Hardy, George (1947). Faidherbe (in French). Paris: Éditions de l'Encyclopédie de l'Empire franc̜ais. OCLC 5215519.
- Pondopoulo, Anna (1996). "La construction de l'altérité ethnique peule dans l'oeuvre de Faidherbe". Cahiers d'études africaines (in French). 36 (143): 421–441. .