Parfait-Louis Monteil
Parfait-Louis Monteil (1855 – 29 September 1925) was a French colonial military officer and explorer who made an epic journey in West Africa between 1890 and 1892, travelling east from Senegal to Lake Chad, and then north across the Sahara to Tripoli.[1]
Early career
Monteil was the older brother of
Monteil served in the French protectorate of Annam, now part of Vietnam, from 1886 to 1888.[3] He then spent time investigating a railway project to link Bafoulabé and Bamako in Senegal, before launching on his great journey across West Africa in 1890.[1]
Political background
France,
On 5 August 1890 the British and French concluded an agreement to clarify the boundary between French West Africa and what would become Nigeria. Britain would acquire all territories up to and including the Sokoto Caliphate, while the French would take the lands further to the north. However, they did not know the extent of the Sokoto Caliphate. Monteil was given charge of an expedition to discover its northern limits.[3]
From Senegal to Tripoli via Chad
Colonel Monteil and a small party of Frenchmen arrived in
Monteil set out eastwards, generally obtaining a friendly reception and signing treaties of friendship, although suffering from heat, mosquitos and lack of drinking water.[3] The Almami of San signed a peace treaty placing the town under French protection. Monteil praised the caravan center at San, saying that transactions could be made in total security, with no duties levied on imports, exports or sales.[9]
Entering what is now
In June Monteil went on to
Monteil was welcomed by the
Monteil journeyed from Sokoto to the important trading center of Kano, then via Hadejia to Lake Chad.[3] On 9 April 1892 he reached Kuka on the shore of the lake, where he was met by a group of 150 cavalrymen arrayed in colorful costumes, with their horses dressed in padded caparisons. The horsemen charged him with spears leveled, stopping at the last minute, a sign of respect and also a test of courage.
He exchanged courtesies with the Sultan of
When finally allowed to depart, he traveled northward across the Sahara to Tripoli, reaching the Mediterranean on 10 December 1892. His journey had done much to clarify for Europeans, and for France in particular, the geography and politics of the region.[13] Within 15 years, almost all the territory Monteil had visited was firmly under colonial control.[14]
Later career
After Monteil's return to France, in 1893 the Société de géographie awarded him the Grand Gold Medal for his book recording the journey.[15] The successful expedition across West Africa impressed the statesman
Later, Monteil tried without success to enter politics, and was involved in colonization of the south of Tunisia.[1] He died at
Selected works
- Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1882). Voyage d'exploration au Sénégal [Voyage of Exploration in Senegal] (in French). Paris: Papeet.
- Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1884). En France et aux colonies, vade-mecum de l'officier d'infanterie de marine [Handbook of an Officer of the Marine Infantry] (in French). Paris: Baudoin et Cie.
- Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1894). De Saint-Louis a Tripoli par le Lac Tchad, Voyage au Travers du Soudan et du Sahara Accompli Pendant les Années 1890-91-92 [From Saint-Louis to Tripoli via Lake Chad ...] (in French). Paris: Félix Alcan.
- Barth, Heinrich; Voulet, Paul; Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1897). Textes anciens sur le Burkina (1853–1897) [Ancient Texts on Burkina (1853–1897)] (in French). Paris: Sépia.
- Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1902). Une page d'histoire coloniale: la colonne de Kong, 1895 [A Page of Colonial History: The Colony of Kong, 1895] (in French). Paris: Henri Charles-Lavauzelle.
- Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1924). Quelques feuillets de l'histoire coloniale [Some Pages of Colonial History] (in French). Paris: Société d'éditions géographiques maritimes et coloniales.
Notes
- ^ a b c Lanhers 1950
- ^ Dulucq 2009, p. 169.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hirshfield 1979, pp. 37ff
- ^ SDG 1885, pp. 73
- ^ MEN 1886, pp. 282
- ^ Bingen, Robinson & Staatz 2000, pp. 38
- ^ Marcus & Spaulding 1998, pp. 97
- ^ Crowe 1942
- ^ Mann 2006, pp. 26
- ^ Englebert 1999, pp. 18
- ^ Abaka 2004
- ^ Benjaminsen & Lund 2001, pp. 41
- ^ Lengyel 2007, pp. 170ff
- ^ Oliver, Fage & Sanderson 1985, p. 257ff
- ^ Pinta 2006, pp. 31
- ^ Kalck 2005, pp. 141
- ^ Imperato 2001, pp. 161
- ^ Prater 2005
- ^ Klein 1998, p. 113.
- ^ Larousse 1963, pp. 487
References
- Abaka, Edmund (2004). "Collaboration as Resistance". In Kevin Shillington (ed.). OCLC 62895404. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Benjaminsen, Tor Arve; Lund, Christian (2001). Politics, property and production in the West African Sahel: understanding natural resources management. Nordic Africa Institute. ISBN 91-7106-476-1. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Bingen, R. James; Robinson, David; Staatz, John M. (2000). Democracy and development in Mali. MSU Press. ISBN 978-0-87013-560-6. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
- Crowe, Sybil E. (1942). The Berlin West African Conference, 1884–1985. New York: Longmans, Green. ISBN 0-8371-3287-8.
- Dulucq, Sophie (2009), Ecrire l'histoire de l'Afrique à l'époque coloniale: XIXe-XXe siècles (in French), KARTHALA Editions, ISBN 978-2-8111-0290-6, retrieved 2018-06-18
- Englebert, Pierre (1999). Burkina Faso: Unsteady Statehood In West Africa. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3680-5. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Hirshfield, Claire (1979). The diplomacy of partition: Britain, France, and the creation of Nigeria, 1890–1898. Springer. ISBN 90-247-2099-0. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Imperato, Pascal James (2001). Quest for the Jade Sea: Colonial Competition Around an East African Lake. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-2792-X. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- Kalck, Pierre (2005). "Monteil, Colonel Parfait". Historical dictionary of the Central African Republic. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4913-5. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- Klein, Martin A. (1998-07-28), Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-59678-7, retrieved 2018-06-17
- Lanhers, Y. (1950). "Fonds colonel Monteil (1885–1940)" (PDF). Les Archives nationales de France (Finding aid) (in French). 66 AP 1 à 18. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Larousse (1963). "Monteil (Partfait Louis)". Grand Larousse encyclopédique en dix volumes (in French). Vol. 7: Mali–Orly. Librairie Larousse.
- Lengyel, Emil (2007). Dakar — Outpost of Two Hemispheres. READ BOOKS. ISBN 978-1-4067-6146-7. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- Marcus, Harold G.; Spaulding, Jay (1998). Melvin Eugene Page (ed.). Personality and political culture in modern Africa: studies presented to Professor Harold G. Marcus. Boston University papers on Africa. Vol. 9. African Studies Center, Boston University. ISBN 978-0-915118-16-8.
- Mann, Gregory (2006). Native sons: West African veterans and France in the twentieth century. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3768-1. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- Recueil des lois et actes de l'instruction publique (in French). Delalain frères. 1886. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- Oliver, Roland; Fage, J. D.; Sanderson, G. N. (1985). The Cambridge history of Africa: From 1870 to 1905. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22803-4. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
- Pinta, Pierre (2006). La Libye (in French). KARTHALA Editions. ISBN 2-84586-716-6. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- Prater, Robert Hill (2005-10-19). Seedtime and Harvest: Christian Mission and Colonial Might in Côte d'Ivoire (1895–1920) (PDF) (Thesis). Friedrich-Alexander-Universität. URN urn:nbn:de:bvb:29-opus-2621. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 9, 2012. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
- Société de géographie (France) (1885). Liste des membres. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
Further reading
- Labouret, Henri (1937). Monteil: Explorateur et soldat (in French). Paris: Berger-Levrault.
- Vogüé, Eugène-Melchior de (1893). "L'exploration du Commandant Monteil". Revue des Deux Mondes (in French). 115: 926–941.