French Colonialism in Tropical Africa 1900-1945

530 Pages·1971·31.35 MB·English

by  Jean Suret-Canale

FRENCH
COLONIALISM
IN TROPICAL AFRICA
1900-1945
by
JEAN SURET-CANALE
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY TILL GOTTHEINER
C. HURST & COMPANY
LONDON
First published in English by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishen) Ltd.,
4oa Royal Hill, Greenwich, London S.E.10, U.K.
First published in 1964 by Editions Sociales, Paris,
as Aftique Noire: II, L'ere coloniale r900-r945
This translation© C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. 1971
SBN 90096651 3
Printed in Great Britain by
Billing & Sons Limited, Guildford and London
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART ONE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
COLONIAL SYSTEM,
1900-1919
Chapter
I. The Trade-based Economy 3
1. Traditional Colonial Trade 4
(a) CHARACTER AND METHODS 4
( b) THE MONOPOLIST TRADING COMPANIES 7
(c) TRADE OPERATIONS I I
2. The System of Large Concessions in Equatorial Africa r 7
(a) FIRST ATTEMPTS I 7
( b) THE 'LARGE CONCESSIONS' 20
(c) TWO SYSTEMS OF EXPLOITATION 24
(d) FROM EXPLOITATION TO EXTERMINATION: THE
MARTYRDOM OF THE CONGO 26
(e) THE GAUD-TOQUE AFFAIR 34
(j) THE DEPOPULATION OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA 36
3. Economic Consequences 37
(a) FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA 37
(b) THE CAMEROONS 41
(C ) FRENCH WEST AFRICA 42
(d ) MINING 49
II. Social Consequences 59
The Advance of the Money Economy 59
I·
2. The Decline of Slavery 60
3· The Disintegration of the Traditional Social Structures 67
III.
The Administrative System 71
1 • Despotism and Direct Administration 71
2 • Administrative Chiefdoms 79
3· 'Assimilation' and 'Association' 83
86
4· Centralisation : the Government-General
VI FRENCH COLONIALISM IN TROPICAL AFRICA
IV. Pacification
93
The 'Pacification' of the Ivory Coast
1. 95
2. The 'Pacification' of other hard-cores of Resistance in
French West Africa 103
3. Operations in Equatorial Africa 107
4· The Resistance in Togo and the Cameroons 112
v.
Imperialist Rivalries: the First World War II8
The N'Goko-Sangha Company, Agadir and the 1911
I.
Compromise 118
2. Anti-Colonialism in France before 1914 and African
Problems 123
3. Conditions in French Black Africa around 1914 129
4. The 1914-1918 War and the Black Troops 134
(a) THE BLACK ARMY 134
(b) RECRUITMENT 135
(c) RESISTANCE DURING THE WAR 139
Conquest and Annexation of Togo and Kamerun,
5·
1914-1919 144
6. The Russian October Revolution and Africa 146
PART TWO: THE ZENITH OF COLONIALISM,
1919-1945
INTRODUCTION I 55
I. Economic Exploitation 159
I. The Trade Monopolies 159
(a) CAPITAL 160
(b) PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE FINANCIAL OLIGARCHY 167
(c) TRADE AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE 183
(d) TRANSPORT AND INDUSTRY 194
2. Production 218
(a) THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPORT CROPS 219
(b) COMPULSORY CROPS 228
(c) THE INDIGENOUS PROVIDENT SOCIETIES 235
(d) MIGRATION AND FORCED LABOUR 244
(e) THE SPOLIATION OF THE LAND: AGRICULTURAL,
FORESTRY AND URBAN CONCESSIONS 255
(j) THE MINES 268
(g) THE CRISIS AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS 272
3. The Economic Balance Sheet 294
(a) PAUPERISATION 294
( b) AFRICA, A DYING LAND 300
CONTENTS vii
II. Political and Administrative Oppression
307
Colonial Administration
I.
307
(a) GOVERNORS AND ADMINISTRATORS
307
(b) THE SYSTEM OF CHIEFS
322
(c) REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS
327
(d) THE Indigenat-THE JUDICIARY SYSTEM
331
(e) RECRUITMENT
336
(f)
THE FISCAL SYSTEM
341
(g) DIRECT AND INDIRECT RULE
348
The Missions
2.
355
3· Culture and Education 369
(a) CULTURAL OPPRESSION 369
(b) HISTORY OF AFRICAN COLONIAL EDUCATION 37I
(c) THE SPIRIT AND METHODS OF EDUCATION
379
(d) THE TEACHING STAFF 386
(e) CONCLUSION 39I
4· Medical and Health Services 395
(a) HEALTH 395
( b) MEDICAL ACTION 403
III. Social and Political Evolution 417
I. Social Evolution 4I7
(a) THE TOWNS 417
(b) THE COUNTRY REGIONS 4I9
(c) THE MARRIAGE PROBLEM: MARRIAGE SETTLE-
MENT AND POLYGAMY 423
Political Life 426
2.
(a) THE LAST ARMED UPRISINGS 426
( b) RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 43I
(c) THE FIRST SIGNS OF MODERN POLITICAL LIFE 439
The Second World War, 193g-1945 462
3.
(a) AFRICA IN THE WAR 462
(b) THE WAR EFFORT 477
(c) THE CONFERENCE OF FRENCH AFRICA AT
484
BRAZZAVILLE
491
BIBLIOGRAPHY
509
INDEX
MAPS
Xlll
French Equatorial Africa, 1939
XIV
French West Africa, 1939 xvi
Concessions in the Congo, 1900
A•
PREFACE
When the idea of this work was conceived, an essential part of it
was to be devoted to an analysis of the colonial system as it existed
in tropical Africa under French domination. The need for eluci
dating, or, at least, seriously dealing with a number of problems
relevant to the past and to pre-colonial structures led the author to
write another book, which is intended as an introduction.* But since
1958 the movement of history has speeded up in that part of the
world: the African colonial system, at that time in full crisis, has
since, to a large extent, collapsed. Called by circumstances to return
to Africa, first as director of the Guinea Institute of Research and
headmaster of the Conakry Lycee, then as director of the Teachers'
Training College at Kindia, the author was impelled to carry out
urgent tasks, which delayed the completion of this study.
By 1962 the central theme, still a topic of current interest six years
before, had become largely a matter of history. It seemed necessary,
therefore, to devote a separate volume to this, and to reserve a third
part for a study of the last fifteen or twenty years - the period of the
crisis and collapse of the French colonial system in tropical Africa.
Entitled The Colonial Era this book, therefore, centres around the
economic, social and political system which came into being and
reached its height between the years 1900 and 1945. Essentially
historical in its approach, it none the less retains present-day
interest; for the economic structures on which the system was based
have remained more or less intact, and the social and political
heritage weighs heavily upon the present independent African
republics.
No ambitions beyond clearing some ground and opening up some
horizons were intended in writing this book. It did not prove pos
sible, for example, to throw light on the life and history of the
African peoples during the period under review as would have been
fitting. Such a study would involve an enormous amount of investi
gation on the spot, a task that can hardly be undertaken at the
present time, and one which Africans alone can complete
satisfactorily.
*
Afrique Noire occidentale et centrale: glographie, civilisation, histoirt. Paris, Editions
Sociales, 1st ed., 1958; 2nd ed., 1961.
X FRENCH COLONIALISM IN TROPICAL AFRICA
In contrast to the preceding volume, a work of synthesis of which
the starting point was a study that had already been concluded, this
volume, with a few exceptions, is based on direct contemporary
material. Under these conditions it was not possible to undertake a
systematic analysis of archives; and indeed these are accessible only
for the period previous to IgI3. Forgoing any claim to being
exhaustive, the author had to content himself with printed sources,
supplementing these, where it became indispensable, by some research
into materials from accessible local archives. In other words, this is
but a first approach opening the way to more detailed studies which,
sometime in the future, will permit a more solid synthesis.
The approach being a critical one, some people may see in it a
certain bias. That is a risk that has to be faced in dealing with a
subject which, for so long, has been (and still remains) taboo.
Officially condemned, colonialism still survives in the men, the
spirit, and the institutions that do not tolerate anyone lifting the
veil from their secrets. The risk is one that every investigation into
the truth faces when it involves powerful interests. If anyone should
doubt this, let him turn to the sources (nearly all of them 'colonial'),
let him compare the facts that have been extracted with the versions
of the numerous panegyrists of colonisation ... and then let him
form his own judgment.
Kindia
30 November, 1962 ]. S.-C.
The present edition contains the author's revisions to 3I
December, Ig66.
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