Louis Faidherbe

French imperialist

• Born: June 3, 1818
• Birthplace: Lille, France
• Died: September 29, 1889
• Place of death: Paris, France

Through warfare and diplomacy, Faidherbe laid the foundation of France’s West African empire. He stemmed the Muslim military advance in West Africa but respected Islam. He improved Senegal economically, socially, and culturally. His generalship also helped to retrieve France’s honor during the Franco-German War.

Early Life

Louis Léon César Faidherbe (feh-dehrb) was the son of a moderately successful merchant who had suffered imprisonment under the rule of Napoleon I. Louis studied at the Universities of Lille and Douai, the École Polytechnique, and the École d’Application. In 1842, he became a lieutenant in the French army’s engineering corps. In Algeria, where he was stationed from 1843 to 1846 and again from 1849 to 1852, Faidherbe embraced French imperialism and became adept in warfare. He showed ingenuity in designing and supervising a fort’s construction in newly occupied Bou-Saada, where he commanded for two years. While in Algeria, Faidherbe experienced an intellectual awakening. He learned Arabic and read Ibn-Khaldūn’s history of the Berbers. He developed respect for Arabo-Berber culture and for Islam. Nevertheless, he supported French conquest, whatever the tactics, because it benefited the so-called barbaric peoples.

In the West Indian island of Guadeloupe, where he was stationed in 1848 and 1849, Faidherbe turned to republicanism and negrophilism, yet he did not allow these views to interfere with promoting French interests and his own career. The engineering detachment’s reduction in Guadeloupe led to his recall and another stint in Algeria. In 1852, Faidherbe became subdirector of engineers in Senegal. He participated in seizing Podor and constructing its fort, attacking Diman’s capital, and reinforcing Bakel’s defenses in 1854. He wrote “Les Berbères” and began learning Wolof, Pular, and Sarakolé from his Sarakolé wife. He became interested in exploring the Niger River. Admiring Faidherbe’s activities, major Bordeaux firms doing business with Senegal recommended him for Senegal’s governorship.

Life’s Work

Faidherbe served two terms as governor of Senegal, 1854-1861 and 1863-1865. Determined to erect a stable Pax Francia, he instituted an aggressive policy of conquest and expansion of trade. He took decisive steps to advance eastward from St. Louis through the Senegal River Valley and the vast Sudan region to Lake Chad. He even dreamed of a French African empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. He sought to create a firm basis for its future development culturally as well as politically and economically.

Militarily, Faidherbe first sought to protect the gum trade along the Senegal River and to quell the Moorish Trarzas, who were raiding and opposing the Wolof peasants living along the river’s south bank. In February, 1855, Faidherbe ordered his forces to expel Trarza clans from Walo. War ensued with Walo, whose leadership rebuffed Faidherbe’s plan to “liberate” them; in April, Faidherbe had to fight the principal Trarza warrior clans. By the end of 1855, he had overcome Walo, which became the first sub-Saharan state dismembered and annexed by France. In 1858, having employed divide-and-conquer tactics, Faidherbe made treaties with the Trarzas of southern Mauretania. The Trarzas agreed to respect French traders and to commute the controversial “customs” charges into a fixed export duty of 3 percent.

Faidherbe’s endeavor to end all African control over French navigation along the Senegal River, particularly the toll at Saldé-Tébékout in central Futa-Toro, brought greater hostilities. Conflict erupted with the traditional leaders of Futa-Toro and with the Tukolor Muslim reformer and state builder al-Hājj Umar Tal. In 1858-1859, Faidherbe forced the confederation of Futa-Toro to make peace with France on French terms. Faidherbe divided the confederation into four client states of France.

Faidherbe’s greatest adversary, Umar, was the charismatic leader of the Tijaniyya fraternity in West Africa. Before Faidherbe’s governorship, Umar had attacked the French because of their prohibiting the firearms trade in the Senegal Valley. Faidherbe resisted Umar’s thrust along the Senegal. In July, 1857, Faidherbe gallantly led a small force with fixed bayonets in relieving Médine from Umar’s three-month siege. In 1860, Faidherbe negotiated a demarcation line along the Bafing River with Umar’s emissary and provisionally agreed to send his own envoy to discuss future relations with Umar. Faidherbe hoped that, in return for political support and supplies of firearms, Umar would permit France to enact a line of fortified trading posts from Senegal to a base for navigation on the Niger.

With Umar’s cooperation, Faidherbe envisioned pushing French trade and influence downstream and averting the monopoly that Great Britain, through traders in the delta, threatened to establish over the Niger. Returning as governor in 1863, Faidherbe sent Lieutenant Eugène Mage to contact Umar. Eventually Mage negotiated a treaty with Umar’s successor, Ahmadu Tal, wherein Ahmadu renounced holy war against France and permitted French trade and exploration in his territories, while France allowed him to buy goods in St. Louis. While fighting Umar, Faidherbe’s forces gutted the principal villages of Buoye, Kaméra, and Guidimakha, after which Faidherbe made treaties with new client rulers in each state.

As early as 1859, Faidherbe had also turned his attention to the kingdom of Cayor. His aim was to prevent its warriors’ interference in the collection of peanuts by peasants and to open a trail with three small forts placed along it and a telegraph line to link St. Louis to Dakar and Gorée via the coastal route. Faidherbe first tried peaceful means but, rebuffed by Damel Biraima, he used force. When Biraima died, Faidherbe claimed that Biraima had agreed on his deathbed to France’s demands. Biraima’s successor, Macodu, would not recognize the treaty. Faidherbe declared war and sought to replace Macodu with Madiodio. Thereupon Lat Dior progressed in seizing power. Faidherbe’s replacement, Governor Jean Jauréguiberry, allowed Lat Dior to expel Madiodio and become ruler. In his second governorship, Faidherbe moved to restore Madiodio, who ceded more territory to France. As disorder still prevailed in Cayor, Faidherbe retired Madiodio and annexed the remainder of Cayor in 1865.

Faidherbe’s military successes owed much to his personal touch. In 1857, he organized the Senegalese Riflemen. He created two battalions of volunteers recruited as much as possible from the free population of Senegambia. The first recruits were paid relatively well; they served short, two-year terms; wore special, colorful uniforms; were allowed a looser discipline than that of European troops; and received traditional food. Faidherbe labored in numerous ways in Senegal. He founded a school for the sons of chiefs, and lay schools for Muslims. He established scholarships for primary education in St. Louis and secondary education in France. He built small technical schools at Dakar. He opened a museum and a newspaper at St. Louis. Faidherbe founded the Bank of Senegal, laid out St. Louis afresh as befitted a capital city, promoted the export of groundnuts, made valuable and detailed studies of the indigenous people, and founded Dakar.

After the conclusion of his second term as governor of Senegal, Faidherbe returned to Algeria, where he spent the years from 1865 to 1870. In addition to his military duties, he gave considerable time to writing during this period. In December, 1870, Faidherbe became Commander in Chief of the Army of the North in the Franco-Prussian War . Despite fever and exhaustion, he commanded superbly in the Battles of Pont Noyelles, Bapaume, and St. Quentin. A confirmed republican, Faidherbe in 1871 declined election to the National Assembly because of its reactionary character. In 1879, he accepted election to the Senate. In 1880, he became grand chancellor of the Legion of Honor. He continued his writing until his death, in 1889. After a public funeral in Paris, he was buried in Lille.

Significance

Louis Faidherbe stood center stage in modern French imperialism. He initiated firm French control of the Senegal valley, which became the springboard for further expansion in West Africa. By opening the trade of Senegal, he provided the means for reaching the Niger Basin. His plan for railroad construction eventually materialized. His proposal, rejected by his superiors, for France and Great Britain, and France and Portugal mutually to arrange exchange of territories in West Africa would have created the French Gambia valley. Faidherbe grappled firmly but humanely with Islam in West Africa. He used war and diplomacy to stop the westward push of the great al-Hājj Umar Tal. Faidherbe’s policy of opposing Christian proselytism of Muslims caused a lasting prestigious francophile Muslim community and tradition in Senegal.

Faidherbe further affected West Africa. In Senegal, his governorship distinguished priorities and allocated limited resources. Faidherbe started new public works and aided the peasants. His policies of non-French settlement and restricted assimilation into French citizenship became models for French West Africa. Faidherbe accomplished still more. He reorganized the Legion of Honor and reformed its educational work. He wrote extensively on ancient Egypt, Carthage, Numidia, the Franco-Prussian War, West Africa, and army reorganization. His scholarship gained for him election to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres.

Bibliography

Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. The Tijaniyya: A Sufi Order in the Modern World. London: Oxford University Press, 1965. An excellent, impartial treatment of the movement led by Faidherbe’s major foe, Umar. Clear analysis of the reasons for the clash between Faidherbe and Umar, the warfare between the French and Umarians, and the negotiations bringing peace.

Barrows, Leland C. “Faidherbe and Senegal: A Critical Discussion.” African Studies Review 19 (April, 1976). A scholarly and detailed study of Faidherbe’s governorship of Senegal. Critical of Faidherbe’s so-called radicalism, especially his stand on slavery and his ambiguity in defining the positions of blacks and mulattoes. Stresses Faidherbe’s militarism as his chief contribution to the creation of French West Africa.

Barry, Boubacar. Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade. Translated from the French by Ayi Kwei Armah. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Originally published in French in 1988, this book provides a meticulously detailed examination of four centuries of the West African slave trade, including trading practices during the nineteenth century colonial era. Information about Faidherbe is included in numerous pages that are listed in the index.

Cohen, William B. Rulers of Empire: The French Colonial Service in Africa. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 1971. Cohen emphasizes Faidherbe’s founding of a workable administrative organization in West Africa, which remained unchanged and lasted with few modifications until the end of the French occupation.

Hargreaves, John D. Prelude to the Partition of West Africa. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1963. Pinpoints Faidherbe’s faith in the possibilities of penetrating the Sudan by the upper Senegal route and his freedom from strong anti-Muslim prejudice achieved during service in Algeria. Good on Anglo-French relations in West Africa.

Howard, Michael. The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870-1871. New York: Macmillan, 1961. Shows that Faidherbe’s objective was not to defeat the enemy but to pin down the greatest possible number of Germans and, by attacks, to facilitate Paris’s relief.

Kanya-Forstner, A. S. The Conquest of the Western Sudan: A Study in French Military Imperialism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1969. Underlines Faidherbe’s vigor and his vision for a future French African empire. Notes the declining fortunes of Senegal following his departure in 1865 but the revival of his Niger plan after 1876. Contains valuable footnotes, a bibliography, an index, and two maps.

Klein, Martin A. Islam and Imperialism in Senegal: Sine-Saloum, 1847-1914. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1968. Stresses how Faidherbe laid the foundation for France’s West African empire in spite of the skepticism of the French government. A first-rate consideration of Faidherbe’s relations with the Senegambian rulers. Notes Faidherbe’s compromise with slavery but his enlightened outlook toward Islam.

Robinson, David. The Holy War of Umar Tal: The Western Sudan in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1985. A reliable account of Faidherbe’s encounter with Umar. Shows Faidherbe’s ingenuity: use of intelligence reports and manufacturing his own propaganda to counter the appeal of Umar’s holy war.

Singer, Barnett, and John Langdon. Cultured Force: Makers and Defenders of the French Colonial Empire. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. The authors reassess the nature of French imperialism by focusing on the lives and careers of French leaders in African and Asian colonies. One of those leaders is Faidherbe, whose experiences are discussed in the chapter “Faidherbe of Senegal and West Africa.”