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The Late Colonial State in the AOF and the Nomadic Societies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2011

Pierre Boilley
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Extract

Using the expression ‘late-colonial State’ obviously induces not only a chronological differentiation, but also some kind of specific institution. Is it possible to show that colonialism changed courses at an identifiable moment in time? If one observes the realities of the colonial presence in French Occidental Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française: AOF), and more particularly in the nomadic zone, a superficial glance could make one think the opposite is true. Nomads of the AOF and the area of land they travel are hardly obvious examples of ‘the colonial development’. The conquest of the Saharan areas was carried out with difficulty, hindered by immeasurable distances, the logistic difficulties of mounting and supply, the ignorance of the routes and wells, and especially the resistance to the French colonial regime from the Moorish and Tuareg nomads. The French managed to impose a lasting peace only after the Tuareg revolts of 1916 and 1917, after the fall of Djanet in the early 1920s, and finally after the pacification at the beginning of the 1930s of the last pockets of Moorish ‘dissidence’, putting an end to the raids against colonial establishments along the Niger river and in Adrar des Ifoghas. French soldiers and administrators initially held a certain mistrust towards the turbulent nomads. This feeling, combined with the apparent economic uselessness of the huge desert spaces they inhabited, makes it possible to understand that the essential efforts of colonial France were concentrated on military aspects and on keeping law and order within the major strategic routes connecting the southern and northern African possessions through the Sahara; routes that in these areas represented creations of major infrastructure.

Type
The Late Colonial State
Information
Itinerario , Volume 23 , Issue 3-4 , November 1999 , pp. 98 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1999

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References

Notes

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9 Rapport d'inspection generate de la subdivision de Kidal (cercle de Gao), Mars 1952, M. Even, inspecteur en chef, ANM, Bamako, 2D20, Fonds recents, Inspection des affaires administratives (Kidal 1937–1957).

10 Rapport d'inspection 1956, M. Escargueil. ANM, 2D20, Fonds récents, Bamako, Inspection des affaires administratives (Kidal 1937–1957).

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14 n01131, de M. Pierre July, Edgar Faure, Paul Reynaud, Jean de Lipowski, which aims to establish the whole of the Sahara, central and desert areas as a group of three French provinces with a special statute different from the neighbouring territories (Algèrie, , AOF, AEF) and named ‘Afrique Saharienne Française’ (27 March 1952)Google Scholar, Annexe n0 3066, Annales de l'Assemblée Nationale-Documents parlementaires, session de 1952, séance du 27 mars 1952, 617–618.

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Annexe n0 155, séance du 25 mars 1952, 184–186.

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Annexe n0 9251, session de 1954, séance du 31 aout 1954, 1835.

Annexe n0 1198, session de 1955–56, séance du 14 mars 1956, 799–800.

Annexe n0 1131, session de 1955–56, séance du 9 mars 1956, 760–762.

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20 Open letter from the ‘chefs coutumiers’, the notables, and the traders of the loop of the river Niger (Tombouctou, Gao and Goundam) to His Majesty the President of the French Republic, 30 May 1958.

21 Interview with Limam Chaffy, 23/6/94, Cergy-Pontoise.

22 Interview with Ammera ag Fakri, Paris, 18/6/92.