MC_A Concise History of Africa

Colonialism

in the process would be better spent at home. Their defeat and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco- Prussian War of 1870, spurred France towards gaining status, power, and colonies, causing it to pursue the mission civilisatrice (the civilizing mission), the notion of rayonnement being the spreading of French culture to enlighten others. The Maghreb was viewed as in need of such improvement, as was the rest of Africa, with the result that Tunisia was taken in 1881 and the West African colonies by 1900.

The mission was to assimilate the citizens of the colonies, turning them into model Frenchmen with no regard for their own cultures, making them abandon everything that was not French. But the French were too heavy-handed and brutal and their efforts only fostered rebellion; the majority of Africans neither became French, nor did the average Frenchman have much time for the Africans. But the fact that the African colonies sent many thousands to the aid of France during the First World War tended to create a more positive view of colonialism .

French rule was centralized, federal, and direct, with orders issued from Paris. The Minister for the Colonies issued orders to a Governor-General, who transmitted them to the Lieutenants-General, who in turn instructed the OVERLEAF: Marrakech, Morocco with the Atlas Mountains in the distance. BELOW: The Great Mosque, Sousse, Tunisia. OPPOSITE: Fishing boats on the Bou Regreg river and distant Casbah of the Udayas in Rabat, Morocco.

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