Upper Senegal and Niger, Vol. 1

HAUT-SÉNÉGAL-NIGER

...overviews or clear assessments. A work of restructuring and coordination was therefore necessary.

After adopting the framework that seemed most suitable for presenting a complete picture of our Sudan, it remained to find men who combined the writing talent necessary for such a task with a deep enough knowledge of the country and its inhabitants to correct detailed errors and accurately place the historical, economic, and geographical facts that constitute the life of many peoples, while distilling their general data and essential characteristics.

M. Delafosse Maurice Delafosse (1870–1926), a famous French ethnographer and colonial administrator who became a pioneer of African studies.—as his numerous previous works attest—is, of all Frenchmen, the one who best knows the languages, traditions, customs, and manners of the Indigenous people of West Africa. While his strong general education and prior studies prepared him better than most to learn, it was not only through books but through sixteen years of African life, in permanent contact with the people and nature, that he acquired his erudition.

Assistant in the Supply Corps Méniaud original: "L'Adjoint à l'Intendance"; the branch responsible for the colony's logistics and financial administration. is completing his third stay in the Sudan; he has managed its finances and carefully studied its needs and resources. Prepared by the high level of culture provided by the Polytechnic School original: "École Polytechnique"; a prestigious French elite institution. and the specialized studies required for admission into the Supply Corps, he has, moreover, traveled through the entire colony from Senegal to Lake Chad during numerous missions. Everywhere, he examined on-site the products of the soil, resources of all kinds, means of transport, and the economic life of the country in both its details and its entirety.

M. Brévié Jules Brévié (1880–1964), who would later become the Governor-General of French West Africa and French Indochina. has been in the Sudan since graduating from the Colonial School original: "École Coloniale"; the training ground for administrators of France's overseas empire.; after becoming initiated into the life and administration of the country by serving in the most diverse districts, he has been placed at the head of the Political Bureau original: "bureau politique"; the office responsible for monitoring political stability and local relations. of the Government for nearly five years. There, he has demonstrated a talent for exposition and qualities that, until now, only his hierarchical superiors have been able to appreciate, and he has above all acquired the most complete knowledge of the political and administrative life of the Colony.

It is to these three collaborators that all the merit will belong...