Upper Senegal and Niger, Vol. 1

HAUT-SÉNÉGAL-NIGER

offices, the Director of Agriculture, and the head of the Animal Husbandry Service.

In Bamako, several departments have established themselves in buildings constructed since 1909: the management of the Kayes-Niger railway, a Justice of the Peace with extended jurisdiction A colonial judicial official who handled both civil and minor criminal cases over a large area., the State Lands Department, and the Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs. The two towns—separated by 1,500 meters "as the crow flies" and 5 kilometers by the carriage road that links Bamako in the plain to Koulouba on the mountain—are destined to merge in the near future. This will likely occur once the Thiès-Kayes railway is completed, finally providing Upper Senegal and Niger with the reliable, permanent outlet to the sea that has been lacking for its economic development until now.

The central organization that has functioned at Koulouba for two years is, as I have mentioned, still the one created by Generals Archinard and de Trentinian Louis Archinard and Louis-Gustave Binger de Trentinian were high-ranking French military officers and colonial administrators pivotal in the conquest and early organization of this region.. The local decree of June 19, 1908, the text of which appears later in this work, aims solely to clarify and refine the specific duties of each official.

The Governor, assisted by his Cabinet and his military office, has under his immediate direction the four government bureaus: Political Affairs, Economic Affairs, Finance, and Supplies. The Secretary General has specific authority over the latter two bureaus; it is he who presents their work for the Governor's signature, while the heads of the first and second bureaus report directly on the matters entrusted to them. This constitutes the daily routine. Additionally, the heads of the technical services—the Kayes-Niger Railway and Navigation, Public Works, Posts and Telegraphs, Agriculture, etc.—hold a weekly conference with the head of the Colony.

9,000 kilometers of telegraph lines put the capital in communication with the twenty-nine cercles The "cercle" (circle) was the primary administrative district in French West Africa, governed by a "Commandant de cercle." of the Colony. These are: Kayes, Bafoulabé, Kita, Bamako, Nioro, Goumbou, Sokolo, the residency of Kiffa, Satadougou, Bougouni, Sikasso, Bobo-Dioulasso, Gaoua, Ségou, Koutiala, San, Djenné, Mopti, Issa-Ber or Niafounké, Bandiagara, Ouahigouya, Koury, Ouagadougou (or the Mossi region), Dori, and Fada-N’Gourma; to which, since...