PREFACE

This is not the place to study the reforms to be brought to our colonial administration.

The second series of this publication, devoted to the economic situation of the Colony, will demonstrate, I hope, that the heroism of our soldiers, the labor of our officials, and the efforts of our merchants have not been squandered on a vain endeavor.

The French Sudan The French Sudan (Soudan Français) was a colonial territory in French West Africa; it corresponds largely to the borders of modern-day Mali. is certainly no Eldorado A mythical city of gold; the author uses this to temper expectations of easy wealth., if there are still any Eldorados left in the world. There, as elsewhere, if we wish to harvest, we must cultivate our garden original: "cultiver notre jardin." This is a famous allusion to the final line of Voltaire's Candide, suggesting that one should focus on practical work and the improvement of one's own domain rather than optimistic dreaming.. But while in many parts of this vast Colony, the African soil appears hostile and ungrateful, it is already fertile enough to allow us to predict a flourishing future.

The number and diversity of exploitable products—a consequence of the country's extent and the variety of its landscapes—ensure solid foundations for this prosperity. I say "exploitable" and not "exploited"; until now, only one, rubber In the early 20th century, wild rubber was a major colonial export, though its collection often involved harsh conditions for the local population., has been seriously exploited; two or three others (peanuts, wool, cotton, mineral wealth, livestock) are only just beginning to be. Finally, we have the Niger.

The Middle Niger valley The section of the Niger River flowing through modern Mali, featuring a massive inland delta that floods seasonally. is, of all the African countries I know, the one whose agricultural future seems to me the most vast and certain. When, about fifteen years ago, following the conquest of Timbuktu, young enthusiastic officers compared the Niger to the Nile, many—myself included—smiled at what seemed to us an excusable exaggeration, but a bit much nonetheless. Since then, I have seen, and I believe, or at least I understand.

The Middle Niger valley, from Sansanding to Timbuktu, with its vast periodic floods, its multiple branches, and its lakes acting as reservoirs, is undoubtedly as fertile and certainly much more extensive than the Nile Delta. However, it is a "brand new" Nile, which lacks 3,000 or 4,000 years of ancient civilization, not to mention modern [irrigation] works. That it could become one of the granaries of the world original: "greniers du monde," often translated as "breadbaskets." is probable. But