Upper Senegal and Niger, Vol. 1

UPPER SENEGAL AND NIGER

this granary is 1,800 kilometers from the nearest port, and not much can leave it because the methods of transport are expensive and still quite imperfect.

However, modern civilization possesses mechanical means that the ancient world lacked. The Guinea railway is now complete, and the Thiès-Kayes The Thiès-Kayes railway was a vital link connecting the Senegal River to the coast, facilitating the export of goods from the interior. line will be finished in a few years. On that day, despite the forced increase in rates on our African railways, many things will become possible that are not today. It will probably not take 3,000 years for our engineers to study the floods of the Niger, to canalize them, to direct them, and to make them yield their maximum useful output. But will men not be lacking for this task? And by that, I mean the natives original: "indigènes." In this 1911 context, the term refers to the local African population under colonial rule. forming the bulk of the industrial and agricultural troops for whom we will provide the leadership—troops indispensable for the development of all these latent riches. In the Sudan, especially on the banks of the river, the population is undoubtedly less sparse than in most other regions of intertropical Africa; but it is still quite insufficient. These countries have not passed through centuries of internal wars and barbarity with impunity. And by this, we are brought back to the native question which dominates all others. I wrote this as early as 1902:

"One cannot
"repeat too often that, in French West Africa, the native
"is the foundation of all prosperity, the pivot of all progress."

In the Sudan, the French peace original: "paix française." Modeled after the "Pax Romana," this term refers to the period of relative stability imposed by French colonial authority after the initial conquest. reigns; internal wars, looting, and massacres have definitively ceased, but the work of assistance is barely begun; we already perform more than 100,000 vaccinations per year, but we must perform 500,000 to fight against smallpox Smallpox was a devastating disease in West Africa; the French colonial administration viewed mass vaccination as both a humanitarian act and a way to ensure a stable labor force.. And we have other scourges to combat to preserve for our native races all their vitality and their power of growth. This is the duty prescribed at the present hour, even more by our interest than by humanity. The possibilities for wealth exist: the more men we have to develop them, the wealthier we will be, and the better we will have worked for the grandeur and strength of France.

              Koulouba, January 1, 1911, Koulouba is a hill in Bamako, Mali, which served as the seat of the colonial government.                CLOZEL.