This book examines France s choice in the early
1900 s to replace its official colonial policy of
assimilation with one of association. Why did France
exchange an ideology rooted both in its Latin
heritage and in its revolutionary past with one
espoused by its colonial rival, Great Britain? This
book attempts to answer that question by a case study
in West Africa: it demonstrates how the French
colony of Sénégal came to be administered like a
British colony, in particular the Gambia. In doing
so, it shows that the implementation of indirect
rule in 1854 and the creation of a protectorate in
1890 by French colonial administrators in Sénégal
contributed to the National Assembly s decisions in
1895 and 1897 to officially adopt decentralization as
France s new colonial policy.
1900 s to replace its official colonial policy of
assimilation with one of association. Why did France
exchange an ideology rooted both in its Latin
heritage and in its revolutionary past with one
espoused by its colonial rival, Great Britain? This
book attempts to answer that question by a case study
in West Africa: it demonstrates how the French
colony of Sénégal came to be administered like a
British colony, in particular the Gambia. In doing
so, it shows that the implementation of indirect
rule in 1854 and the creation of a protectorate in
1890 by French colonial administrators in Sénégal
contributed to the National Assembly s decisions in
1895 and 1897 to officially adopt decentralization as
France s new colonial policy.