CHALLENGES OF COLONIAL RULE IN WEST AFRICAN SAHEL – THE CASE OF FRENCH WEST AFRICA 1900 – 1930

Taking the example of French West Africa, this article addresses specific aspects of the current crisis in the West African Sahel from an historical perspective. Precisely, it focuses primarily on political challenges and some particular aspects of environmental threats in the first decades of the 20th century. Sixty years after their independence from France, the countries in the West African Sahel are considered world-wide as the states in permanent crisis. Their leaders have been accused of an inability to secure peace and stability for their people. This article argues that the study of the period when the Western Sahel was ruled by the French colonial administration may deepen our understanding of the issues important for this region today. Informed by current scholarship and the colonial reports from French West Africa, this article offers some thoughts on the various challenges that the colonial state faced in West African Sahel at the beginning of the 20th century.