French Equatorial Africa Research Articles

Universal Postal Union

In June 1949 the Universal Postal Union reported the results of the third Conference of the African Postal and Telecommunications Union, held in Capetown from November 12 to 27, 1948. The eighteen members of the union — with the French Cameroons, French Equatorial Africa and Madagascar represented for the first time — met to consider the advisability of revising the African Postal Union Agreement of 1939 but concluded that no amendments were necessary. The agreement was, however, supplemented by working arrangements defining in detail the regulations for the various categories of postal services. The fourth meeting of the Conference was scheduled to meet in Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, in July 1953.

Petroleum Developments in Africa in 1949

Petroleum production from Africa reached an all-time high of nearly 16 million barrels in 1949. More than 99 per cent of this production was from Egypt, the small remainder coming from French Morocco and Algeria. Drilling exploration during the year was carried out in Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, French Equatorial Africa, French Morocco, and Tunisia. Geophysical and geological exploration for petroleum was in progress in Algeria, Cameroons, Egypt, Ethiopia, French Equatorial Africa, French Morocco, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tunisia, and Uganda. This work in party months was approximately as follows: seismograph--46; gravity--68; ground magnetometer--17; airborne magnetometer--3; telluric prospecting--32; surface geology--124; core drilling--12?. Extensive new oil conc ssion applications were made in Tunisia.

Etude descriptive des series de la riviere Bouenza au Moyen-Congo ou etage bouenzien

Abstract Three zones can be distinguished in the sedimentary deposits overlying the granite of the south flank of the Chaillu massif in the Bouenza river region, French Equatorial Africa. They exhibit a certain lithologic continuity, indicating that they represent a stage, for which the name Bouenzian is proposed, rather than a sedimentary complex as previously described.

Sur les roches a grunerite et cummingtonite du Gabon central (A. E. F.)

Abstract Grunerite-bearing rocks of the central Gabon region, French Equatorial Africa, are amphibolites, in which cummingtonite and hudsonite accompany the grunerite, and pyroxenites characterized by the predominance of hypersthene. Anorthosites are generally associated with the amphibolites and pyroxenites. Chemical analyses indicate that all three groups constitute an entity rich in iron and poor in alkalis. The rocks are considered differentiation products of a basalt magma, which were later recrystallized.

THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 20, 1947

THE first total eclipse of the sun after the conclusion of the recent World War will take place on May 20 next. The belt of totality passes from Santiago in Chile, where the sun will rise in eclipse, across the Argentine, with Cordoba close to the edge of the belt, Paraguay and Brazil, leaving South America at Salvador ; it then crosses the Atlantic without touching any islands, enters West Africa just south of Monrovia in Liberia, runs through the Ivory and Gold Coasts, Nigeria, the Cameroons, French Equatorial Africa, the Belgian Congo, Uganda and Kenya, passes just south of Nairobi, and leaves the East African coast just north of Mombasa, the sun setting in eclipse. The width of the track varies from about 80 miles at sunset and sunrise to about 110 miles in Brazil and West Africa.

Felix Eboue and Colonial Policy

In a previous paper' I strongly criticized French colonial policy in Africa, particularly as represented in the now famous General Circular on Native Affairs authored by Felix Eboue, the late Negro Governor General of French Equatorial Africa. Subsequently, French Colonial Administrator Jean de la Roche published a rejoinder in which he charged, among other things, that I had grossly misrepresented Eboue. According to Mr. de la Roche, Eboue was a great liberal leader of his who had given his life to advance the cause of the Negro people.2 It has long been my opinion that Eboue's alleged liberalismn in colonial affairs is a myth. A second myth has also received wide circulation, namely, that the French draw no color line, that they neither hold nor practice race prejudice. Obviously, these two myths intertwine at many points; for example, the appointment of a Negro to a high colonial post is supposed to prove that the French have no color bar, and vice versa. The Circular presents Eboue's most concise statement on colonial policy. A careful analysis of its contents should show the extent of the Governor General's liberalism. I shall therefore outline Eboue's essential views, in his own words, on the political, economic, social, and religious roles he

The Geology of French Equatorial Africa: Review

The Geology of French Equatorial Africa: Review

Education in French Equatorial and French West Africa

Education in French Equatorial and French West Africa

Sur la geologie de la partie occidentale de l'Afrique Equatoriale Francaise

Abstract Discusses the stratigraphic and structural relations of metamorphic formations overlying the basement complex of the Gabon region, western French Equatorial Africa.

The Leprosy Problem in Africa

TT was only in the I8th century that leprosy could be said to have died 1 out in Europe-although there still are a comparatively few non-imported cases in some parts, such as ScandinaviaJ Russia and elsewhere) in none of these is the incidence as high as I per mille. In Africa it is estimated that there are probably 750,ooo cases, averaging from 20 per m. in the Belgian Congo to O.I2 in Algeria. What hope, if any, is there of exterminating the disease in this continent ? That is the question which this article sets out to answer as far as is possible. A quarter of a century ago to have said leprosy was curable would have been to court ridicule. It is barely twenty years sinee one was allowed to refer in some cases to the disease having been arrested* Later it was permissible to use the expression {'symptom free, and recently even the word curel' could be used without risk of being laughed at. But that is not all: experts noY.r openly talk of eradication. How this has been brought about is a story well worth telling, and Africa plays a large part in it, its tropical belt showing the highest ircidence in any part of the world. The Belgian Congo heads the list with so per milleJ theIl come French Equatorial Africa with I6 per m., Sierra Leone I2 and Nigena I0. The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Uganda, Tanganyika and the Gold Coast each have a leper population running into five Sgures; and outside the Bntish Empire, Ethiopia, the French, Portuguese and ex-Italian colonies all contnbute considerable numbers. In parts of the Southern provinces of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 5-8 per cent of the population are lepers; a recent Government survey revealed that out of 7,o75 infective cases admitted to settlements, 3,679 or 52 per cent had recovered. This was largely due to so many of them having been discovered by a house to house campaign, while still in an early stage of the disease. In addition to what the Governrnent does, medical missionaries treat many cases at their hospitals and dispensanes. Uganda) especially the Western Provinces) has also a big problem to tackle which the missionaries are doing their best, with limited resources, to solve. In Kenya the problem is less serious, for it is only in the Kavirondo distnct that the leprosy rates are high. Still, a whole-time leprosy expert is badly needed in the Colony. Tanganyika is estimated to have an incidence of z.35 per mille lepers scattered over a vast area. This colony has been unfortunate in its settlement at Chazi in the Eastern Province. Last year the Government closed it donvn on account of its unhealthy site and its distance (50 miles) from Morogoro> which was felt to be too far from medical supervision. How-

Linguistic Studies in French Equatorial Africa

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Western Frontiers of Libya

HAVE been invited to read before the Society a lecture which may be regarded as a sequel to Libyan Frontiers. 1 I have the same objects in view, but wish to make clear at the outset that I have not travelled in western Libya, my interest in the region for several years has been primarily its geology. A brief account of the twentieth-century history of Libya as a whole was given in Libyan Frontiers, and the rest of that lecture was devoted to a view of the stage on which a campaign might be set. When it was read, the Italian Army possessed the initiative: when it was published?only a month later?the Army of the Nile was sweeping westward. By the time these notes are read probably the Eighth Army will have penetrated far in Libya. The lecture however is not harnessed to the fortunes of war: it is intended solely to describe in general terms Libya's frontier with the French empire in Africa and the country and communications adjacent to that frontier, as the paper which preceded it described the contact of Libya with the Britfsh sphere. The western marches seem to be little known in this country. Issues in western Egypt were essentially military, but in western Libya they are confused by political considerations that affect not only Africa but Europe and the Atlantic. Clearly it is beyond the scope of this lecture to con? sider international politics, or politics of any sort, except in so far as they dominate the relative positions of Allies, Axis, and French Africa. The military problem, in its rudimentary state, is to seek and destroy the enemy, but the task may be helped or hindered by political expedience. The main issues of this lecture are thus twofold: the nature of the country over which troops may operate, and the general plan of its communications. As the coastal zone of Tripolitania has already been described in the Journal* these notes will be devoted rather to the interior. The western frontiers are with French territory throughout: French Equatorial Africa and West Africa in the extreme south-west, the Military Territories of Algeria (Sahara) in the west, Tunisia in the north-west. Italy occupied Libya during and after the war with Turkey in 1911-12, her troops entering Murzuch and Gat in 1914. Driven back to the coast during the war of 1914-18, the Italian Army only regained these two towns and the Fezzan in 1930.

Les Français de Grande Bretagne

MONSIEUR ANDRÉ LABARTHE, director-general of the Department of Armaments and Scientific Research in General de Gaulle's Legion, addressed a meeting of “Les Français de Grande Bretagne” on August 31, at the Central Hall, Westminster. Courage, decision and tenacity begin to bear fruit, he said. The French Empire is awakening from its stupefaction, and coming back to life. It is rallying to that French flag which General de Gaulle has raised again, to that flame which he has known how to shield from all blasts of misconception, carping and discouragement. This is the meaning of the re-entry into the war of French Equatorial Africa, the Cameroons and Lake Chad Territory, a re-entry of which the importance, material and moral, strategic and political, no one can overlook. In France itself, the rulers have sought to save their country from destruction by begging for a shameful armistice, and have opened the way to the most disastrous concessions. On one hand, the Germans are methodically pillaging the richest and most productive parts of the country, on the other the flood of refugees and the scarcity of transport are creating chaos and famine. Workers have left their factories and hungry children wander along the roads. Bit by bit, defeated France is handed over to the tender mercies of the conqueror. She can no longer even remain neutral; she is being dragged into the war on the side of the Germans.

A Camel Journey to Tibesti

THE magnificent mountains of Tibesti are in the Colony of Tchad in French Equatorial Africa, on the frontier of Italian Libya to the south? west of the oases of Cufra. They extend approximately 200 miles from north to south, and 250 from east to west, and contain by far the highest summits in the Sahara. Emi Koussi is 11,200 feet in height, Tousside, 150 miles away, is 10,700 feet high, and Ehi Timi or Ti nearby is 9970 feet high. Tieroko, the most magnificent of all the Tibesti mountains, Ehi Mousgou, Tarso Toon, and numerous other peaks are but little short of these in height. Tibesti is sur? rounded by desert. To the north and east is the waste of the Libyan sands, to the west the vast emptiness of the Sahara, while to the south the barren dunes extend from Borkou to Kanem and OuadaL These mountains are the home of the Tibbu, a hardy race of Libyan origin who ranked amongst the most redoubtable raiders in Africa. The French forces under Colonel Largeau conquered the large oases of Borkou from the Senussi in 1913, and from this base Tibesti was explored during the following years by Lieutenant-Colonel Tilho.1 Before the occupation of Borkou, posts had been established from Bilma at Bardai in the north-west of Tibesti and at Zouar on the northwestern edge of the massif, but these were evacuated owing to the Tuareg revolt in Air in 1916, and the French did not again occupy the mountains until the Italians had captured Cufra in 1930. But various military expe? ditions, of which that under Lieutenant-Colonel Tilho in 1925 was the most important, mapped and explored the country. The arrival of large armed bands of fugitive Fezzan Arabs, traditional foes of the Tibbu, and the fear of

A New Trans-African Route

PIONEERING is necessarily leisurely. When, with Mr. M. F. Staniland, I took a car on the first motor journey ever made down the west coast of Africa, it took us nearly nine months, but our route, when improved and straightened out, will save over 3000 miles on any other now recognized between the North African seaboard and Cape Town. I have, in the past six years, motored over all the main arterial throughways of Africa, and for clarity of description I have divided them into seven. They include three desert crossings, a main east-to-west route, and, including the one I have just opened, three that run roughly from the equator to the south. The one that runs from Cairo via Wadi Haifa, Khartoum, and Juba, continuing through Uganda to Nairobi, can be described as both difficult and dangerous; in parts there are practically no marked tracks and one must travel by compass, as it is impracticable to follow the Nile. From Tangier the desert is crossed by what is generally known as the Bidon Cinque route, which passes through Reggane to Gao, and offers in my opinion the fastest crossing, as the surface is firm for the greater part of the way. It suffers however from a paucity of points of supply, so that necessities for man and car have to be carried. On all the other routes, except the one I have just done, supplies are available at frequent intervals. The third desert route runs from Algiers, and is being improved yearly; in fact it can already be described as a road. A normally fast car can reach an efficient supply point at the end of each day's run, but the rugged country, though picturesque, makes rough going for nearly the whole way. The east-to-west route is joined by those I have just mentioned. Leaving Dakar, it is at first poor, but after Bamako becomes a fine high way by which one may reach Zinder, or branch through Nigeria on the way to Fort Archambault, Stanleyville, Irumu, Nairobi, and Mombasa. From this route a fine road runs from Nairobi via Tanganyika and North and South Rhodesia into South Africa. Passing entirely through British territory, this is known from Cairo to the Cape as the All Red Route. The route which leaves the east-towest one at Irumu is now known as the Royal Route, and the Belgian authorities are doing a great deal of work to make it a trans-African highway. It passes through the Parc National Albert and some of the finest and most interesting scenery in Africa, and continues through to Albertville, Elizabethville, and Ndola in Rhodesia, where it joins the South African network. But it must be remembered that any one of these routes may be impassable in the rainy season or owing to extreme heat in the desert. The route which Mr. Staniland and I have just completed leaves the eastto-west one in Nigeria and passes through the French Cameroons, French Equatorial Africa, the Belgian Congo, Angola, South West Africa, and the Union of South Africa. The following are extracts from my daily log and a route-sheet compiled after we left Jos in Nigeria. Jos is a busy mining town where we picked up emergency stores, as we did not know what conditions we should have to encounter on the route to

French Equatorial Africa

French Equatorial Africa

NILE AND CONGO:COMPARISONS IN RIVER TRANSPORT

THE two great river systems of the Nile and Congo provide the principal means of surface communication between the outer world and the vast territory, loosely called Equatorial Africa, which includes the southern Sudan, the north-eastern Belgian Congo, and a large part of the hinterland of French Equatorial Africa. Other areas are served by the two rivers, and large tracts of Equatorial Africa are traversed by alternative means of communication. The existence of Imperial Airways, which strides Africa from north to south, of SABENA, the Belgian air line which links Stanleyville with the West Coasts and the railway systems of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, serves as a reminder that river-borne traffic has no monopoly. Here, however, we limit our comparison to the two rivers, the Haut Fleuve of the Congo and the Sudan Nile, as media for long-distance inland transport. The river fleet plying on the Nile between Khartoum and Juba is an important link in the chain of uninterrupted communication by rail, road and river connecting Port Sudan and the ports of Egypt with centres as far distant as Mombasa, Nairobi, Kampala and the towns of the Province Orienta,le of the Belgian Congo. Throughout the length of the Nile Valley from the Mediterranean to the Great Lakes this composite organisation provides regular services throughout the year for passengers, mails and merchandise. Two lines of communication connect Khartoum with the coast. Northward lies the rail and river steamer route to Egypt; eastward, over the Nubian desert and the Red Sea hills, is the modern harbour of Port Sudan, joined to Khartoum by rail. These two routes from the hIediterranean and the Red Sea converge at a point near Khartoum, whence the river steamer service prolongs the route southward to Juba, a provincial capital within little

Geological Observations on the Northwest Frontiers of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the adjoining part of the Southern Libyan Desert

In the autumn of 1932 an expedition led by Major R. A. Bagnold, Royal Corps of Signals, traversed about 6000 miles of country between the Nile, the southern boundary of Italian Libya, and the northern and eastern frontiers of French Equatorial Africa (Bagnold, 1933). The geological objects of the expedition were to map the route and to study the wedge of Sudanese territory, lying between the northeastern frontier of French Equatorial Africa and the southern part of Libya, known as the Sarra Triangle, east of which lies the massif of 'Uweinat. The border hills of Erdi and Ennedi, where in Sudanese territory, and the oases of the southern part of the Libyan Desert were also to be studied. Scientific work was practically limited to the line of route, since so long a journey without permanent bases for water, fuel, and supplies must be executed with the utmost dispatch. The zones of operation lie hundreds of miles from the nearest administrative centres, and any severe breakdown must prove serious; moreover, care was necessary in case of encounters with the fugitives from Kufara, captured by the Italians in 1930, and with unadministered people who make raids from the border hills. Much of the country in the vicinity of these hills proved almost impracticable for motor transport. As part of the ground had not previously been visited by Europeans, the following account may serve as a preliminary survey. The expedition owed material support to the Sudan Government, the Royal Geographical Society, and Dr.

International Boundaries of Libya

BY the exchange of notes between the British, Italian, and Egyptian Governments which took place in Rome on 20 July I934 (Treaty Series No. 2I (I934), Cmd. 4694) part of the problem of the southern boundary of Italian Libya has been solved. The Italians still request from the French a settlement of the frontier between Libya and French Equatorial Africa, and negotiations are reported to be in progress. Fully to understand this question which, though not of great importance in itself, at times during the past fifteen years has been given prominence in the French and Italian Press, one must cast back to the year I84I. In July 1840 Turkey had agreed that the administration of the Pashalik of Egypt should be granted to Muhammad Ali and his descendants, and on 13 February 1841 a Firman was issued by the Sultan in which the boundaries of Egypt were thus defined:

Yellow fever protection test surveys in the French Cameroons, French equatorial Africa, the Belgian Congo, and Angola

1. 1. The results of the yellow fever protection test survey covering the examination of 4,828 specimens in 108 towns of the French Cameroons, French Equatorial Africa, the Belgian Congo, and Angola are presented. 2. 2. Except in the interior of French Equatorial Africa, the percentages of positive sera obtained in these colonies were much lower than in those situated in West Africa proper and previously reported upon. This difference is probably due to the fact that conditions in this region are relatively unfavourable to the maintenance of yellow fever infection. 3. 3. Though extensive epidemics of yellow fever have occurred both recently and in the past in some parts, endemicity seems to be excluded throughout this entire region. 4. 4. 1,643 specimens were collected from children and adults in thirty-seven towns located in the interior and in the coastal area of French Equatorial Africa, and 18·4 percent, were positive. Though yellow fever has never been reported from this colony, the findings in the interior demonstrated that extensive epidemics of the disease have been present within recent years as well as in the more distant past. That no barrier against the invasion of yellow fever infection towards East Africa exists in this region is evidenced by the fact that high percentages of positives with the sera of both children and adults were secured in many towns in the interior, including several situated near the border of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The findings in the coastal area of French Equatorial Africa indicate that though some yellow fever has been present there in the past the incidence during recent years has been practically negligible. 5. 5. Among 496 specimens from children and adults collected in nine towns in the French Cameroons, only 3·6 percent, were positive. The sera of children were almost completely negative, and specimens from adults from only two towns showed a fair percentage of positives. The completely negative findings with the sera of children and adult residents of Douala and the very low positives in general with the sera of children suggest that this region was not responsible for the introduction of yellow fever infection into the interior of French Equatorial Africa. 6. 6. The survey in the Belgian Congo included the examination of 1,740 specimens collected in forty-three towns, and 8·8 percent, of these were positive. The findings in the lower Bas Congo indicate that the epidemic of 1927-28 involved some towns in that region besides Boma and Matadi, where the disease was recognized. The epidemic was not particularly extensive, however, as the Mayumbe appears to have escaped and the findings in Léopoldville and the interior of the Belgian Congo do not indicate that the infection gained any foothold there. Though the latter region has experienced some yellow fever in the past, it would seem to have escaped almost completely during recent years. The results in towns along both sides of the Congo and Oubangui Rivers suggest the possibility that infection was carried into the interior of French Equatorial Africa through river traffic. 7. 7. The practically negative findings in the south and south-eastern portions of the Belgian Congo and throughout all of Angola indicate that the limits of yellow fever invasion in these directions have been reached.