Alexandre Douala Manga Bell (3 December 1897 – 19 September 1966 in Douala ) was head of the Duala people in Cameroon , German officer and French politician.
82-534: French Cameroon , also known as the French Cameroons (French: Cameroun ), was a French mandate territory in Central Africa . It now forms part of the independent country of Cameroon . The area of present-day Cameroon came under German sovereignty during the " Scramble for Africa " at the end of the 19th century. The German protectorate commenced in 1884 with a treaty with local chiefs in
164-735: A French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands. On 1 June 1604, he issued letters patent to Dieppe merchants to form the Dieppe Company , giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years. No ships were sent, however, until 1616. In 1609, another adventurer, Pierre-Olivier Malherbe , returned from a circumnavigation of the globe and informed Henry of his adventures. He had visited China and India and had an encounter with Akbar . Colonies were established in India's Chandernagore (1673) and Pondichéry in
246-686: A United Nations Trust Territory and unified into the French Union . From the beginning of the 1940s, colonial authorities encouraged a policy of agricultural diversification into monocultural crops: coffee in the west, cotton in the North and cocoa in the south. Construction of roads allowed for greater exploitation of wood. Of a total of three million inhabitants, the French Cameroon territory counted 10% settlers, many who had been resident for decades, and approximatively 15,000 people linked to
328-528: A failed expedition in 1802, and were up against a crippling Royal Naval blockade the following year. As a result, the Empire of Haiti ultimately achieved independence in 1804 (becoming the first black republic in the world, followed by Liberia in 1847). The black and mulatto population of the island (including the Spanish east) had declined from 700,000 in 1789 to 351,819 in 1804. About 80,000 Haitians died in
410-704: A guerrilla war against the French administration. In 1957–58, Pierre Messmer , a Gaullist and head of the haut-commissaire of Cameroon (executive branch of the French government) started a decolonisation process which went further than the 1956 loi-Defferre (Defferre Act). At the same time, the Fourth Republic was stranded in the Algerian War (1954–62). It managed to obtain support of Britain in Cameroon. France granted internal autonomy in 1956, and
492-601: A " Commissariat de la République autonome " under French mandate. France enacted an assimilationist policy with the aim of having German presence forgotten, by teaching French on all of the territory and imposing French law, while pursuing the "indigenous politics", which consisted of keeping control of the judiciary system and of the police, while tolerating traditional law issues. The colonial administration also followed public health policies ( Eugène Jamot did some research on sleeping sickness ) as well as encouraging Francophony . Charles Atangana , designated paramount chief by
574-632: A colony was founded on Saint Kitts in 1625 (the island had to be shared with the English until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, when it was ceded outright). The current isle of the Commonwealth of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean also fell under increasing French settlement from the early 1630s. The Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique founded colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1635, and
656-551: A colony was later founded on Saint Lucia by (1650). The food-producing plantations of these colonies were built and sustained through slavery, with the supply of slaves dependent on the African slave trade . Local resistance by the indigenous peoples resulted in the Carib Expulsion of 1660. France's most important Caribbean colonial possession was established in 1664, when the colony of Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti )
738-764: A conflict with the German colonial administration on charges of high treason. In 1919 in Hamburg Alexander Douala-Bell married Andrea Jimenez Berroa. She was the daughter of the Afro-Cuban pianist Jose Manuel Jimenez Berroa , professor at the Hamburg Music Conservatory, and Emma Mina Filter, descending of an old-established Hamburg family. They had two children, son Jose Emmanuel, born 1920, and daughter Andrea Tüke Ekedi, born 1921. Cameroon became French in 1919 according to
820-720: A nationalist and revolutionary program. Nyobé's UPC was at first only the local section of the African Democratic Rally created in 1946. However, it refused to split, as did the African Democratic Rally, with the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1950. After some revolts and increasing tensions with the colonial administration, the UPC was outlawed on 13 July 1955 by the governor Roland Pré , forcing Nyobé into hiding, from where he led
902-578: A protectorate in Morocco between the years of 1912 to 1956. France's general approach to governing the protectorate of Morocco was a policy of in-direct rule where they co-opted existing governance systems to control the protectorate. Specifically, the Moroccan elite and Sultan were both left in control while being strongly influenced by the French government. French colonialism in Morocco was discriminatory against native Moroccans and highly detrimental to
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#1732781026048984-484: A region of Nigeria on 31 May 1961, while Southern Cameroons became part of the Federal Republic of Cameroon on 1 October. [REDACTED] Media related to French Cameroon at Wikimedia Commons French colonial empire The French colonial empire ( French : Empire colonial français ) comprised the overseas colonies , protectorates , and mandate territories that came under French rule from
1066-555: Is now entirely deprived of her influence and her power in the West Indies." Meanwhile, France's newly resumed war with Britain resulted in the British capture of practically all remaining French colonies. These were restored at the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, but when war resumed in 1803, the British soon recaptured them. France's 1800 recovery of Louisiana from Spain in the secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso came to nothing, as
1148-900: Is sometimes known as the Second Hundred Years' War . Although the War of the Austrian Succession was indecisive – despite French successes in India under the French Governor-General Joseph François Dupleix and Europe under Marshal Saxe – the Seven Years' War, after early French successes in Menorca and North America, saw a French defeat, with the numerically superior British (over one million to about 50 thousand French settlers) conquering not only New France (excluding
1230-521: The Douala area, in particular Ndumbe Lobe Bell , then gradually it was extended to the interior. In 1911, France ceded parts of its territory to German Cameroon, as a result of the Agadir Crisis , the new territory being henceforth known as Neukamerun ("New Cameroon"). During World War I , the German protectorate was occupied by British and French troops, and later mandated to each country by
1312-558: The French Union , which endured until 1958. Newer remnants of the colonial empire were integrated into France as overseas departments and territories within the French Republic. These now total altogether 119,394 km (46,098 sq. miles), with 2.8 million people in 2021. Links between France and its former colonies persist through La francophonie , the CFA franc , and joint military operations such as Operation Serval . During
1394-583: The Isle de France (now Mauritius ). In 1825 Charles X sent an expedition to Haïti , resulting in the Haiti indemnity controversy . The beginnings of the second French colonial empire were laid in 1830 with the French invasion of Algeria , which was fully conquered by 1903. Historian Ben Kiernan estimates that 825,000 Algerians died during the conquest by 1875. The French Colonial Empire established
1476-684: The League of Nations in 1922. The British mandate was known as British Cameroons and the French mandate as French Cameroon (French: Cameroun ). Following World War II each of the mandate territories was made a United Nations Trust Territory . An insurrection headed by Ruben Um Nyobé and the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) erupted in 1955, strongly repressed by the French Fourth Republic . French Cameroon became independent as
1558-692: The League of Nations . The French mandate was known as Cameroun , in French West Africa . The British mandate was administered as two territories, Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons in British West Africa . British Northern Cameroons consisted of two non-contiguous sections, divided by where the Nigerian and Cameroon borders met. French Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroon on 1 January 1960, and Nigeria
1640-692: The Mascarene Islands . Initial French colonial projects, partially administered by the French East India Company , prioritized plantation economies and slave labor. These economies were based on monoculture agriculture and forced African labor. Poor living conditions, famines, and disease made enslaved labor conditions particularly lethal across French colonies. French presence in Senegal began in 1626, although formal colonies and trading posts were not established until 1659 with
1722-667: The Netherlands , France took control of Mauritius, which it renamed the Island of France in 1721. Furthermore, France took control of Rodrigues in 1735 and Seychelles in 1756. On Reunion Island ( Bourbon Island ), the French East India Company first introduced the slave trade in the 1730s. The French East India Company additionally introduced coffee and sought to create a plantation economy centered around forced labor. Characteristic of plantation colonies,
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#17327810260481804-635: The Republic of Cameroon in January 1960 and in October 1961 the southern part of British Cameroons joined it to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon . The Muslim northern part of British Cameroons had opted for union with Nigeria in May the same year. The conflict with the UPC lasted until the 1970s. After World War I, French Cameroon was not integrated to French Equatorial Africa (AEF) but made
1886-489: The 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the " First French colonial empire ", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the " Second French colonial empire ", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. On the eve of World War I, France's colonial empire was the second-largest in the world after the British Empire . France began to establish colonies in
1968-617: The 16th century, the French colonization of the Americas began. Excursions of Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in the early 16th century, as well as the frequent voyages of French boats and fishermen to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland throughout that century, were the precursors to the story of France's colonial expansion. But Spain's defense of its American monopoly, and the further distractions caused in France itself in
2050-463: The 17th and 19th century to secure access to and to control the slave trade. Through an emphasis on controlling seaports, the French sought to forcibly extract enslaved people to send them abroad for profit. Colonial development prioritized export oriented production while local industry remained very underdeveloped. There was high development of production for export oriented production, notably of ground nuts in Senegal . In additional coastal areas,
2132-399: The 1802–03 campaign alone. Of the 55,131 French soldiers dispatched to Haiti in 1802–03, 45,000, including 18 generals, died, along with 10,000 sailors, the great majority from disease. Captain [first name unknown] Sorrell of the British navy observed, "France lost there one of the finest armies she ever sent forth, composed of picked veterans, the conquerors of Italy and of German legions. She
2214-426: The 1960s with the beginning of self-rule. Under French control, the colony of Madagascar included the dependencies of Comoros , Mayotte , Réunion , Kerguelen , Île Saint-Paul , Amsterdam Island , Crozet Islands , Bassas da India , Europa Island , Juan de Nova Island , Glorioso Islands , and Tromelin . Alexandre Douala Manga Bell Alexandre Douala Manga Bell - then named Alexander Duala Manga Bell -
2296-535: The ATCAM became the Legislative Assembly of Cameroon (ALCM). André Marie Bbida became prime minister in 1957, and Ahmadou Ahidjo vice-premier. Despite the requests by Rubem Um Nyobe , head of the UPC, the new government refused to legalize the UPC. André Bdida renounced in 1958, replaced by Ahidjo, while Um Nyobé was killed by a French commando in the "maquis" on 13 September 1958. Following his death,
2378-897: The African and Asian continents. In December 1600, a company was formed through the association of Saint-Malo , Laval , and Vitré to trade with the Moluccas and Japan. Two ships, the Croissant and the Corbin , were sent around the Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. One was wrecked in the Maldives , leading to the adventure of François Pyrard de Laval , who managed to return to France in 1611. The second ship, carrying François Martin de Vitré , reached Ceylon and traded with Aceh in Sumatra , but
2460-658: The Americas , the Caribbean , and India in the 16th century but lost most of its possessions after its defeat in the Seven Years' War . The North American possessions were lost to Britain and Spain, but Spain later returned Louisiana to France in 1800. The territory was then sold to the United States in 1803 . France rebuilt a new empire mostly after 1850, concentrating chiefly in Africa as well as Indochina and
2542-573: The Caribbean island of Hispaniola ), France's richest and most important colony, was riven by a massive slave revolt , caused partly by the divisions among the island's elite, which had resulted from the French Revolution of 1789. The slaves, led eventually by Toussaint L'Ouverture and then, following his capture by the French in 1801, by Jean-Jacques Dessalines , held their own against French and British opponents. The French launched
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2624-703: The French colonists were a minority on Reunion Island. In 1763 there were only 4,000 French colonists while there were over 18,000 African enslaved people. The majority of enslaved people on Reunion Island worked on coffee plantations. They primarily came from Madagascar, Mozambique, and Senegal. The economy of the Mauritius (Island of France) was similarly based on an exploitative plantation system dependent on forced African labor. The monoculture plantations farmed sugar cane, cotton, indigo, rice, and wheat. Around 2,000 colonists and enslaved people from Reunion Island migrated to Mauritius. Conditions for enslaved people on
2706-551: The French from committing fully to the conflict, and thus the French forces suffered high losses. For example, at the Battle of El Herri in 1914, 600 French soldiers were killed. The fighting was primarily characterized by Guerrilla warfare. The Zaian forces additionally received military and economic support from the Central Powers. The Berber independence leader Abd el-Krim (1882–1963) organized armed resistance against
2788-620: The French governed indirectly and preserved the existing government structure. The bey remained an absolute monarch, Tunisian ministers were still appointed, although they were both subject to French authority. Over time, the French gradually weakened the existing structures of power and centralized power into a French colonial administration. French West Africa was a confederation of eight other French colonial territories including French Mauritania , French Senegal , French Guinea , French Ivory Coast , French Niger , French Upper Volta , French Dahomey , French Togoland , and French Sudan . At
2870-439: The French set up slave plantations. Initial French development prioritized the building of roads to connect natural resources to harbors and ports. Additional initial French settlements were established on the Mascarene Islands which include Reunion Island , Mauritius , and Rodrigues . Reunion Island was first settled in 1642 and was administered by the French East India Company starting in 1665. After initial settlement by
2952-529: The Germans, and others local chiefs were invited to France, and Paul Soppo Priso named president of the JEUCAFRA (Cameroon French Youth). Charles Atangana would visit the 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition and attend the 1935 French Colonial Conference . France took care to make disappear all remains of German presence and aimed at eradicating any trace of Germanophilia. French racism became prevalent throughout
3034-492: The Mascarene Island plantations were very poor. Enslaved labor was highly lethal because of poor living conditions and famines. After a series of crop failures from 1725 to 1737, as much as 10% of the islands' enslaved populations died due to famine and disease. In the middle of the 18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and Britain , which ultimately resulted in the destruction of most of
3116-429: The Moroccan economy. Moroccans were treated as second class citizens and discriminated against in all aspects of colonial life. Infrastructure was discriminatory in colonial Morocco. The French colonial government built 36.5 kilometers of sewers in the new neighborhoods created to accommodate new French settlers while only 4.3 kilometers of sewers were built in indigenous Moroccan communities. Additionally, land in Morocco
3198-548: The Representative Assembly became the Territorial Assembly of Cameroon (ATCAM). The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), an anti-colonialist party created in 1948 and which struggled for unification of both Cameroons and for independence was outlawed in 1955. A colonial war then started and lasted for at least seven years, with the French Fourth Republic leading a harsh repression of
3280-475: The South Pacific . As it developed, the new French empire took on roles of trade with the metropole , supplying raw materials and purchasing manufactured items. Especially after the disastrous Franco-Prussian War , which saw Germany become the leading economic and military power of Continental Europe, acquiring colonies and rebuilding an empire was seen as a way to restore French prestige in the world. It
3362-459: The Spanish and French for control of Morocco . The Spanish had faced unrest off and on from the 1890s, but in 1921 Spanish forces were massacred at the Battle of Annual . El-Krim founded an independent Rif Republic that operated until 1926 but had no international recognition. Paris and Madrid agreed to collaborate to destroy it. They sent in 200,000 soldiers, forcing el-Krim to surrender in 1926; he
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3444-565: The Treaty of Versailles. The French government now forced the moving of Alexandre Douala-Bell to France, expecting this would give a benefit to the legitimacy of the new French rule in Cameroon. On the other hand, the French government distrusted him because of his German background and insisted on "frenchifying" him before returning to Cameroon. In mid-1919, the couple moved to Paris. After some temporary stays, Alexandre Douala-Bell returned to Cameroon in 1922, but without his wife Andrea Manga Bell and
3526-523: The UPC divided itself, while competing leaders, verbally in favor of Marxism revolution, radicalized the movement. Starting in 1959, the colonial war juxtaposed itself with a civil war, Ahmadou Ahidjo taking the place of France in fighting the UPC. The successor of Nyobé, Félix-Roland Moumié , was assassinated in 1960 in Geneva by the SDECE , French secret services. The insurrection continued after independence
3608-717: The anti-colonialist movement. The conflict found its roots in the opposition between the settlers and the Cameroonese trade-unionists in the cities. After the Brazzaville Conference of January 1944, during which the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) issued several promises concerning progressive self-rule , the settlers organized themselves in 1945 in "General estates of colonisation" ( Etats généraux de la colonisation "). A Cercle d'études marxistes ( Marxist Study Circle)
3690-543: The beginning of Napoleon III's reign, the presence of France in Senegal was limited to a trading post on the island of Gorée , a narrow strip on the coast, the town of Saint-Louis , and a handful of trading posts in the interior. The economy had largely been based on the slave trade , carried out by the rulers of the small kingdoms of the interior, as well as elite families, until France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848. In 1854, Napoleon III named an enterprising French officer, Louis Faidherbe , to govern and expand
3772-586: The children who remained in Europe. In the following years he had to fight for his position in Cameroon, as well as for his family property, around which he led an 18-year-long lawsuit. During the Second World War, Alexandre Douala-Bell fought on the side of France and enlisted in Dakar to the French army. In the post-war period, all French colonial territories could send MPs to Paris. Alexandre Douala-Bell
3854-411: The close of the Napoleonic Wars , most of France's colonies were restored to it by Britain, notably Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies , French Guiana on the coast of South America , various trading posts in Senegal , the Île Bourbon ( Réunion ) in the Indian Ocean , and France's tiny Indian possessions; however, Britain finally annexed Saint Lucia , Tobago , the Seychelles , and
3936-501: The colonial administration (civil servants, private agents, missionaries etc.) In 1946, a Representative Assembly of French Cameroon (ARCAM) was constituted. Paul Ajoulat and Alexandre Douala Manga Bell were elected deputies of the French National Assembly . Some private and public schools were opened, while the best students were sent to Dakar (Senegal) or France to study in college. The colonial administration also built electricity and water infrastructures in large cities. In 1952,
4018-405: The colony rather quickly, and anti-French sentiment followed and would be strengthened in the late 1940s. In 1940, French Cameroon rallied to Free France . Troops under General Philippe Leclerc landed at Douala, capturing it on 27 August, and then moved to Yaounde, where pro- Vichy France governor Richard Brunot surrendered the civil administration. After World War II, French Cameroon was made
4100-474: The colony, and to give it the beginning of a modern economy. Faidherbe built a series of forts along the Senegal River, formed alliances with leaders in the interior, and sent expeditions against those who resisted French rule. He built a new port at Dakar , established and protected telegraph lines and roads, followed these with a rail line between Dakar and Saint-Louis and another into the interior . He built schools, bridges, and systems to supply fresh water to
4182-402: The establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council , the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies . It is only after the arrival of intendant Jean Talon in 1665 that France gave its American colonies the proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British. Acadia itself was lost to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Back in France, there
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#17327810260484264-440: The fall of Communism. French Cameroon became independent on 1 January 1960, becoming the Republic of Cameroon. The civil war with the UPC lasted for years afterward. The area of present-day Cameroon was claimed by Germany as a protectorate during the " Scramble for Africa " at the end of the 19th century. During World War I , it was occupied by French and Belgian troops. In 1922 it was mandated to Great Britain and France by
4346-425: The first French colonial empire and the near-complete expulsion of France from the Americas. These wars were the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the American Revolution (1775–1783), the French Revolutionary Wars (1793–1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). It may even be seen further back in time to the first of the French and Indian Wars . This cyclic conflict
4428-403: The foundation of Port Royal in the colony of Acadia in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia , Canada. A few years later, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec , which was to become the capital of the enormous, but sparsely settled, fur-trading colony of New France (also called Canada). New France had a rather small population, which resulted from more emphasis being placed on
4510-451: The founding of Saint-Louis , and 1677 with the founding of Gorée . Additionally, the first settlement of Madagascar began in 1642 with the establishment of Fort Dauphin . Initial French colonial expansion in Senegal and Madagascar was primarily motivated by desires to secure access to natural resources including gum arabic, groundnuts (or peanuts) and other raw materials. In addition they were further motivated by desires throughout
4592-401: The fur trade rather than agricultural settlements. Due to this emphasis, the French relied heavily on creating friendly contacts with the local First Nations community. Without the appetite of New England for land, and by relying solely on Aboriginals to supply them with fur at the trading posts, the French composed a complex series of military, commercial, and diplomatic connections. These became
4674-473: The humiliation of defeat and occupation, France was eager to maintain its overseas empire at the end of the Second World War." However, after 1945, anti-colonial movements began to challenge European authority. Revolts in Indochina and Algeria proved costly and France lost both colonies. After these conflicts, a relatively peaceful decolonization took place elsewhere after 1960. The French Constitution of 27 October 1946 (Fourth French Republic) established
4756-497: The later 16th century by the French Wars of Religion , prevented any constant efforts by France to settle colonies. Early French attempts to found colonies in Brazil, in 1555 at Rio de Janeiro (" France Antarctique ") and in Florida (including Fort Caroline in 1562), and in 1612 at São Luís (" France Équinoxiale "), were not successful, due to a lack of official interest and to Portuguese and Spanish vigilance. The story of France's colonial empire truly began on 27 July 1605, with
4838-417: The most enduring alliances between the French and the First Nation community. The French were, however, under pressure from religious orders to convert them to Catholicism . Through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a loose control over much of the North American continent. Areas of French settlement were generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to
4920-420: The region connected to Canada through the Great Lakes , was maintained through a vast system of fortifications, many of them centred in the Illinois Country and in present-day Arkansas. As the French empire in North America grew, the French also began to build a smaller but more profitable empire in the West Indies . Settlement along the South American coast in what is today French Guiana began in 1624, and
5002-407: The small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon ), but also most of France's West Indian (Caribbean) colonies, and all of the French Indian outposts . While the peace treaty saw France's Indian outposts, and the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe restored to France, the competition for influence in India had been won by the British, and North America was entirely lost – most of New France
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#17327810260485084-470: The south east (1674), and later at Yanam (1723), Mahe (1725), and Karikal (1739) (see French India ). In 1664, the French East India Company was established to compete for trade in the east. Although initial French colonization primarily occurred in the Americas and in Asia , the French did establish a few colonies and trading posts on the African continent. Initial French colonization in Africa began in modern-day Senegal , Madagascar , and along
5166-465: The success of the Haitian Revolution convinced Napoleon that holding Louisiana would not be worth the cost, leading to its sale to the United States in 1803. The French attempt to establish a colony in Egypt in 1798–1801 was not successful. Battle casualties for the campaign were at least 15,000 killed or wounded and 8,500 prisoners for France; 50,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 prisoners for Turkey, Egypt, other Ottoman lands, and Britain. At
5248-475: The time; colonialism was widely regarded as both unimportant to France, and immoral. Some recovery of the French colonial empire was made during the French intervention in the American Revolution , with Saint Lucia being returned to France by the Treaty of Paris in 1783, but not nearly as much as had been hoped for at the time of French intervention. True disaster came to what remained of France's colonial empire in 1791 when Saint Domingue (the Western third of
5330-567: The towns. He also introduced the large-scale cultivation of Bambara groundnuts and peanuts as a commercial crop. Reaching into the Niger valley, Senegal became the primary French base in West Africa and a model colony. Dakar became one of the most important cities of the French Empire and of Africa. French Equatorial Africa was a confederation of French colonial possessions in the Sahel and Congo River regions of Africa. Colonies included in French Equatorial Africa include French Gabon , French Congo , Ubangui-Shari , and French Chad . Cameroon
5412-421: The troops of Cameroon and France. Despite the efforts of writer Mongo Beti , the war and the brutal methods employed by the French government has been overshadowed in France by the Algerian War. The lack interest has been attributed to the use of professional soldiers in the conflict, the low number of Cameroonian immigrants in France requesting recognition of the crimes committed during the war, and, more recently,
5494-444: Was a delegate of France at the UN General Assembly. He was also a member of the Territorial Assembly of Cameroon since 1952. During a visit of his son Emmanuel at Douala Alexandre shot him in a dispute on 15 September 1947. Alexandre was imprisoned, but released soon on 19 November 1947. The death of his son was classified as an accident and the French Parliament rejected the waiver of immunity. Efforts by Andrea Manga Bell, to achieve
5576-402: Was also to provide manpower during the world wars. A major goal was the Mission civilisatrice or " Civilizing Mission ". In 1884, the leading proponent of colonialism, Jules Ferry , declared: "The higher races have a right over the lower races, they have a duty to civilize the inferior races ." Full citizenship rights – assimilation – were offered, although in reality "assimilation
5658-508: Was always receding [and] the colonial populations treated like subjects not citizens." France sent small numbers of settlers to its empire, with the notable exception of Algeria, where the French settlers took power while being a minority. In World War II, Charles de Gaulle and the Free French took control of the overseas colonies one-by-one and used them as bases from which they prepared to liberate France . Historian Tony Chafer argues: "In an effort to restore its world-power status after
5740-449: Was born on 3 December 1897 in the Douala area as the eldest son of King Rudolf Duala Manga Bell . Cameroon was a German colony at that time. At the age of four Alexander was brought to Germany for education. In the First World War, in 1915, he fought against the British and the French as a German officer at Gallipoli in Turkey, which was allied with Germany. One year before in Cameroon, his father, Rudolf Manga Bell, had been executed after
5822-416: Was captured by the Dutch on the return leg at Cape Finisterre . François Martin de Vitré was the first Frenchman to write an account of travels to the Far East in 1604, at the request of Henry IV, and from that time numerous accounts on Asia would be published. From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry developed a strong enthusiasm for travel to Asia and attempted to set up
5904-584: Was created by Cameroonians in 1945, soon followed by the creation of the Union of Confederate Trade Unions of Cameroon ( Union des syndicats confédérés du Cameroun , USCC) at the initiative of the CGT trade-union. Conflicts erupted in September 1945, with the settlers violently debating with the French governor. Members of the USCC were arrested. In 1948, Ruben Um Nyobé became the head of the resistance movement, with
5986-557: Was elected to the Constituent Assembly of the Fourth Republic in 1945 as one of the representatives of Cameroon. In the parliamentary elections of 1946 he scored almost a two-thirds majority. In 1951 and 1956 he was re-elected. From 1946 to 1955 he was a member of the MRP (Mouvement républicain populaire), in his last legislative period from 1956 until his retirement in 1958 he was one of the "Indépendants d'outre-mer". In 1952 he
6068-529: Was exiled in the Pacific until 1947. Morocco became quiet, and in 1936 became the base from which Francisco Franco launched his revolt against Madrid. The French protectorate of Tunisia lasted from 1881 to 1956. The protectorate was initially established after the successful invasion of Tunisia in 1881. The groundwork for occupation was laid on April 24, 1881, when the French deployed 35,000 troops from Algeria to invade several Tunisian cities. As in Morocco,
6150-427: Was far more expensive for Moroccans than for French settlers. For example, while the average Moroccan had a plot of land 50 times smaller than their French settler counterparts, Moroccans were forced to pay 24% more per hectare. Moroccans were additionally prohibited from buying land from French settlers. Colonial Morocco's economy was designed to benefit French businesses at the detriment of Moroccan laborers. Morocco
6232-628: Was forced to import all of its goods from France despite higher costs. Additionally, improvements to agriculture and irrigation systems in Morocco exclusively benefited colonial agriculturalists while leaving Moroccan farms at a technological disadvantage. Between the years of 1914 to 1921 the Zaian Confederation of Berber Tribes, primarily from the Atlas Mountain region of Morocco, staged an armed resistance against French colonial control . The outbreak of World War One prevented
6314-496: Was founded on the western half of the Spanish island of Hispaniola . In the 18th century, Saint-Domingue grew to be the richest sugar colony in the Caribbean. The eastern half of Hispaniola (today's Dominican Republic ) also came under French rule for a short period, after being given to France by Spain in 1795. With the end of the French Wars of Religion , King Henry IV encouraged various enterprises to establish trade with
6396-515: Was granted, even though the UPC had been officially dismantled. The rebellion was really crushed only in the 1970s, after the death in the " maquis " of Ossendé Afana in March 1966 and the public execution of Ernest Ouandié , a historic leader of the UPC, in January 1971. Estimates about the number of victims of the war ranged around several tens of thousands of deaths, mainly after independence. The war featured human rights abuses by UPC militants and
6478-551: Was initially colonized by the German Empire in 1884. The indigenous people of Cameroon refused to work on German related projects, which turned into force labor. However, after World War One, the colony was partitioned by France and Britain. The French colony lasted from 1916 to until self-rule was achieved in 1960. French colonialism in Madagascar began in 1896 when France established a protectorate by force and ended in
6560-639: Was relatively little interest in colonialism, which concentrated rather on dominance within Europe, and for most of its history, New France was far behind the British North American colonies in both population and economic development. In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded still further, with the foundation of Louisiana in the basin of the Mississippi River . The extensive trading network throughout
6642-498: Was scheduled for independence later that same year, which raised question of what to do with the British territory. After some discussion (which had been going on since 1959), a plebiscite (British Cameroons referendum) was agreed to and held on 11 February 1961. The Muslim -majority Northern Cameroons area opted for union with Nigeria, and the Southern Cameroons area voted to join Cameroon. Northern Cameroons became
6724-419: Was taken by Britain (also referred to as British North America ), except Louisiana , which France ceded to Spain as payment for Spain's late entrance into the war (and as compensation for Britain's annexation of Spanish Florida). Also ceded to the British were Grenada and Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Although the loss of Canada would cause much regret in future generations, it excited little unhappiness at
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