Emirate of Trarza - Second Franco-Trarza War

Second Franco-Trarza War

In the 1840s and 1850s, the French in Saint-Louis began a policy of expansion along the Senegal river valley through the creation of fortified trading posts and militarily enforced protectorate treaties with the smaller states in today's Senegal. This began with governor Protet, but reached its climax under Louis Faidherbe. This was laid out in "The Plan of 1854" a series of ministerial orders given to Governor Protet that originated in petitions from the powerful Bordeaux based Maurel and Prom company, the largest shipping interest in St. Louis. The plan specified in detail the creation of forts along the Senegal river to end African control of the acacia gum trade from the interior.

Trarza had renewed their alliance with Waalo, and Mohammed's son Ely now sat on the Waalo throne as Brak (king). Trarza had also set aside rivalry and formed a pact with the neighboring Emirate of Brakna to resist French expansion. A raid on Saint-Louis almost led to its capture in 1855, but the French punitive expedition was swift and decisive. At the Battle of Jubuldu on 25 February 1855, the French defeated a combined Waalo and Moorish force and formally assimilated (the then depopulated) Waalo territory into the French colony.

By 1860, Faidherbe had built a series of inland forts up the Senegal River, to Médine just below the Félou waterfall, and forced Trarza and their neighbors to accept the Senegal river as a formal boundary. But with the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, colonial expansion slowed. The Emirate of Trarza was left alone so long as it kept north the French possessions and did not interfere in trade. During the next thirty years, Trarza fell into internecine conflict with neighboring states over control of the Chemama, the area of agricultural settlements just north of the river. Traders in Saint-Louis profited by buying goods from Mauritania and selling the various Moorish forces weapons, and the French rarely interfered.