French West Africa

French West Africa (French: Afrique occidentale française, AOF) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. The capital of the federation was Dakar. The federation existed from 1895 until 1960.

Read more about French West Africa:  History, Territorial Changes, Federal Structure, Colonial Administration, Local Administration, Geography

Famous quotes containing the words french, west and/or africa:

    He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
    —14th-century French proverb, first recorded in English in A. Barclay, Gringore’s Castle of Labour (1506)

    We were young, we were merry, we were very very wise,
    And the door stood open at our feast,
    When there passed us a woman with the West in her eyes,
    And a man with his back to the East.
    Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907)

    America is not civil, whilst Africa is barbarous.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)