السياسية الاستعمارية الفرنسية في موريتانيا على عهد فيدهرب Faidherbe

Abstract EN

Following his nomination at the head of the colony of Senegal in 1854, Faidherbe did not hesitate to silence the unruly robber Moors by the force of weapons and to carry the war into their own territories.

When security was ensured after four years of almost continuous struggle (1854-1858) and warlike expeditions to which all the living forces of the colony had to be primarily devoted, pacific works of development were initiated.

In 1859, considering that the political situation in the areas neighboring Senegal was relatively calm, Faidherbe decided to explore the imperfectly known regions of Western Sudan and particularly Mauritania.

The goal was to complete the little extensive notions the French possessed about the geography, ethnography and commercial resources of those regions.

It was the period of the great explorations which, departing from Senegal, reached Adrar and even Morocco.

The go-ahead was thus given for the organization of exploration assignments.

Their members had to roam all over the forests, the oases, the camps, and the deserts of the land of the Moors.