Louis Faidherbe
| Louis Faidherbe | |
|---|---|
Louis Léon César Faidherbe
|
|
| Born |
3 June 1818 Lille, France |
| Died | 29 September 1889 (aged 71) Paris, France |
| Allegiance |
 Kingdom of France French Second Republic Second French Empire French Third Republic
|
| Service/branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1840–1879 |
| Rank | Général de Division |
| Commands held | Army of the North |
| Battles/wars | Franco-Prussian War |
| Awards | Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur |
| Other work | Governor of Senegal Deputy of the National Assembly |
Louis Léon César Faidherbe (3 June 1818 – 29 September 1889) was a French general and colonial administrator. He created the Senegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor of Senegal.
Faidherbe was born into a lower-middle-class family in Lille. He was the fifth child of Louis César Joseph Faidherde, a hosier, and his wife, Sophie Monnier. His father died in 1826 when he was seven and he was brought up by his mother. He received his military education at the École Polytechnique and then at the École d'Application in Metz. From 1843 to 1847 he served in Algeria, then for one year in Guadeloupe, and again from 1849 to 1852 in Algeria.
In 1852 he was transferred to Senegal as sub-director of engineers, and in 1854 was promoted chef de bataillon and appointed governor of the colony on December 16. He held this post with one brief interval (1861–1863) until July 1865.
The work he accomplished in French West Africa constitutes his most enduring legacy. At that time France possessed in Senegal little else than the town of Saint-Louis and a strip of coast. Explorers had, however, made known the riches and possibilities of the Niger regions, and Faidherbe formed the design of adding those countries to the French dominions. He even dreamed of creating a French African empire stretching from Senegal to the Red Sea.
Faidherbe's actions were not of his own creation, but were an implementation of "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 Saint-Louis. The plan specified in detail the creation of forts along the Sénégal River to end African control of the acacia gum trade from the interior. Faidherbe's push to build fortifications farther out, his conflicts with Protet, and his protests to Paris over Protet's inaction earned him the governorship in 1854.
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