Émile Gentil

Émile Gentil(French pronunciation:[emilʒɑ̃ti];4 April 1866 – 30 March 1914) was a Frenchcolonial administrator,naval officer, and military leader. He is best known for heading two military missions to conquer and consolidate territories north from modernGabontoChad.

Early life and military career

Born atVolmunsterin the department ofMoselle,he later attended theÉcole Navale,the school that formed French naval officers. As anensign,he was assigned to conducthydrographic soundingsalong the Gabonese coast from 1890 to 1892. That year, he joined the colonial administration in Gabon.

Missions to the African Interior

First Mission 1895–1897

In 1895, Gentil was ordered to find a practical route to Chad, claiming the area between for France, and hence thwarting German and British expansion. On 27 July 1895, Gentil headed up theCongo Riveron the French steamshipLéon-Blot.The ship was then dismantled and hauled by African laborers through the forest to reach navigable portions of theOubangui,where he founded the French station atFort-Archambaultnear one of SultanRabih az-Zubayr's major towns,Kouno(now in theChari-Baguirmi RegionofChad). The mission then transported the steamboat overland again to theChari,which stretches to Lake Chad in the north.

In October 1897 he convinced the SultanAbd ar Rahman Gwarangato sign a treaty of alliance which gave France a protectorate over theKingdom of Baguirmi,which was then threatened byRabih az-Zubayr,the most powerful ruler in theChad basin.

On 20 October Gentil's mission passed through Rabih az-Zubayr, reaching Lake Chad on the 28th.

Second Mission, 1899 (the Gentil Mission)

After returning from France, where he had successfully lobbied the government to support further expansion, Gentil made preparations for a second Mission to seize the Chari-Baguirmi region and the area around Lake Chad from Rabih az-Zubayr. In 1899–1900, the French organized three armed columns: theGentil Missionproceeding north from French Congo, the infamousVoulet–Chanoine Missioneast from Niger and theFoureau-Lamy Missionsouth from Algeria. The objective was to link all French possessions in Western Africa.

Again supported by the steamboatLéon-Blot,Gentil's force headed to the French station atFort-ArchambaultUnbeknownst to them, a previous military expedition commanded by the Lieutenant de vaisseau Henri Bretonnet and the Lt. Solomon Braun, along with Sultan Gaourang's Baguirmi forces had been annihilated by Rabih's forces in theBattle of Togbaoon 17 July after attacking Rabih at Kouno.

On 16 August, one of the three Senegalesetirailleurswho had survived reached Gentil and informed him of the battle.

The Gentil Mission burned the town of Kouno, and confronted Rabih at theBattle of Kounoon 28 October 1899. The French were pushed back, suffering losses, but this did not prevent them from linking up with the other missions at Kousséri on 21 April 1900, in what today is northern Cameroon. The next day the three columns commanded by MajorAmédée-François Lamyconfronted Rabih az-Zubayr, who still controlled most of Chad. The French won the ensuingBattle of Kousséri,ensuring them control of most of Chad, but the battle cost both commanders their lives. Rabih's son succeeded him, but his empire soon disintegrated under sustained French expansion.

This meant that the original expedition had now accomplished all its main aims: surveying the lands of Northern Nigeria and Niger (contributing to a clearer Franco-Britishdelimitationof the colonial borders), uniting with the Foureau-Lamy mission and destroying Rabih's empire, which permitted the institution in September by the French government of the Military territory of Chad.

In Lamy's honour, Émile Gentil, who was later its first French governor, named the capital of the new French territory of ChadFort-Lamy.In 1973 the Republic of Chad renamed itN'Djamena.

Governorship of French Congo

On 5 February 1902 Gentil was namedcommissioner-generalof theFrench Congo,residing atBrazzaville.

Gabon's second-largest city was namedPort-Gentilfor him.

References

Ayakanmi Ayandele, Emmanuel (1979). Nigerian Historical Studies. Routledge, 130–131.ISBN 0-7146-3113-2.
Gentil, Émile (1971). La chute de l'empire de Rabah. Hachette, 567–577.
Pakenham, Thomas (1992).The Scramble for Africa.Abacus, 515–516.ISBN 0-349-10449-2.
Petringa, Maria.Brazza, A Life for Africa.Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006.ISBN 978-1-4259-1198-0.
Souzy, Marcel: Les coloniaux français illustres B. Arnaud Lyon vers 1940

External links

Newspaper clippings about Émile Gentilin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW

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