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Parfait-Louis Monteil

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Parfait-Louis Monteil
West Africa showing the general route taken by Parfait-Louis Monteil during his 1890–1892 expedition. The route toLake Chadwas mainly throughSudanian Savanna,grasslands with scattered trees to the south of the drierSahel.

Parfait-Louis Monteil(1855 – 29 September 1925) was aFrenchcolonial military officer and explorer who made an epic journey inWest Africabetween 1890 and 1892, travelling east fromSenegaltoLake Chad,and then north across theSaharatoTripoli.[1]

Early career

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French Fort of Bamako 1883

Monteil was the older brother ofCharles Monteil(1871–1949), who became a distinguishedethologist.[2] Monteil was a graduate of theÉcole spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr.He served in Senegal, where his duties included cartographical surveys.[3] In 1884 he was made a member of theSociété de géographie de Parisand in 1886 became an officer of the society.[4][5] He was influenced by the former governor of Senegal,Louis Faidherbe,whom he regularly visited in his apartment (where Faidherbe was confined by paralysis) in the middle 1880s.[6][7]

Monteil served in the French protectorate ofAnnam,now part ofVietnam,from 1886 to 1888.[3] He then spent time investigating a railway project to linkBafoulabéandBamakoin Senegal, before launching on his great journey across West Africa in 1890.[1]

Political background

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The conference of Berlin (1884–1885)

France,Britain,Germany,PortugalandItalycame to a broad agreement on the way in which they would divide up the continent of Africa at the 1884–1885Berlin Conference. France gained primacy in the bulk of West Africa from Algeria and Tunisia south across theSaharaand theSahelinto theSudanian Savanna.The other powers could extend their coastal colonies north from theGulf of Guineainto the interior. In the case of Britain, these colonies includedthe Gambia,Sierra Leone,theGold Coast(nowGhana), theLagos colonyand the territory claimed by theRoyal Niger Company.[8]

On 5 August 1890 the British and French concluded an agreement to clarify the boundary betweenFrench West Africaand what would becomeNigeria.Britain would acquire all territories up to and including theSokoto Caliphate,while the French would take the lands further to the north. However, they did not know the extent of the Sokoto Caliphate. Monteil was given charge of an expedition to discover its northern limits.[3]

From Senegal to Tripoli via Chad

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Colonial Saint Louis c. 1900. Europeans and Africans on the Rue Lebon.

Colonel Monteil and a small party of Frenchmen arrived inDakarin September 1890. He traveled by railway up the coast toSt. Louiswhere he hired bearers andtirailleurs.He continued his journey up theSénégal Riverby steamer, arriving on 18 October 1890 atKayes,where he bought equipment and horses. Monteil reachedSégouon the upper Niger River on 14 December, the last outpost of the French in the Sudan. The countries to the east were known to beMoslem,were rumored to be rich in gold, slaves and ivory, but were uncharted territory to Europeans.[3]

Landscape between Dori andYalgo

Monteil set out eastwards, generally obtaining a friendly reception and signing treaties of friendship, although suffering from heat, mosquitos and lack of drinking water.[3] TheAlmamiofSansigned a peace treaty placing the town under French protection. Monteil praised the caravan center at San, saying that transactions could be made in total security, with no duties levied on imports, exports or sales.[9]

Entering what is nowBurkina Faso,Monteil wantedWobogo,theMogho Nabaof Mossy and ruler ofOuagadougou,to agree to a French protectorate. Wobogo refused to receive him, and he was forced to make a hurried departure.[10][11] He reachedDori,the capital ofLiptako,on 22 May 1891, at a time when the Amiirou, Amadou Iisa, was dying, and became involved in a dispute over succession. Monteil started to negotiate a treaty with the followers of Issa, son of the Amiirou and next in line, but the Amiirous's nephew Sori managed to gain the support needed to become the next ruler.[12]

1850steel engravingofKano

In June Monteil went on toSebba,capital ofYagha,where after a considerable payment to the "greedy" ruler another treaty was agreed. From there he travelled viaToroditoSay,a large commercial town on theNiger River,and then onward toSokotovia theArgungutriangle. He observed that the KebbiArgungu Emiratewas independent of theSokoto Caliphate.This later became a point of dispute between the French and British authorities. Further, he found little evidence that the Royal Niger Company was present in the region as claimed, apart from some trading posts in theGwandu Emirateto the south of Argundu.[3]

Monteil was welcomed by theCaliph of Sokoto,Abd ar-Rahman dan Abi Bakar, who at the time was engaged in a war with theEmir of Argungu.He signed a treaty with the Caliph on 28 October 1891, and presented him with silks, brocades, embroidered caftans and money. He said the state of the Caliphate was precarious when he visited, but may have overestimated the combined effects of the war and the recent accession of an unpopular ruler. Shortly after Monteil left, Sokoto defeated Argungu.[3]

Kanembu warriors of Bornu and their mounted chief in an illustration from H. Barth'sTravels and DiscoveriesVol III, 1857.

Monteil journeyed from Sokoto to the important trading center ofKano,then viaHadejiato Lake Chad.[3] On 9 April 1892 he reachedKukaon the shore of the lake, where he was met by a group of 150 cavalrymen arrayed in colorful costumes, with their horses dressed in paddedcaparisons.The horsemen charged him with spears leveled, stopping at the last minute, a sign of respect and also a test of courage.

He exchanged courtesies with the Sultan ofBornu,and was his guest for several months while he explored the country around the lake – and while the Sultan tried to extract gifts in exchange for a safe conduct.

Tripoli–Murzuk–Lake Chad route map by Monteil, published 1895

When finally allowed to depart, he traveled northward across the Sahara to Tripoli, reaching the Mediterranean on 10 December 1892. His journey had done much to clarify for Europeans, and for France in particular, the geography and politics of the region.[13] Within 15 years, almost all the territory Monteil had visited was firmly under colonial control.[14]

Later career

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After Monteil's return to France, in 1893 theSociété de géographieawarded him the Grand Gold Medal for his book recording the journey.[15] The successful expedition across West Africa impressed the statesmanThéophile Delcassé,who took Monteil to meet the President of France,Sadi Carnoton 4 May 1893. Carnot wanted Monteil to undertake an expedition toFashodaon the upperNile,but on 30 May Delcassé sent him to theFrench Congoto reinforceHaut-Oubangui(now theCentral African Republic) against Belgian intrusions.[16] He arrived at the port ofLuangoon 24 August 1894, planning to travel first to Ubangi and then onwards to the Nile. Before starting for the interior, however, he was urgently reassigned to theIvory Coastto help deal with the threat from the imam-warriorSamori Ture.[17] In September 1894 he directed an expedition intoBaoulécountry in the Ivory Coast, reachingTiassaléin December before being turned back by fierce opposition north of the city.[18] The Governor ofFrench Sudan,Albert Grodet,took some of the blame for the fiasco.[19]

Later, Monteil tried without success to enter politics, and was involved in colonization of the south ofTunisia.[1] He died atHerblay,Seine-et-Oisein 1925.[20]

Selected works

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  • Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1882).Voyage d'exploration au Sénégal[Voyage of Exploration in Senegal] (in French). Paris: Papeet.
  • Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1884).En France et aux colonies, vade-mecum de l'officier d'infanterie de marine[Handbook of an Officer of the Marine Infantry] (in French). Paris: Baudoin et Cie.
  • Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1894).De Saint-Louis a Tripoli par le Lac Tchad, Voyage au Travers du Soudan et du Sahara Accompli Pendant les Années 1890-91-92[From Saint-Louis to Tripoli via Lake Chad...] (in French). Paris: Félix Alcan.
  • Barth, Heinrich; Voulet, Paul; Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1897).Textes anciens sur le Burkina (1853–1897)[Ancient Texts on Burkina (1853–1897)] (in French). Paris: Sépia.
  • Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1902).Une page d'histoire coloniale: la colonne de Kong, 1895[A Page of Colonial History: The Colony of Kong, 1895] (in French). Paris: Henri Charles-Lavauzelle.
  • Monteil, Parfait-Louis (1924).Quelques feuillets de l'histoire coloniale[Some Pages of Colonial History] (in French). Paris: Société d'éditions géographiques maritimes et coloniales.

Notes

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  1. ^abcLanhers 1950
  2. ^Dulucq 2009,p. 169.
  3. ^abcdefghHirshfield 1979,pp. 37ff
  4. ^SDG 1885,pp. 73
  5. ^MEN 1886,pp. 282
  6. ^Bingen, Robinson & Staatz 2000,pp. 38
  7. ^Marcus & Spaulding 1998,pp. 97
  8. ^Crowe 1942
  9. ^Mann 2006,pp. 26
  10. ^Englebert 1999,pp. 18
  11. ^Abaka 2004
  12. ^Benjaminsen & Lund 2001,pp. 41
  13. ^Lengyel 2007,pp. 170ff
  14. ^Oliver, Fage & Sanderson 1985,p. 257ff
  15. ^Pinta 2006,pp. 31
  16. ^Kalck 2005,pp. 141
  17. ^Imperato 2001,pp. 161
  18. ^Prater 2005
  19. ^Klein 1998,p. 113.
  20. ^Larousse 1963,pp. 487

References

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Further reading

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