NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Civilizing mission

The "civilization mission" (mission civilisatrice in French) was the underlying principle of French colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuryies. It was influential in the French colonies of Algeria, French West Africa, and Indochina. French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) was a federation of eight French territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), Guinea, Côte dIvoire, Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Dahomey (now Benin). ... French Indochina was a federation of protectorates in Southeast Asia, part of the French colonial empire. ...

The French felt it was their duty to bring Western civilization to supposedly backwards peoples. Rather than merely govern colonial peoples, the French would attempt to Westernize them in accordance with a colonial ideology known as "assimilation". The civilizing mission was initially championed by French Republican political leader Jules Ferry. Equal rights and citizenship were extended to those peoples who adopted French culture, including primary use of the French language in their lives, wearing Western clothes, and conversion to Christianity. Despite granting French citizenship to the residents of the "Four Communes" (Dakar, Saint-Louis, Gorée, and Rufisque), most West Africans did not adopt French culture or Christianity. Eventually, assmiliation was dropped in favor of "association," the idea that French culture might have an equal role in indigenous societies and that these autonmous colonies might freely associate with France in the French Union. Jules Ferry, French statesman Jules FranÃ§ois Camille Ferry (April 5, 1832 â€“ March 17, 1893) was a French statesman. ... (City of Dakar, divided into 19 communes darrondissement) City proper (commune) RÃ©gion Dakar DÃ©partement Dakar Mayor Pape Diop (PDS) (since 2002) Area 82. ... Saint-Louis or Saint-Louis du SÃ©nÃ©gal (locally called Ndar in the Wolof language) is a city in the northwest of Senegal near the mouth of the Senegal River (, ). It is the capital of the Saint-Louis Region and has a population of 154,555 (2002 census). ... ÃŽle de GorÃ©e (i. ... Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, on the southeatern point of the Cap Vert Peninsula. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New Testament. ... Established by the French constitution of October 27, 1946, the French Union (French: Union FranÃ§aise) was a political entity created to replace the old French colonial system, the French Empire (Empire franÃ§ais). ...

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Category: French history stubs Blaise Diagne ( 1872 - 1934) was a Senegalise politician who advocated for African participation in politics and fair treatment of ethnic minorities in the French army. ... // French Colonial Occupation In October of 1887, the French announced the formation of the Union Indochinoise (Indochinese Union), which at that time comprised Cambodia, already an autonomous French possession, and the three regions of Vietnam (Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina. ... Decolonization generally refers to a movement following the Second World War in which the various European colonies of the world were granted independence. ... Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue â€” plain and hachured) French colonial empires France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. ... French Equatorial Africa (French: ) was the federation of French colonial possessions in Middle Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River to the Sahara Desert. ... // French rule in Algeria, 1830â€“1962 Most of Frances actions in Algeria, not least the invasion of Algiers, were propelled by contradictory impulses. ... French Indochina was a federation of protectorates in Southeast Asia, part of the French colonial empire. ... French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) was a federation of eight French territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), Guinea, Côte dIvoire, Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Dahomey (now Benin). ... Archaeological findings throughout the area indicate that Senegal was inhabited in prehistoric times. ... La Francophonie (formally lOrganisation internationale de la Francophonie), a French language term coined in 1880 by French geographer OnÃ©sime Reclus, brother of ElisÃ©e Reclus, to designate the community of people and countries using French, is an international organisation of and governments. ...

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