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official language and six where
French is one of two languages,
apart from which these countries
having little in common. Politics,
economies, and cultures may be
varied, but it is deeply felt by the
French that English has become an
overly dominant language.
But the French still believe their
role was to the good, and positive
views of their colonial history are
taught in schools. Of course, not all
aspects of colonization were
uniformly bad, and while much of it
was based on a high moral purpose,
some was practical and useful:
colonial governments beat off
warlords and bandits, advised on
land reclamation, agriculture,
education, and health care, with
roads, railways, bridges, and ports
possibly benefiting the colonizers
more than the colonized.
The British
had originally been
traders and have been described as
“sleep-walking” into their empire.
They were interested, then as now,
in trade and investment, financial
services, making capital investments
A Concise History of Africa
OPPOSITE:
Antananarivo is the capital
of Madagascar. It was colonized by the
French in 1897 until the island gained
independence in 1960.
ABOVE:
Gorée Island, Dakar, Senegal.
The French gained control of Senegal in
1677, and like the rest of the country the
island remained continuously French
until 1960. The island became a base for
the purchase of slaves.
The French colonized great swathes of
Africa from Senegal in the west to
Madagascar in the east.
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