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62-418: Since the administrative reform in 1996, Thiaroye has been divided into independent communes, Thiaroye-Gare , Thiaroye-sur-Mer and Thiaroye-Kao (or Djiddah Thiaroye Kao ), with Guinaw-Rail Nord, Guinaw-Rail Sud (both to the west), and Tivaouane-Diacksao (to the east) split off and separating Thiaroye-sur-Mer from the other two inland communes. The village of Thiaroye was founded sometime around 1800, and as

124-684: A Grand Council of French West Africa was created in Dakar. Two representatives from each colony, usually the Lieutenant Governor and a representative of the French population there, were seated. This council had only consultative powers over the office of the Governor General. The functioning of such bodies rested upon the Indigénat legal code of 1885. Despite this state of flux, and with the exception of

186-468: A definitive series depicting colonial soldiers, both in 1945. A series of 1947 featured 19 scenes and people of the various colonies, then during the 1950s there were about 30 various commemoratives . The last issue inscribed "Afrique occidentale française" and "RF" was the Human Rights issue of December 1958. It was followed by a Stamp Day issue on 21 March 1959, which omitted the federation's name and

248-494: A 1,500 francs advance had been awarded to them before they had embarked. Other matters of contention included the exchange rates between the Metropolitan French franc and the local colonial franc, as well as issues regarding savings made during their internment and their right to demobilization clothes . On 25 November, a group that was supposed to depart for Bamako on that same day refused to leave Thiaroye until

310-462: A change in attitude towards France. The African ex-POWs had acquired a heightened consciousness of themselves as Africans united by their shared experience in suffering. Thiaroye is the seat of Thiaroye Arrondissement in the Pikine Department ( région de Dakar ). The three communes are governed as a single entity, but retain some administrative independence. Thiaroye-Gare, closest to Dakar,

372-712: A deputy to represent them in the French parliament in 1848–1852, 1871–1876, and 1879–1940. In 1914, the first African, Blaise Diagne , was elected as the deputy for Senegal in the French Parliament. In 1916, Diagne pushed a law through the National Assembly (loi Blaise Diagne) granting full citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes. In return, he promised to help recruit millions of Africans to fight in World War I. Thereafter, all black Africans of Dakar , Gorée , Saint-Louis , and Rufisque could vote to send

434-586: A group of 1,635 of these former prisoners of war embarked in Morlaix on the British ship Circassia . They landed in Dakar on 21 November and were temporarily assigned to the military camp of Thiaroye. Ever since their liberation, discontent had been growing among the former prisoners. The utter disorganization of French authorities had led to several delays concerning their repatriation . More importantly, they had not yet received their demobilization benefits and only

496-962: A million slaves in French West Africa fled from their masters to earlier homes. After the Fall of France in June 1940 and the two battles of Dakar against the Free French Forces in July and September 1940, authorities in West Africa declared allegiance to the Vichy regime , as did the colony of French Gabon in AEF. Gabon fell to Free France after the Battle of Gabon in November 1940, but West Africa remained under Vichy control until

558-473: A new generation of French-educated Africans. On 21 October 1945 six Africans were elected, the Four Communes citizens chose Lamine Guèye , Senegal/Mauritania Léopold Sédar Senghor , Ivory Coast/Upper Volta Félix Houphouët-Boigny , Dahomey/Togo Sourou-Migan Apithy , Soudan-Niger Fily Dabo Sissoko , and Guinea Yacine Diallo . They were all re-elected to the 2nd Constituent Assembly on 2 June 1946. In 1946,

620-543: A representative to the French National Assembly. As the French pursued their part in the scramble for Africa in the 1880s and 1890s, they conquered large inland areas, and at first, ruled them as either a part of the Senegal colony or as independent entities. These conquered areas were usually governed by French Army officers, and dubbed "military territories". In the late 1890s, the French government began to rein in

682-547: A union of Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea and Ivory Coast only, the federation was placed on a permanent footing in 1904. A governor-general was based first in Saint-Louis , then (from 1902) in Dakar (both in Senegal, the oldest French settlement). The AOF subsequently expanded to neighbouring French-ruled territories: Dahomey was added in 1904, after having been put under colonial tutelage in 1892; Mauritania in 1920, and when

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744-569: Is also the home of the Centre de recherches océanographiques de Dakar-Thiaroye (CRODT), and a large mental hospital. Thiaroye Massacre The Thiaroye massacre was a massacre of French West African soldiers, committed by the French Army on the morning of 1 December 1944 near Dakar , French Senegal . Those killed were members of the Tirailleurs Sénégalais , and were veterans of

806-477: Is bordered by Pikine (a city of almost one million people), Nimzat, Yeumbeul, Thiaroye Kao, Diaksaw and Darou Rahmane. Thiaroye-sur-Mer is bordered by Bel-Air, Hann-Montagne, Pikine, Guinaw-Rails, Tivaouane , Diammagueun, Mbaw Gou Ndaw and Gorée . Thiaroye-Kao, border Yeumbeul , Boun and Darou Rahmane. As of 2002 the population of Thiaroye-Gare has grown to 21,873, Thiaroye-sur-Mer to 36,602, and that of Thiaroye-Kao to 90,586. As of 2007 official estimates put

868-682: The Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942. Following World War II, the French government began a process of extending limited political rights in its colonies. In 1945 the French Provisional Government allocated ten seats to French West Africa in the new Constituent Assembly called to write a new French Constitution . Of these five would be elected by citizens (which only in the Four Communes could an African hope to win) and five by African subjects. The elections brought to prominence

930-765: The French Army . World War II, and the passing of the Loi Cadre ( Overseas Reform Act of 1956 ), both radically restructured the administration of the colonies. French Togoland , seized by France from Germany in World War I, was for most of this period not nominally a colony but a Mandate territory . In theory, the Governors-General of the AOF reported directly to the Minister of Colonies in Paris, while individual colonies and territories reported only to Dakar. Originally created in 1895 as

992-606: The French Fifth Republic of 1958 again changed the structure of the colonies from the French Union to the French Community . Each territory was to become a "Protectorate", with the consultative assembly named a National Assembly. The Governor appointed by the French was renamed the "High Commissioner", and made head of state of each territory. The Assembly would name an African as Head of Government with advisory powers to

1054-1027: The Loi Lamine Guèye granted some limited citizenship rights to natives of the African colonies. The French Empire was renamed the French Union on 27 October 1946, when the new constitution of the Fourth Republic was established. In late 1946 under this new constitution, each territory was for the first time (excepting the Four Communes) able to elect local representatives, albeit on a limited franchise, to newly established General Councils. These elected bodies had only limited consultative powers, although they did approve local budgets. The Loi Cadre of 23 June 1956 brought universal suffrage to elections held after that date in all French African colonies. The first elections under universal suffrage in French West Africa were

1116-657: The Precepteur du marché trade inspectors, etc. Because of administrative practice and geographic isolation, Cercle Commanders had a tremendous amount of power over the lives of the Africans around them. The Cercle Commanders also had tremendous power over the economic and political life of their territories. Legally, all Africans outside the Four Communes of Senegal were "subjects" under the Indigénat legal code of 1885. This code gave summary powers to French administrators, including

1178-553: The 1940 Battle of France who had been recently liberated from prison camps in Europe. After being repatriated to West Africa, they mutinied against poor conditions and unpaid wages at the Thiaroye military camp. Between 35 and 300 people were killed. During the Battle of France , around 120,000 soldiers from the French colonies were captured by the German forces. Most of these troops came from

1240-638: The AOF in conjunction with officers of the French Colonial Forces . Each colony of French West Africa was administered by a Lieutenant Governor, responsible to the Governor General in Dakar. Only the Governor-General received orders from Paris, via the Minister of Colonies . The Minister, with the approval of the French Chamber of Deputies ( French National Assembly after 1946), chose Lieutenants Governor and Governors-General. Beginning in 1946,

1302-894: The French Army only to be killed in Thiaroye. His works were banned in French Africa as he was considered radical and anticolonial. Senegalese poet Léopold Sédar Senghor wrote the poem Thiaroye as a tribute to the victims of the Thiaroye massacre. French West Africa French West Africa ( French : Afrique-Occidentale française , AOF ) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa : Mauritania , Senegal , French Sudan (now Mali ), French Guinea (now Guinea ), Ivory Coast , Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso ), Dahomey (now Benin ) and Niger . The federation existed from 1895 until 1958. Its capital

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1364-635: The French Community to unilaterally change their own constitutions. Senegal and former French Sudan became the Mali Federation (1960–61), while Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey subsequently formed the short-lived Sahel-Benin Union , later the Conseil de l'Entente . The administrative structure of French colonial possessions in West Africa, while more homogeneous than neighboring British possessions ,

1426-655: The French North African possessions, while around 20 percent were from French West Africa . Influenced by Nazi racial ideology , German troops summarily killed between 1,000 and 1,500 black prisoners in May and June 1940. Unlike their white compatriots, the colonial prisoners of war were imprisoned in Frontstalags  [ fr ] in France instead of being brought to Germany. Although they kept colonial troops in France on

1488-406: The French authorities started to enforce anti-slavery laws against indigenous slave owners in territories under French control due to pressure from French abolitionists: the laws against slave trade were enforced, and fugitive slaves were not returned to their owners. In 1905, the French officially abolished slavery in most of French West Africa. From 1906 to 1911, as emancipation progressed, over

1550-569: The French found in the coastal areas of the Rivières du Sud colony in the 1880s, modern Guinea. The Canton, then, was much smaller than, and qualitatively different from, the pre-colonial states of the Sahel (such as the Toucouleur Empire ) which the French would later conquer. They were styled "Chefs de canton", "Chefs du Village", or occasionally taking the title of precolonial states assimilated by

1612-423: The French structure whole. This last was uncommon, but became more prevalent in the later colonial territories conquered, as fewer administrators were available to rule over larger, less populated territories with strong pre-colonial state structures. Where these larger polities resisted the French, they were often broken into small chiefdoms. Larger polities which presented a segment of the elite who would work with

1674-499: The French were maintained under new leadership. The Sultan of Agadez , the Sultan of Damagaram , and the Djermakoy of Dosso are examples of these large scale "Chefs de canton". But even these rulers were replaced by individuals handpicked by French authorities. Regardless of source, chiefs were given the right to arm small numbers of guards and made responsible for the collection of taxes,

1736-581: The Head of State. Legally, the federation ceased to exist after the 1958 French constitutional referendum to approve this French Community. All the colonies except Guinea voted to remain in the new structure. Guineans voted overwhelmingly for independence. In 1960, a further revision of the French constitution, compelled by the failure of the French Indochina War and the tensions in Algeria , allowed members of

1798-682: The Military structure (outside Military areas, e.g.: modern Niger and Mauritania prior to the Second World War). Below the "Cercle Commander" were a series of African "Chefs de canton" and "Chefs du Village": "chiefs" appointed by the French and subject to removal by the Europeans. As well, the "Cercle Commander" made use of a large number of servants, employees, and African officers such as the "Gardes-de-cercle" police, any military units seconded to them by government authorities, and sub-administrators such as

1860-535: The Senegalese Communes, the administrative structure of French rule at the lower levels remained constant, based upon the Cercle system. This was the smallest unit of French political administration in French colonial Africa that was headed by a European officer. They might range in size, but French Sudan (modern Mali) consisted of less than a dozen Cercles for most of its existence. Thus, a Cercle Commander might be

1922-404: The absolute authority over hundreds of thousands of Africans. A Cercle consisted of several cantons , each of which in turn consisted of several villages, and was almost universal in France's African colonies from 1895 to 1946. The "Cercle Commander" (" commandant de cercle ") was subject to the authority of a District Commander, and the government of the colony above him, but was independent of

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1984-469: The city of Dakar, created by the French, expanded in the 20th century, Thiaroye was slowly merged into the larger city. Thiaroye is most known for, and its name has become emblematic of, a single incident in 1944: the Thiaroye Massacre by French forces. On 1 December 1944, at the barracks of Thiaroye, African soldiers clashed with the French state. The uprising involved nearly 1280 African ex- POWs in

2046-880: The depths of the Sahara , the Federation contained more than ten million inhabitants at its creation, and some 25 million at its dissolution. The AOF included all of the Senegal River valley, most of the Niger River valley, and most of the West African Sahel region. It also included tropical forests in Ivory Coast and Guinea, the Fouta Djallon highlands, and the Aïr Mountains of modern Niger. The French colonial territories in

2108-474: The federation issued their own postage stamps until 1943. In many cases the stamps were inscribed with the name of the federation " Afrique Occidentale Française " as well as the colony's own name. In 1943 and 1944, stamps of Senegal and Mauritania were overprinted with new values and valid throughout French West Africa. The first issues printed specifically for the federation were the Eboue common design type and

2170-404: The first contingent to be repatriated from Europe in 1944. The event was defined as "mutinous" because the men were partially armed, uniformed and under military discipline. The cause of the soldiers' protest was the failure of the French authorities to provide them with back-pay and demobilization premiums. The event in Thiaroye sent shockwaves throughout French West Africa . The uprising reflected

2232-603: The hospital, thus totaling 70 deaths. According to an article published in Al Jazeera on 22 November 2013, some veterans later claimed that the death toll actually reached as high as 300 dead. The following year, 34 of the mutineers, who were thought to be the instigators of the insurrection, were tried and given sentences ranging from one to ten years of prison. They were later pardoned as French President Vincent Auriol visited Senegal in March 1947, but they were not exonerated , and

2294-473: The incident is merely mentioned, there is a military cemetery in Senegal that is unkept and receives no visitors. The cemetery holds the unmarked mass graves of the fallen Senegalese soldiers. The Senegalese army prevents any film or photography of the cemetery, and many locals consider the cemetery to be haunted due to the fallen Senegalese soldiers still awaiting the vengeance of their honor. On July 18, 2024, Six African riflemen, executed with dozens of others on

2356-626: The law, property ownership rights, rights to travel, dissent, or vote. The exception was the Four Communes of Senegal: those areas had been towns of the tiny Senegal Colony in 1848 when, at the abolition of slavery by the French Second Republic , all residents of France were granted equal political rights. Anyone able to prove they were born in these towns was legally French. They could vote in parliamentary elections, which had been previously dominated by white and mixed-race residents of Senegal. The Four Communes of Senegal were entitled to elect

2418-471: The lead dust created by sifting, climbed. As of the end of 2008, this pollution has been blamed for at least 18 deaths and hundreds of poisoning related illnesses, along with uncounted deaths of animals and human miscarriages . A much publicised government cleanup campaign has, according to the World Health Organization , been ineffective, and plans are under study to move entire neighbourhoods in

2480-406: The matter was settled. This act of disobedience prompted brigadier general Marcel Dagnan to visit the camp on 28 November. During his visit, Dagnan was shocked by the hostility he encountered. His car was damaged, and he claimed he had been close to being taken hostage by the men. He declared the camp in open mutiny and decided to make a show of force to bring it back under his authority. On

2542-416: The morning of 1 December at 6:30 AM, three companies of the 1st Regiment of Senegalese Tirailleurs and the 7th Regiment of Senegalese Tirailleurs , backed by elements from local National Gendarmerie units, elements from the 6th Regiment of Colonial Artillery and one M3 Stuart light tank, entered the military camp in an attempt to end the rebellion. According to official reports, at around 7:30 one of

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2604-442: The municipal elections of late 1956. On 31 March 1957, under universal suffrage, territorial Assembly elections were held in each of the eight colonies (Togo as a UN trust Territory was at this stage on a different trajectory). The leaders of the winning parties were appointed to the newly instituted positions of Vice-Presidents of the respective Governing Councils — French Colonial Governors remained as Presidents. The Constitution of

2666-431: The mutineers pulled a knife, but was soon disarmed. At around 8:45, a gunshot was heard, but claimed no victim. The deadly confrontation occurred around 9:30 AM. Accounts vary regarding what ignited the gunfight. According to some versions, it began when one of the mutineers opened fire from one of the barracks, while other versions put the blame on a warning shot fired by a soldier of the repression force to intimidate

2728-500: The mutineers. In any case, a fusillade ensued, which, though it lasted for less than a minute, killed and wounded at least several dozens among the mutineers, and wounded three men among the forces sent to repress the mutiny. The official report of December 2 states that 24 of the mutineers were killed outright and 45 were wounded, 11 of which subsequently died of their wounds. A report by Dagnan on December 5 however speaks of 24 killed outright and 46 who later died of their wounds at

2790-581: The orders of French army officers in 1944 in Thiaroye in Senegal, were declared “dead for France” by the French National Office of Combatants and war victims. Senegalese author and filmmaker Ousmane Sembène directed a film, Camp de Thiaroye (1988), documenting the events leading up to the Thiaroye massacre, as well as the massacre itself. The film is considered historical fiction , as the characters are not necessarily based on actual tirailleurs who were killed. The film received positive reviews at

2852-406: The population of the three communes at 24,867, 41,612 and 102,985. Thiaroye continues to be integrated economically into Dakar, with much of the population commuting to the city center for work. Thiaroye-Gare is named for the large train station on the line leading to Dakar, and continues to be a major transport center. Goods and people travelling to and from Dakar must pass here, and it is one of

2914-646: The pretext of preventing the spread of tropical diseases , the Germans also wanted to prevent the " racial defilement " ( Rassenschande ) of German women outlawed by the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Following the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, the African troops interned in Frontstalags all over France were liberated by advancing Allied troops and subsequently repatriated to French West Africa . On 5 November,

2976-451: The produce market have grown markets for general manufactures, one of the largest lumber markets in Dakar, and wholesale companies supplying markets in city center. There are over 4500 formal traders, almost that many street sellers and a thousand or more wholesale shops surrounding the market. The lumber market has also drawn artisanal woodcarvers and an industry selling wood for barbeque cooking at festivals and family celebrations. Thiaroye

3038-423: The reasons neighboring Pikine was founded as a relocation camp in 1952. Small scale industry, artisanal trades and commerce make up much of the rest of the economy, though unemployment remains high, as in other outer suburbs, which see regular immigration from rural areas. One outgrowth of small scale industry in Thiaroye has been a high rate of pollution and pollution-related diseases. One recent form of income,

3100-468: The recruitment of forced labour, and the enforcement of "customary law". In general, Canton Chiefs served at the behest of their Cercle Commander and were left to see to their own affairs as long as calm was maintained and Administrative orders were carried out. With an area of some 4,689,000 square kilometres (1,810,000 sq mi) (mostly the desert or semi-desert interior of Mauritania , Sudan and Niger ) extending from Africa's westernmost point to

3162-414: The restructuring of the people's lives he governed. The other official office particular to the local administration of French West Africa was the "Chief". These were Africans appointed by French officials for their loyalty to France, regardless of their rights to local power. These chiefs were assigned created territories based on the scale of a French Canton, as well as on the small scale tribal structures

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3224-430: The rights to arrest, try, punish and imprison subjects. It also gave French local authorities the right to requisition forced labour, usually limited to able-bodied men for a few weeks a year, but in practice having few restrictions. These "tools" included the Civilizing mission ideology common in the period following the First World War. Every new Cercle Commander might well bring with him vast projects for development and

3286-592: The salvaging of automobile batteries for products including lead , has created a highly publicised wave of childhood illnesses. In the past, local blacksmiths of the Thiaroye Sur Mer area had salvaged lead from car batteries to fashion into net weights for the nearby fishing industry. In the mid-2000s, as the world price of lead increased, purchasing agents from India offered large payments for lead, leading locals to sift tailings from smithies' and breakers' yards for lead pellets, usually by hand. Lead poisoning of children born to workers, or those who were exposed to

3348-444: The territorial expansion of its "officers on the ground", and transferred all the territories west of Gabon to a single governor based in Senegal, reporting directly to the Minister of Overseas Affairs. The first governor-general of Senegal was named in 1895, and in 1904, the territories he oversaw were formally named French West Africa (AOF). Gabon would later become the seat of its own federation French Equatorial Africa (AEF), which

3410-432: The territory of Upper Volta was divided from French Sudan by colonial decree in 1921, it automatically also entered the AOF. Between 1934 and 1937, the League of Nations Mandate territory of French Togoland was subsumed into Dahomey, and between its seizure from Germany in World War I and independence it was administered through the AOF. In 1904, both Mauritania and Niger were classed "Military Territories": ruled by

3472-435: The time it was released and continues to be heralded by scholars as important historical documentation of the Thiaroye massacre. The movie was banned in France for over a decade. Guinean writer Fodéba Keïta wrote and staged the narrative poem Aube africaine ("African Dawn", 1957) as a theatre-ballet based on the massacre. In African Dawn , a young man called Naman complies with the French colonial rulers by fighting in

3534-422: The town. Thiaroye-Gare market is situated along the border with Pikine near the Thiaroye station, and is the largest produce market in the Dakar region, fed by suppliers from Nyayes , Cap-Vert , Casamance , and Keur Massar . The train line (the Petit train bleu ) from Dakar stops at the very center of the market, making it easy for city residents to shop there, and avoiding the higher city prices. Around

3596-515: The widows of the fallen mutineers of 1944 were never awarded the veteran pensions usually granted to widows of fallen soldiers. After the war ended, the French argued that the tirailleurs were particularly prone to revolt. The French have based this claim on the notion that German soldiers, in an attempt to undermine the loyalty of France's colonial subjects in Africa, had given the tirailleurs favored treatment as prisoners of war. This ostensibly good treatment of tirailleurs in prisoner of war camps

3658-444: Was Saint-Louis in Senegal until 1902, and then Dakar until the federation's collapse in 1960. With an area of 4,689,000 km , French West Africa was eight times the size of Metropolitan France . French Equatorial Africa had an additional area of 2,500,000 km . Until after World War II, almost none of the Africans living in the colonies of France were citizens of France. Rather, they were "French subjects," lacking rights before

3720-438: Was marked by variety and flux. Throughout the history of the AOF, individual colonies and military territories were reorganized numerous times, as was the Government General in Dakar. French Upper Volta was formed and parceled out to neighboring colonies twice. The future states of Mauritania and Niger remained out of the federation until the 1920s and 1940s respectively. They were Military Territories , directly controlled by

3782-429: Was not, however, based in fact. The Thiaroye massacre is not taught in schools in France, and a Senegalese film about the massacre released in 1988, Camp de Thiaroye , was both banned in France and censored in Senegal. A new generation of French leadership wants to confront the past and even planned to build an exhibition about the incident, which would travel to former French colonies in Western Africa in 2013. While

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3844-460: Was to border its western neighbor on the modern boundary between Niger and Chad . France abolished slavery in French West Africa. This process was gradual. Slavery was formally illegal in all French land including their colonies from 1848, but this law only applied to French citizens in territories officially under French law, which meant that indigenous subjects without French citizenship were not obliged to obey. In French West Africa in 1903-1905,

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