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FAIDHERBE, LOUIS LEON CESAR (1818–1889)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 126 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FAIDHERBE, See also:LOUIS See also:LEON CESAR (1818–1889) , See also:French See also:general and colonial See also:administrator, was See also:born on the 3rd of See also:June 1818, at See also:Lille, received his military See also:education at the Ecole Polytechnique and at See also:Metz, and entered the See also:engineers in 184o. From 1844 to 1847 he served in See also:Algeria, then two years in the See also:West Indies, and again in Algeria, taking See also:part in many expeditions against the See also:Arabs. In 1852 he was transferred to See also:Senegal as sub-director of engineers, and in 1854 was promoted chef de bataillon and appointed See also:governor of the See also:colony. He held this See also:post with one brief See also:interval until See also:July 1865. The See also:work he accomplished in West See also:Africa constitutes his most enduring See also:monument. At that See also:time See also:France possessed in Senegal little else than the See also:town of St Louis and a See also:strip of See also:coast. Explorers had, however, made known the riches and possibilities of the See also:Niger regions, and Faidherbe formed the See also:design of adding those countries to the French dominions. He even dreamed of creating a French See also:African See also:empire stretching from Senegal to the Red See also:Sea. To accomplish even the first part of his design he had very inadequate resources, especially in view of the aggressive See also:action of See also:Omar Al-Hadji, the Moslem ruler of the countries of the See also:middle Niger. By boldly advancing the French outposts on the upper Senegal Faidherbe stemmed the Moslem advance, and by an advantageous treaty with Omar in 186o brought the French possessions into See also:touch with the Niger. He also brought into subjection the See also:country lying between the Senegal and See also:Gambia. When he resigned his post French See also:rule had been firmly established over a very considerable and fertile See also:area and the See also:foundation laid upon which his successors built up the predominant position occupied now by France in West Africa.

In 1863 he became general of See also:

brigade. From 1867 to the See also:early part of 1870 he commanded the subdivision of See also:Bona in Algeria, and was commanding the See also:Constantine See also:division at the commencement of the Franco-See also:German See also:War. Promoted general of division inNovember 187o, he was on the 3rd of See also:December appointed by the See also:Government of See also:National See also:Defence to be See also:commander-in-See also:chief of the See also:army of the See also:North. In this post he showed himself to he possessed of the highest military talents, and the struggle between the I. German army and that commanded by Faidherbe, in which were included the hard-fought battles of See also:Pont Noyelles, Bapaume and St Quentin, was perhaps the most See also:honourable to the French army in the whole of the See also:People's War. Even with the inadequate force of which he disposed he was able to maintain a steady resistance up to the end of the war. Elected to the National See also:Assembly for the See also:department of the See also:Nord, he resigned his seat in consequence of its reactionary proceedings. For his services he was decorated with the See also:grand See also:cross, and made chancellot of the See also:order of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour. In 1872 he went on a scientific See also:mission to Upper See also:Egypt, where he studied the monuments and See also:inscriptions. An enthusiastic geographer, philologist and archaeologist, he wrote numerous See also:works, among which may be mentioned Collection See also:des inscriptions numidiques (187o), Epigraphie phenicienne (1873), Essai sur la langue poul (1875), and Le See also:Zenaga des tribes senegalaises (1877), the last a study of the See also:Berber See also:language. He also wrote on the See also:geography and See also:history of Senegal and the See also:Sahara, and La Campagne de l'armee du Nord (1872). He was elected a senator in 1879, and, in spite of failing See also:health, continued to the last a See also:close student of his favourite subjects.

He died on the 29th of See also:

September 1889, and received a public funeral. Statues and monuments to his memory were erected at Lille, Bapaume, St Quentin and St Louis, Senegal.

End of Article: FAIDHERBE, LOUIS LEON CESAR (1818–1889)

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