(46 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
that the efforts of the Republic to establish a successful 
administration in these regions would more than likely end 
in failure. But the world has been happily disappointed. 
The twenty-five years of progressive and enlightened 
government prior to the war demonstrated that the French 
deserve a place in the front rank of the world’s greatest 
colonizers. Here we note again the evidence of the new 
spirit of progressive and triumphant democracy which came 
to life with the new Republic in 1871, and which rejuvenated 
the French nation, awakened the ambition of her leaders, 
saved the old stagnant colonies, and gave her a new colonial 
empire. 
The work of unification and development has progressed 
steadily and intelligently. In 1895, the whole of French 
West Africa was brought under one government which was 
still further systematized in 1904. Its area is about 1,800,- 
000 square miles and its population about 12,300,000. The 
inhabitants are of many tribes and races, from the blacks of 
the Guinea Coast to the white Touaregs.! Five million of 
them are Moslems. French West Africa is divided into the 
older colonies of Senegal, French Guinea, the Ivory Coast, 
and Dahomey; and the newer colonies of Mauretania, Upper 
Volta, French Sudan, and Niger. These new colonies, in 
their titles and boundaries, and in their civil as distinguished 
from the earlier military governments, date from 1919-22. 
In 1924 Dakar became an imperial city, independent of the 
colony of Senegal and directly under the Governor-General. 
The Governor-General is responsible to the Cabinet in Paris 
and rules the entire region. Under him are Lieutenant- 
Governors who administer the separate colonies, and under 
them, administrators of circles. It is an immense and di- 
verse territory, and the Governor-Generals have recognized 
the necessity of struggling against the French vice of central- 
1 Arthur Girault Princives de Colonisation, 1921, vol. 11, p. 137