Mauritanie conquete et organisation administrative des territoires du sud (gidimaxa, fuuta tooro et waalo barak) : role des aristocraties politiques et religieuses (1890 - 1945)
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Abstract EN:
Mauritania gathers up in a same colonial administration for the strategic a part of territories belonging to countries which had social and political developments before gathering togather by french colonial power. Those countries were waalo barak, fuuta tooro, gidimaxa and moors's lands named trab el bidan. The north territories of waalo barak and fuuta tooro and the province of gidimaxa are situated on the right bank of senegal river, forming the territories of south mauritania. The "south" had two particularities: first, and contrary to an opinion, the colonial conquests took place in those territories before the project for creation of a colonial area named "western mauritania" by the decree of 27 december 1899. When france decides to conquer senegal valley, the occupation of trab el bidan was not integrated in this programm which concerned only the countries of the valley situated between the atlantique ocean and the upper niger. Waalo barak (1855-1875), fuuta tooro (1858-1891) and gidimaxa (1888-1893) were conquered in order to reach two objectives: to impose a free trade in favour of trench merchants (1855-1877) and the conquest of western sudan (1880-1893). That was the board direction of the conquest (west for east) since the mouth of senegal river as far as the loop of niger river as opposed to the board direction (south-north) that is the one of trab el bidan's conquest (1902-1913). The second particularity was that the administration of north bank was a simple territorial extension of senegal's colony. That was the reason why mauritania had two administrative systems based on several motives : ethnics groupes having their own social and economics traditions. There was the two cultural spaces belonging respectively to "blacks africans" and "moors". In order to save their interests and to adapt to the new politic order imposed by the colonial administration, blacks traditionnels aristocracies invited their own strategy of survival.
Abstract FR:
La mauritanie rassemble des territoires appartenant a des pays qui avaient connu des evolutions socio-politiques differentes avant d'etre regroupes dans cette unite administrative coloniale pour des raisons de geostrategie regionale. Ces pays etaient le royaume du waalo barak, le fuuta tooro, le gidimaxa et le trab el bidan ou pays maures. Les regions septentrionales des trois premiers, correspondant a la rive droite du senegal, forment le "sud" atuel de la mauritanie. Il presente une double specifite : la premiere se trouve dans ses conquetes coloniales qui se situent a une periode anterieure au projet de creation de la colonie par le decret du 27 decembre 1899. Lorsque la france organisa les conquetes et l'administration de la vallee du senegal, dans le cadre du projet d'occupation des pays du bassin du senegal et du haut-niger, elle n'y avait pas integre les territoires du trab el bidan. Ainsi, le waalo-barak (1855 -1875), le fuuta-tooro (1858 - 1891) et le gidimaxa (1886 -1893) furent conquis respectivement pour deux objectifs : le controle de la vallee pour instaurer la liberte de commerce en faveur des francais (1855 - 1877) et la conquete du soudan (1880 - 1893). C'est l'axe de conquete ouest-est, depuis l'embouchure du senegal jusqu'a la boucle du niger, par opposition a l'axe sud-nord nui est celle de la conquete du trab el bidan (1902-1913). La seconde specifite reside dans le mode de gestion des territoires et des populations du "sud". Son organisation etait un prolongement administratif, politique, economique et culturel de la colonie du senegal. Ce qui fit de la mauritanie une colonie a double systeme administratif base sur des considerations ethnico-culturelles et socio-economiques (espaces culturels "negro-africain" et "arabo-berber"). Au sein de cette administration, les aristocraties traditionnelles noires inventerent des strategies de survies politiques et confreriques qui leur permirent de s'adapter au nouveau contexte colonial.