West African Federation (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

West African Federation Fédération ouest-africaine Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  Un Peuple, Un But, Une Foi (French) ("One People, One Goal, One Faith")
Anthem:  Pincez tous vos koras, frappez les balafons
Location of the West African Federation
Capital		Dakar
Official languages		French
Ethnic groups		Mande; Wolof; Fula; Mossi; Serer; Akan; Arabs
Religion		Islam; Christianity; Traditional religions
Demonym		West African
Government		Federal state; Single-party socialist state
-	President
-	Prime Minister
Legislature		Parliament of the West African Federation
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	National Assembly
Establishment
-	Independence from France	March 27, 1960
Area
-	Total	4,574,237 km2  1,766,123 sq mi
Population
-	estimate	148,078,340
Currency		West African franc (XOF)
Time zone		various (UTC+0 to +2)
Internet TLD		.oa
Calling code		+221

The West African Federation (French: Fédération ouest-africaine, WAF) is a country located in West Africa. It is externally bounded by Guinea and Ivory Coast to the southwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Morocco and Algeria to the north, Libya to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia as well as the Portuguese overseas province of Portuguese Guinea, namely on the north, east and south, except for their short Atlantic coastlines. The West African Federation is the largest country in Africa and the sixth largest in the world by covering a land area of about 4,574,237 sq km (1,766,123 sq mi). With a population of 148,078,340 by 2022, it is the third largest country in Africa by population. The West African Federation is a member of the French Community.

History

French West Africa

Colonial expansion

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 the territorial expansion and transferred all the territories west of Gabon to a single Governor based in Senegal, reporting directly to the Minister of Overseas Affairs.

In 1895, the first Governor General of Senegal was named. The territories he oversaw were formally named French West Africa as a colonial union of Senegambia and Niger, French Sudan, French Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire in 1904. The governor-general was based first in Saint-Louis and then in Dakar, started from 1902. French West Africa subsequently expanded to neighboring French-ruled territories: Mauritania in 1920, and when the territory of Upper Volta was divided from French Sudan by colonial decree in 1921, it automatically also entered the colonial federation.

World War I

Until after the World War II, like almost all the Africans living in the colonies of France, the African residents of French West Africa were lacking rights before the law, property ownership rights, rights to travel, dissent, or vote. However, the citizens of Four Communes of Senegal were the notable exception as they were granted equal political rights as the residents of France.

The Four Communes of Senegal, consisted of Dakar, Gorée, Saint-Louis, and Rufisque, were entitled to elect a deputy to represent them in the French Parliament in the years 1848–1852, 1871–1876, 1879–1889, and 1907-1940. In 1914, Blaise Diagne, was elected as the African deputy for Senegal in the French Parliament. In 1916, Diagne pushed through the National Assembly a law to grant full citizenship to all residents of Four Communes, in return 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 a representative to the French National Assembly.

Interbellum era

A steam locomotive ran in a track to Timbuktu, 1939.

A plan for a Trans-Saharan rail line to link French Algeria and French West Africa had been first proposed since 1879. However, it was abandoned after the survey team was massacred by Tuareg during the expedition in 1881. Instead, the separate rail lines were constructed across the French possessions in Africa. Construction works of Dakar-Niger Railway was finished in 1924, while the Abidjan-Niger Railway finished in 1934. They connected the Niger River with the port cities of Dakar and Abidjan. During the État Nouveau era, the proposal for a Trans-Saharan Railway was revived again to connect existing railways in Algeria and West African colonies across the Sahel.

The revival of the project was intended to increase the integrity of the French African empire and the spirit of the French nation as a whole. The completion of the Koulikoro-Bobo Dioulassou line in 1935 connected French West Africa coast to coast, merging two separate railways into a single Dakar-Abidjan Railway. Starting from 1936, works to connect Algerian lines with the West African ones started simultaneously. From Colomb-Béchar, new route was expanded to Adrar, while in the south, a new route was built to Timbuktu from Koulikoro. The construction was planned to be finished by 1942, but the breakout of World War II halted the project. The track that would connecting Bordj Badji Mokhtar, Algeria to Gao was left unbuilt between 1939–1961.

Further readings