| This study considers the interaction of politics, economy, society and ecology in the upper Senegal valley from the mid-nineteenth century until the end of the First World War. During this crucial and turbulent period, the region was transformed from an export-producing area on the frontier of European expansion into a marginal, labor reserve. Environmental conditions, civil wars and jihad, local politics, colonialism and migration contributed to the region's growth and decline.;A regional framework requires a new approach to and utilization of the available sources. Abundant though under-utilized archival materials, a critical reading of travellers' accounts and other published works, and new oral evidence permit several findings. The diversity and vitality of the economy and the growing colonial presence in the heartland contributed to the region's recovery after several ecological and war-induced crises. Rather than returning to traditional methods, inhabitants responded with new means and relations of production and exchange. However, the entire upper Senegal valley was gradually but irrevocably marginalized, especially after the fall in gum prices in the mid-1890s. The severe famine of 1913-14, intensive war recruitment and mobilization efforts and increased permanent migration to other areas sealed the position of the river valley on the periphery of the French colonial empire in West Africa.;The upper Senegal valley, consisting of the concentrated states of Bundu, Khasso and Gajaaga (Goy and Kamera), and the dispersed societies of Bambuk and Gidimaka, constituted a unified and distinct ecological, economic and cultural region located in the transitional zone between the Sahara Desert and the Guinea rainforest. The Senegal River system divided the area into varying degrees of core and periphery which shifted over time, primarily because of changing French interests. Settlements along the water routes were generally larger, more economically diverse and commercialized, and in closer contact with the colonial administration. The remaining and larger part of the region consisted of widely scattered agricultural and pastoral villages where the limited French presence was often scarcely felt. |
