List of colonial administrators of French West Africa

French West Africa.

This is a list of European colonial administrators (French: Gouverneur général de l'Afrique occidentale française) responsible for the territory of French West Africa, an area equivalent to modern-day Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.

List

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

Tenure	Portrait	Incumbent	Notes
16 June 1895 to 1 November 1900		Jean-Baptiste Chaudié, Governor-General
15 July 1897 to 2 October 1897		Noël Ballay, acting Governor-General	Acting for Chaudié
28 July 1898 to 13 November 1898			Acting for Chaudié
1 November 1900 to 26 January 1902		Noël Ballay, Governor-General
19 April 1901 to 26 October 1901		Victor Lanrezac, acting Governor-General	Acting for Ballay
26 January 1902 to 15 March 1902		Pierre Paul Marie Capest, acting Governor-General
15 March 1902 to 15 December 1907		Ernest Roume, Governor-General
29 June 1902 to 25 October 1902		Victor Liotard, acting Governor-General	Acting for Roume
10 June 1903 to 29 October 1903		Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General	Acting for Roume
8 July 1904 to 5 October 1904			Acting for Roume
21 July 1905 to 5 November 1905			Acting for Roume
18 March 1905 to 22 April 1905		Camille Guy, acting Governor-General	Acting for Roume
15 December 1907 to 9 March 1908		Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General	1st time
9 March 1908 to 26 June 1915		William Merlaud-Ponty, Governor-General
January 1912 to August 1912		François Joseph Clozel, acting Governor-General	Acting for Ponty
14 June 1915 to 3 June 1917		François Joseph Clozel, Governor-General	Acting for Ponty to 26 June 1915
3 June 1917 to 22 January 1918		Joost van Vollenhoven, Governor-General
22 January 1918 to 30 July 1919		Gabriel Louis Angoulvant, acting Governor-General
30 July 1919 to 16 September 1919		Charles Désiré Auguste Brunet, acting Governor-General
16 September 1919 to 18 March 1923		Martial Henri Merlin, Governor-General	2nd time
18 March 1923 to 15 October 1930		Jules Carde, Governor-General
31 May 1924 to 19 October 1924		Auguste Dirat, acting Governor-General	Acting for Cardé
17 April 1926 to 19 November 1926			Acting for Cardé
23 March 1929 to 30 October 1929			Acting for Cardé
15 October 1930 to 27 September 1936		Joseph Jules Brévié, Governor-General
6 April 1933 to 2 December 1933		Albéric Auguste Fournier, acting Governor-General	Acting for Brévié
7 May 1935 to 5 December 1935		Pierre Boisson, acting Governor-General	Acting for Brévié
27 September 1936 to 14 July 1938		Jules Marcel de Coppet, Governor-General
14 July 1938 to 28 October 1938		Léon Geismar, acting Governor-General
28 October 1938 to 10 August 1939		Pierre Boisson, acting Governor-General	1st time
10 August 1939 to 25 June 1940		Léon Henri Charles Cayla, Governor-General
25 June 1940 to 13 July 1943		Pierre Boisson, Governor-General	2nd time; also named Vichy French High Commissioner for all "French Africa", responsible for the territories that did not rally to the Free French
13 July 1943 to 2 April 1946		Pierre Charles Cournarie, Governor-General
May 1946 to 27 January 1948		René Victor Marie Barthes, Governor-General
27 January 1948 to 24 May 1951		Paul Béchard, Governor-General
24 May 1951 to 21 September 1952		Paul Louis Gabriel Chauvet, acting Governor-General
21 September 1952 to 5 July 1956		Bernard Cornut-Gentille, Governor-General
5 July 1956 to 4 April 1957		Gaston Cusin, Governor-General
4 April 1957 to July 1958		Gaston Cusin, High Commissioner
July 1958 to 22 December 1958		Pierre Messmer, High Commissioner

See also

• French West Africa
• Ivory Coast
• Benin
  • French Dahomey
• Mali
  • French Sudan
• Guinea
• Mauritania
• Niger
• Senegal
• Burkina Faso
  • French Upper Volta
• Togo
  • French Togoland
• Lists of office-holders
• List of French possessions and colonies

External links

• Ben Cahoon (2000). "French West Africa". WorldStatesmen.org. Retrieved 15 January 2017.