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Migrations as Revolt: The Example of the Ivory Coast and the Upper Volta before 1945*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

A. I. Asiwaju
A. I. Asiwaju
Affiliation:
University of Lagos
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Extract

This study is offered as a contribution to the literature on African protest movements during the era of colonial rule. Existing studies of migration emphasize the socio-economic aspects of motivation and have tended to gloss over or even omit migrations in which the dominant factor was disapproval of colonial policy. Existing studies of African protest movements focus on armed confrontations, perhaps because of their greater dramatic appeal.

The case of the Ivory Coast and Upper Volta illustrates a phenomenon found in various parts of French West Africa and, indeed, in other colonies, particularly the Belgian and Portuguese territories. The causes of protest migrations were usually related to the same resentments which provoked revolt in localities where armed confrontation was the only option. These compelling factors included forced labour, burdensome taxation, conscription, requisitions and an attack on indigenous political institutions, notably chieftaincy. The use of repressive police measures, as manifested in the Native Penal and Indigénat Codes, exacerbated African discontent. Judging from the French reaction to the exodus from the Ivory Coast and Upper Volta, it is clear that migrations, as protests, proved far less costly to Africans and had much the same effect on the colonial authorities as did other more militant forms of protest and rebellion.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , October 1976 , pp. 577 - 594
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

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21 In 1929 the Governor of the Gold Coast was reported to have made the exodus from the Ivory Coast one of his keynote addresses at the opening session of the Legislative Council. See A.N.A. (D): IV-46/11–3304, Abidjan le 26 Septembre 1936–No. 446 BPA/1 Le Gouverneur des Colonies p. i Lamy, Lt.-Gouv. de la Côte d'lvoire à M. Le Gouv.-Gen. de 1'A.O.F. (Direction des Affaires Politiques et Administratives), a.s. Immigration en Gold Coast, p. 15.

22 A.N.A. (H): Mi 25—Extrait du Rapport Politique de la Côte d'Ivoire—ier Trimestre de l'Année 1918.

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36 Anouma, , L'Impôt de Capitation …, 7, 95–118.Google Scholar

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39 A.N.A. (D): Rapport Pieussergues, 1935.Google Scholar

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45 For a recent scholarly analysis of the problems posed by military conscription in French West Africa see Echenberg, Myron J., ‘Paying the Blood Tax: Military Conscription in French West Africa, 1914–1929’, Canadian Jour, of Afr. Stud. ix (1975), 171–92.Google Scholar

46 A.N.A. (H): Mi 25—Extract. Travelling Confidential No. Case 224A C.S.2. Provincial Commissioner's Office, Secondee, 9 Feb. 1917 to the Hon. The Acting Colonial Secretary, Victoriaburg, Accra—Enclosure in Dakar No. 19 of 15 Feb. 1917—para. 7. Signed John Maxwell, Commissioner Western Province.

47 Ibid.

48 A.N.A. (H), Série zee 12 (3)—Dossier relatif à l'Exode des Agnis en Gold Coast et aux événements de Half-Assinie 1917—Kodiale Kassy, roi du Royaume d'Assinie è M. le Gouverneur-General de l'A.O.F. è Grand Bassam, le 22 juin 1917.

49 Ibid.

50 Ibid.

51 Ibid.

52 See A.N.A. (D), Dossier XII–29–25/92 (458), Contrô1e d'Indigénat dans les cercles de Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, Dedougou, Gaoua, Batie, Kodougou, Kaya, Tenkodogo (Observations du Bureau Politique), 1928–32.

53 For example, in the course of the French ‘pacification’ of Assinie, Southern Baule, Northern Baule, Man, Guro, N'Zi—Comoe, Lahu and the Lagoon districts, over two hundred and twenty chiefs received punishment ranging from banishment in distant detention camps to imprisonment in local gaols. See Anouma, , ‘L'Impôt de Capitation …’, 119.Google Scholar

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59 In Dahomey, for example, relocation in more accessible neighbourhoods was an important aspect of French military conquest and suppression in Ohori-Ije, the Mono valley and the lagoon districts of the difficult Cercle de l'Atlantique de l'Ouest.

60 Lauer, J. J., ‘Economic Innovations Among the Idoo of Western Ivory Coast, 1900–1960’, unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Wisconsin, 1973, ch. 5.Google Scholar

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62 The inadvisability of emigration in this case was influenced by the fact that in Liberia, the nearest state into which willing Idoo could escape, the policy of the Liberian government was scarcely different from the pattern in French territory. Indeed, as happened in May 1919, the Grebos, the Bopos and some other Liberian indigenes reacted to the Americo-Liberian administration and migrated en masse into the adjacent Cercle de Cavally in south-western Ivory Coast. See A.N.A. (H), 2ee 12 (5): Cercle du Cavally Colonie de la Côte d'Ivoire No. 492, Tabou le 25 mai 1919, Note sur un mouvement d'immigration d'Indigènes Liberiens sur la rive gauche du Cavally pendant le mois de Mai 1919.

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64 A.N.A. (H), Mi 25—Gouv-Gen. au Lt.-Gouv. … 20 Oct. 1917.

65 Ibid.

66 A.N.A. (H), Mi 25—‘Extract. Travelling Confidential No. Case 224A … Accra … Enclosure in Dakar No. 19 of 15 Feb. 1917, already cited.

67 A.N.A. (H): Mi 25—Commandant de Cercle Assinie à M. le Gouverneur de la Côte d'lvoire à Bingerville, le 28 Fev. 1917.

68 A.N.A. (H), 2ee 12 (3), Kodiale Kassy, roi du Royaume d'Assinie à M. le Gouverneur-General … 22–6–17.

69 A.N.A. (D), IV-46/11–3304: Lt. Gouverneur p.i. à M. le Gouverneur-General à Dakar, , 26 Sept. 1936, 11.Google Scholar

70 In the Rapport Pieussergues, for example, the loss of population in certain districts as a result of the exodus of 1935 was indicated as follows:

71 Delavignette, R., Les Vrais Chefs …Google Scholar, cited in Suret-Canale, , Afrique Noire …, 315.Google Scholar

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73 A.N.A. (H): Mi 25—Extrait du Rapport Politique de la Côte d'lvoire —ier Trimestre de l'Année 1918.

74 A.N.A. (D), Rapport Itier, 17.Google Scholar

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76 Asiwaju, , Western Yorubaland, Chs. 6–7.Google Scholar

77 Rapport Itier, 16.Google Scholar

78 Ibid.

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82 A.N.A. (H), Mi 25—Extract—Travelling Confidential No. Case 224A—Provincial Commissioner's Office, Secondee … 9th Feb. 1917 … Para. 2.

83 A.N.A. (H), Mi 25—Lieutenant-Gouverneur de la Côte d'lvoire au Gouverneur-General à Dakar, , 6 Dec. 1917, p. 8Google Scholar. Also A.N.A. (D), Rapport Itier, 66.Google Scholar

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87 A.N.A. (H), Mi 25—L'Administrateur Commandant Cercle d'Assinie à M. le Gouverneur de la Côte d'Ivoire à Bingerville, 28 Fev. 1917.

88 A.N.A. (D), IV–46/11–3304, Le Lt-Gouverneur à M. Le Gouverneur-General de l'A.O.F. (Direction des Affaires Politiques et Administratives, Dakar, , 26 Sept. 1936, 11–12).Google Scholar

89 Ibid. 12.

90 Ibid. 13.

91 Ibid. 13–14.

92 Ibid. 13–14.