France’s 1900 colonial circular ordered prosecution of slave caravan leaders

Evidence

In I 900, the French minister of colonies instructed his subordinates in West Africa to prosecute, in French courts, the leaders of any slave caravans that they discovered. “France,” he wrote in a circular to the governors, “owes to its traditions and its principles to stay at the head of liberal and civilizing nations, which, after having declared the abolition of slavery, now have a mission to destroy its last vestiges; the honor of our country requires that in all the territories where our domination is assured, the natives be brought to abandon completely the practice of slavery.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 334

Categorization

• SHARE: The minister’s circular is a vivid primary-source quote for anyone teaching French colonial history.