West Africa absorbed a significant share of French iron and steel exports.

Evidence

West Africa accounted for I I percent of French exports of rails, I 5 percent of locomotives, and 19 percent of iron and steel structures between 1900 and 1904, and these figures would hold good until the war. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 199

Categorization

• SHARE: Specific export-share figures for rails, locomotives, and steel structures — worth sharing with someone studying the economic motives behind French railroad building in Africa.