Agricultura, comércio de goma-arábica e desenvolvimento no vale do rio Senegal (1785–1845)

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine the socioeconomic development of the Senegal River Valley between 1785 and 1845, interrelating the gum Arabic trade with the political relations between the French enclave of Saint-Louis and the societies of the region. I sought to answer this question: how did the gum Arabic trade relate to the socioeconomic development of the Senegal River Valley in the nineteenth century? In contrast to historiographical interpretations that view the period as an inevitable prelude to European colonization, I demonstrate that, until the mid-19th century, control of commercial, human, and natural resources remained predominantly in the hands of local chiefs and emirs. Drawing on documentation stored in the National Archives of Senegal—especially administrative reports and economic and political treaties—I argue that French intervention was fragmented, uncertain, and constantly limited by African autonomy. The French concept of mise en valeur (in English, development), understood as a plan for agricultural, labor, and territorial reorganization, was confronted with endogenous power dynamics that shaped the circulation, commercialization, and production of gum Arabic. The study reveals that trade, essential to the French enclave, was regulated by local ecological, political, and social logics that not only escaped European control but often conditioned their strategies. Drawing on theoretical debates about development and the Atlantic economy, this dissertation argues that, in the 19th century, the Senegal River Valley was not an antechamber to colonialism, but rather a period of disputes and reconfigurations, during which African societies continued to define the terms of their integration into the Atlantic.