Strangers within Their Borders

During the first eighty years of the nineteenth century, the French expanded their activities in the Casamance from sporadic trading expeditions to permanent settlements, while gaining formal recognition of French sovereignty over the Diola townships. During this period, however, they did not attempt to establish the type of formal control expressed in taxation, forced labor, and land cessions typical of their activities in northern Senegal or seek to regulate the internal affairs of the Diola townships. Rather than French administrators, African Muslim and Lusa-African traders were the primary representatives of French expansion. These groups established a series of small villages throughout the region, including Esulalu.

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