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Trans-Saharan Railway

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Enslaved laborers used for the project.
The Trans-Saharan Railway as proposed by Georges Rolland, a French engineer and a member of the Corps des mines.

The Trans-Saharan Railway was a project conducted by France to build a rail line south through Algeria to sub-Saharan Africa. Its original intended use was to connect coal mines and boost trade throughout North Africa, tie together the French Empire, and connect North Africa to sub-Saharan Africa[1] by connecting the existing rail system of French Algeria to those of French West Africa. The plan for the rail line was first proposed in 1879. The Chamber of Deputies allocated 800,000 francs for an expedition, but the Flatters expedition, named after its leader Paul Flatters, ended in failure when the survey team was massacred by Tuareg in 1881.[2] An engineer, Monsieur A. Duponchel, was the creator of the large plan; in 1900, French paper Le Matin announced that it would proceed by private initiative following a long campaign in its favour by Pierre Paul Leroy-Beaulieu.[3]

However, it wasn't until the Vichy France government that it was actively promoted.[4] It was viewed as a way to increase the integrity of the French Empire and the spirit of the French nation as a whole.

The railway had numerous proposed benefits. It would provide a fast connection to Sudan and enable Sudan's resources to be within France's reach. Additionally, the railway was supposed to transform the region and make it a leading producer in cotton and agricultural goods.[5] The cattle population and rice production would increase dramatically and benefit society.[4]

World War II coincided with the construction of the railway which led to it being built by slave labor in 1941–1942. Forced labor camps were dispersed throughout the country and the trans-Saharan railroad project connected them. Jews, Spanish Republican exiles and other prisoners were forced to work on the project.[6][7] The workers "were poorly fed and housed, and lived in terrible sanitary conditions. Tortures and atrocities were inflicted by the guards for the slightest breach of the rules; the internees were not treated as human beings. Many died from beatings; even more died from outbreaks of typhus or just from exhaustion and hunger."[6]

Ultimately, the trans-Saharan railway was never completed; only a small portion of the tracks was built. Construction stopped in 1944 due to lack of financial support, and in 1945 continuation was officially rejected.[4]

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trans-Saharan Railway.
  1. ^ "Trans-Saharan Railway". Global Security. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. ^ Pakenham, Thomas (1991). The Scramble for Africa. London: Abacus. pp. 167–168. ISBN 978-0349104492.
  3. ^ "The French Sudan". The Times. 8 January 1900.
  4. ^ a b c "Ambiguous Modernity: Representations of French Colonial Railways in the Third Republic". The Western Society for French History. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  5. ^ “Opening up the Sahara,” The Times of London, November 26 1923.
  6. ^ a b "The Jews of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia". Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  7. ^ "El exilio republicano en el norte de África 7. El ferrocarril transahariano". Universidad de Alicante. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
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