ABSTRACT
Colonisation is the imposition of foreign domination on a people. The history of French colonialism and African resistance in West Africa can for convenience be divided into two broad phases. First, there was the period of penetration and conquest and, secondly, the period during which attempts were made to consolidate conquest and establish a firm colonial regime. African reactions to the French presence were determined partly by the mode of penetration and partly by existing inter-state relations within this area of Africa during the period. African reactions to the French efforts at establishing and consolidating their rule came in different forms from 1900 onwards. Up to the First World War the resistance to French rule took the form of wars in the forest states of the Ivory Coast and in Mauritania, the Timbuktu region, Upper Volta and Niger. From 1906 to the First World War, Mahdist movements were reported in several parts of the Western Sudan, Guinea, Mauritania and Senegal.
