Aims and objectives
Dakar, Senegal—the former capital of the colonial federation of French West Africa—contains a rich repository of geological and mining archives left behind by French and African geologists who conducted geological, hydrological and mineral prospecting missions from the 1890s to the 1960s in present-day Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. Comprised of original reports, correspondence, maps and photographs, this archive offers unique insights into the history of science, indigenous metallurgical knowledge and environmental change in West Africa. Recently displaced from its home of over 70 years, this archive is endangered. Guided by a rapid inventory recently carried out by Senegal’s National Geological Service, this project aims to digitise the collection from Senegal’s colonial period while reinforcing the capacity of our team to digitise other collections in the future.
