Did you know that French is the 2nd most common language after English? Not in terms of population because Mandarin Chinese would reign supreme, but in the number of countries that either have it as a first or second language. This is because of the extensive French colonizing of the world, including Africa, where there are 21 countries that speak French.
On this day February 24th, in 1891, Captain Louis Archinard’s troops occupy Diéna West Sudan. Archinard was a French Army general who helped the French with their conquest over West Africa. In French history he is referred to as the “pacifier” of French Sudan.
French Sudan was a French colony which existed at two points in time, 1890-1899 & 1920-1960. Currently French Sudan is called Mali; it is landlocked and borders Algeria and Niger. Mali had a population of 14.5 million (2009) and is one of the poorest countries in the world, the average annual salary of a worker being $1500.