CFA Franc and French Africa

When we talk about the French empire, it usually is associated with the famous Napoleon Bonaparte. But that was the 18th century and the French territories did expand massively that time. But coming to the 19th and 20th centuries, French expansion took place once again, this time in the very next neighbor to Europe - Africa. At one point there were about 20 odd countries under the French rule in Africa, the largest divisions being French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. Algeria was technically France's geographically separated entity in Africa (an overseas department of France in Africa). But one remarkable feature that existed in French Africa was a special currency - a monetary unit that continued even after the independence of these countries. 

CFA stands for les Colonies Françaises de l'Afrique that became the currency of 14 African nations. Its divided into two subdivision, which are as follows - 

West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)

1. Benin
2. Burkina Faso
3. Côte d’Ivoire
4. Guinea-Bissau
5. Mali
6. Niger
7. Senegal
8. Togo

Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC)

1. Cameroon
2. Central African Republic
3. Republic of Congo
4. Gabon
5. Equatorial Guinea
6. Chad

Except for Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Togo, the remaining others were former French colonies while these three were Spanish, Portuguese and British colonies. The currency was established on 26th December 1945 and although none of these nations are European dependencies, CFA Franc is still in use in several African nations. Its basically two currencies - Western African CFA Franc and Central African CFA Franc - which are although two separate entities, but is used interchangeably and pegged against Euro for changing values. 6 other countries also used CFA Franc till a point when they left the Franc zone in 1958 (Tunisia), 1959 (Guinea), 1960 (Morocco), 1964 (Algeria) and 1973 (Mauritania and Madagascar). Comoros being the only former French colony (although Reunion is still a part of France) never used CFA Franc and instead used its own currency, Comorian Franc. 

The names of CFA Franc changed from Colonies Françaises d'Afrique (between 1945 to 1958) to Communauté Française d'Afrique (between 1958 to 1960s, the decade of independence of several African nations). At present, it's better known as Communauté Financière Africaine. 

An alarming issue occurred in 1994 when the devaluation of 1 French Franc (FF) to 50 FCFA changed to 100 FCFA. And when Euro came into picture in 1999, the valuation of FCFA severely dropped to 1€ to 655.597 FCFA. Several reasons to this downfall of FCFA, one being the 1980s monetary downgrading of certain African market products such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, oil etc. on international markets and the sharp rise in market-values of imported goods. The economic turmoil of this phase is still remembered painfully by local Africans. 

FCFA currency note - 1000 Francs

The currency note of CFA Franc is pretty interesting and one such sample (from the blogger's personal collection) is shown here. The currency note attached here was a 1000 Francs note in circulation between 1993 to 2002. The notes here shows Bakele wood mask and a group of coffee collectors The note belongs to central African states and hence is the Central African CFA Franc (XAF), and a map of the countries where it's applicable is also mentioned. Interestingly, these nations - Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea - were also part of the former French Equatorial Africa (except Equatorial Guinea which was Spanish; Rio Muni & Cameroon was a separate French colony). 

French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa

The map attached here is of western and central Africa dating back to 1900. Note that the French West Africa was an entity that existed between 1895 to 1958 and at this time the boundaries were pretty different from current ones especially for Niger, Mauritania and Mali. Mali was then known as French Sudan and at times, even Sudanese Republic briefly in 1958. Its interesting as the name Sudan refers to multiple geographical locations - the current nations of Sudan and South Sudan, the former French Sudan, a huge area marked on maps that extends from Burkina Faso to Chad (something like how Guinea denoted the entire west African coast). Listing down some of the former French territories of French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa between 19th-20th centuries: 

1. Ivory Coast-Gabon colony (1860)
2. French Territory of Upper Senegal (1880)
3. French Equatorial Africa (1886)
4. Middle Congo-Gabon territory (1888)
5. French protectorate of  Côte d'Ivoire (1889)
6. French Sudan (1890)
7. French Congo (1891)
8. French Riviéres du Sud colony (1891)
9. French Guinea (1893)
10. French protectorate of Haute-Volta (1895)
11. Territory of Upper Senegal and Middle Niger (1899)
12. Senagambia and Niger (1902)
13. Upper Senegal and Niger (1904)
14. Congo-Brazzaville (1910)
15. French colony of Haute Volta (1919)
16. French Sudan (1920)
17. Haute Côte d'Ivoire (1938)
18. French overseas territory Haute-Volta (1947)
19. Sudanese Republic (1958)

The boundaries of these political entities kept changing although major geographical names remained the same since beginning. Another interesting entity that emerged soon after independence was the Union of African States (1961-1962), a short-lived loose federation of newly emerged African nations such as Ghana, Guinea and Mali (hence, also referred as Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union) that even welcomed union of other African nations. But the union was a failed attempt and UAS was soon dismantled within a year. 

The map here shows political boundaries of west African nations in 1900. Interestingly, the boundary for Upper Volta (or today's Burkina Faso) is missing and is seen as merged with Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, although the French protectorate was established in 1895. This is because although a protectorate was already formed, the actual partition from French Sudan and Côte d'Ivoire took place in 1933 to form today's borders of Burkina Faso. The blue-purple regions are former French colonies, the red-crimson are British, green is for Portuguese, pale lime shade is for Italian and mud-yellow is for Spanish.