Editing Sahel (section)

==== Colonial History ====
The French language in the Sahel, as in much of Africa, is a remnant of colonial history and a foreign import to a region characterized by linguistic diversity.<ref>{{Citation |last=Mann |first=Gregory |title=French Colonialism and The Making of the Modern Sahel |date=2021-12-08 |work=The Oxford Handbook of the African Sahel |pages=35–50 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198816959.013.9 |access-date=2025-05-06 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-881695-9}}</ref> After establishing French culture in northern Senegal in the mid-19th century, colonial governors like General [[Louis Faidherbe]] pushed deeper into the Sahel's interior, facing opposition from regional leaders. Despite resistance, territory was accrued and placed under the control of lieutenant governors who extracted resources and labor from local populations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=French in West Africa |url=https://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/French_16178.html |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=www.africa.upenn.edu}}</ref> The greater Sahel was subsequently organized into the massive territory of [[French West Africa]] in 1895, noted for its linguistic diversity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Leonard V. |date=2023-07-31 |title=French Colonialism: From the Ancien Régime to the Present |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108874489.002 |journal=French Colonialism |pages=78-82 |doi=10.1017/9781108874489.002}}</ref>