THE COLONIZATION OF FRENCH WEST AFRICA AND POSTAL MONEY TRANSFER SERVICES, 1874-1955. IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGIN OF THE COMPTE D’OPÉRATION

Abstract

France spent an enormous amount of public money establishing a postal network and providing various postal services in its colonies in West Africa. This article begins by outlining how these postal services for money transfer were developed. The research then outlines how the monetary flows using the service tended to move from French West Africa to metropolitan France while government money flowed in the opposite direction. The research highlights how this mechanism, along with the contribution of the French Treasury, helped stabilize the monetary system built between the colonial master and its colonies. It argues that the postal money transfer systems has subsequently contributed to the emergence of the compte d’opération, that, in turn, served to maintain the current CFA franc system.