List of colonial administrators of French West Africa

This is a list of European colonial administrators (French: Gouverneur général de l'Afrique occidentale française) responsible for the territory of French West Africa, an area equivalent to modern-day Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.

List edit

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

Tenure	Incumbent	Notes
16 June 1895 to 1 November 1900	Jean-Baptiste Chaudié, Governor-General
15 July 1897 to 2 October 1897	Noël Ballay, acting Governor-General	Acting for Chaudié
28 July 1898 to 13 November 1898	Noël Ballay, acting Governor-General	Acting for Chaudié
1 November 1900 to 26 January 1902	Noël Ballay, Governor-General
19 April 1901 to 26 October 1901	Victor Lanrezac, acting Governor-General	Acting for Ballay
26 January 1902 to 15 March 1902	Pierre Paul Marie Capest, acting Governor-General
15 March 1902 to 15 December 1907	Ernest Roume, Governor-General
29 June 1902 to 25 October 1902	Victor Liotard, acting Governor-General	Acting for Roume
10 June 1903 to 29 October 1903	Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General	Acting for Roume
8 July 1904 to 5 October 1904		Acting for Roume
21 July 1905 to 5 November 1905		Acting for Roume
18 March 1905 to 22 April 1905	Camille Guy, acting Governor-General	Acting for Roume
15 December 1907 to 9 March 1908	Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General	1st time
9 March 1908 to 26 June 1915	William Merlaud-Ponty, Governor-General
January 1912 to August 1912	François Joseph Clozel, acting Governor-General	Acting for Ponty
14 June 1915 to 3 June 1917	François Joseph Clozel, Governor-General	Acting for Ponty to 26 June 1915
3 June 1917 to 22 January 1918	Joost van Vollenhoven, Governor-General
22 January 1918 to 30 July 1919	Gabriel Louis Angoulvant, acting Governor-General
30 July 1919 to 16 September 1919	Charles Désiré Auguste Brunet, acting Governor-General
16 September 1919 to 18 March 1923	Martial Henri Merlin, Governor-General	2nd time
18 March 1923 to 15 October 1930	Jules Carde, Governor-General
31 May 1924 to 19 October 1924	Auguste Dirat, acting Governor-General	Acting for Cardé
17 April 1926 to 19 November 1926		Acting for Cardé
23 March 1929 to 30 October 1929		Acting for Cardé
15 October 1930 to 27 September 1936	Joseph Jules Brévié, Governor-General
6 April 1933 to 2 December 1933	Albéric Auguste Fournier, acting Governor-General	Acting for Brévié
7 May 1935 to 5 December 1935	Pierre Boisson, acting Governor-General	Acting for Brévié
27 September 1936 to 14 July 1938	Jules Marcel de Coppet, Governor-General
14 July 1938 to 28 October 1938	Léon Geismar, acting Governor-General
28 October 1938 to 10 August 1939	Pierre Boisson, acting Governor-General	1st time
10 August 1939 to 25 June 1940	Léon Henri Charles Cayla, Governor-General
25 June 1940 to 13 July 1943	Pierre Boisson, Governor-General	2nd time; also named Vichy French High Commissioner for all "French Africa", responsible for the territories that did not rally to the Free French
13 July 1943 to 2 April 1946	Pierre Charles Cournarie, Governor-General
May 1946 to 27 January 1948	René Victor Marie Barthès, Governor-General
27 January 1948 to 24 May 1951	Paul Béchard, Governor-General
24 May 1951 to 21 September 1952	Paul Louis Gabriel Chauvet, acting Governor-General
21 September 1952 to 5 July 1956	Bernard Cornut-Gentille, Governor-General
5 July 1956 to 4 April 1957	Gaston Custin, Governor-General
4 April 1957 to July 1958	Gaston Custin, High Commissioner
July 1958 to 22 December 1958	Pierre Messmer, High Commissioner