French Equatorial Africa

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French Equatorial Africa
Afrique équatoriale française
Federation of French colonies






French Equatorial Africa
Capital Brazzaville
Political structure Federation
 -  1908–17 Martial Henri Merlin
 -  1951–57 Paul Louis Gabriel Chauvet
 -  1957–58 Paul Louis Gabriel Chauvet
 -  1958 Pierre Messmer
 -  Established 15 January 1910
 -  Disestablished September 1958
Currency French Equatorial African franc
CFA franc
Preceded by
Succeeded by
French Chad
French Congo
French Cameroon
Central African Republic
Republic of the Congo
Today part of  Cameroon
 Central African Republic

French Equatorial Africa (French: Afrique équatoriale française) or the AEF was the federation of French colonial possessions in Central Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River to the Sahara.


Established in 1910, the federation contained five territories: French Congo, Gabon, Oubangui-Chari, Chad, and French Cameroon (after World War I), although the last was not organized as a separate entity until 1920. The Governor-General was based in Brazzaville with deputies in each territory.

In 1911, France ceded parts of the territory to German Kamerun as a result of the Agadir Crisis. The territory was returned after Germany's defeat in World War I, while most of Cameroon proper became a French League of Nations mandate not integrated into the AEF.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s an anti-colonial movement Société Amicale des Originaires de l'A.E.F. was established by André Matsoua,[1] seeking French citizenship for the territory's inhabitants.[2]

During World War II, the federation rallied to the Free French Forces under Félix Éboué in August 1940, except for Gabon which was Vichy French between 16 June 1940 and 12 November 1940; the federation became the strategic centre of Free French activities in Africa.

Under the Fourth Republic (1946–58), the federation was represented in the French parliament. When the territories voted in the September 1958 referendum to become autonomous within the French Community, the federation was dissolved. In 1959 the new republics formed an interim association called the Union of Central African Republics, before becoming fully independent in August 1960.


Territories :

Postage stamps[edit]

The postal administrations of the four territories were separate until 1936, each issuing its own stamps. In that year, stamps of Gabon and Middle Congo were overprinted AFRIQUE / ÉQUATORIALE / FRANÇAISE. A definitive series for the colony followed in 1937, featuring local scenes and key (French) figures in the formation of the colony, with various color and value changes each year through 1940.

The 1937 series was overprinted AFRIQUE FRANÇAISE / LIBRE or just LIBRE in 1940 by the Free French, and in 1941 they issued a series depicting a phoenix rising from the flames.

A new definitive series, featuring local scenery and people, was issued in 1946, and another twenty-odd stamps came out during the 1950s, with the last being the omnibus Human Rights issue on 10 December 1958.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Ansprenger, Franz (1989). The Dissolution of the Colonial Empires. London: Routledge. p. 103. 
  2. ^ Bazenguissa-Ganga, Rémy (1997). Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique (in French). Paris: Karthala. p. 29.