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Maurice Delafosse (20 December 1870 – 13 November 1926) was a French ethnographer and colonial official who also worked in the field of the
Delafosse was born on 20 December 1870 in the village of Sancergues in central France. He was the son of René Françoise Célestin Delafosse and Elise Marie Bidault and had five siblings.
Delafosse is known for his contributions to West African history and African languages. He began his study of Arabic in 1890 at the
here
*. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. *. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. Also available from th
Open Library
*. Gallica: Volume 1
Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues
Volume 2
L'Histoire
Volume 3
Les Civilisations
*. Volume 1 is the Arabic text, Volume 2 is a translation into French. Reprinted b
in 1964 and 1981. The French text is als
available
from Aluka but requires a subscription. * *. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. * . *.
1870 births Delafoss, Maurice Linguists of Mande languages French abolitionists {{france-academic-bio-stub
Maurice Delafosse (20 December 1870 – 13 November 1926) was a French ethnographer and colonial official who also worked in the field of the languages of Africa
The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages (according to SI ...
. In a review of his daughter's biography of him he was described as "one of the most outstanding French colonial administrators and ethnologists of his time."
Career
Delafosse was born on 20 December 1870 in the village of Sancergues in central France. He was the son of René Françoise Célestin Delafosse and Elise Marie Bidault and had five siblings.
Delafosse is known for his contributions to West African history and African languages. He began his study of Arabic in 1890 at the École des langues orientales
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...
with the renowned orientalist, Octave Houdas. He traveled to Algeria in 1891 with the Frères armés du Sahara, a Catholic organization concerned with combating the Trans-Saharan slave trade. Shortly afterwards, he spent one year in the French military as a zouave
The Zouaves () were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army and other units modelled on it, which served between 1830 and 1962, and served in French North Africa. The zouaves were among the most decorated units of the French Army ...
, second class, before returning to his formal studies at the École des langues orientales. After receiving his diploma, he was appointed as an assistant to Indigenous Affairs in the new French colony of Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...
. For a period the future ethnologist Charles Monteil was his assistant in the Côte d'Ivoire.
Delafosse had disagreements with the French government over the administration of French Africa
French Africa includes all the historic holdings of France on the African continent.
Françafrique
French North Africa
* Egypt (1798-1801)
* French Algeria (1830–1962)
* Protectorate of Tunisia (1881–1956)
* Protectorate in Morocco (1 ...
, and, as a result, was "more or less banned from the colonies" for a large part of his life.
He served as one of the seven members of the Temporary Slavery Commission
The Temporary Slavery Commission (TSC) was a committee of the League of Nations, inaugurated in 1924.
It was the first committee of the League of Nations to address the issue of slavery and slave trade, and followed on the Brussels Anti-Slave ...
of the League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
in 1924–1925.Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. USA: AltaMira Press. 103
Selected publications
*. *. *. Also available from the Internet Archivhere
*. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. *. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. Also available from th
Open Library
*. Gallica: Volume 1
Le Pays, les Peuples, les Langues
Volume 2
L'Histoire
Volume 3
Les Civilisations
*. Volume 1 is the Arabic text, Volume 2 is a translation into French. Reprinted b
in 1964 and 1981. The French text is als
available
from Aluka but requires a subscription. * *. Also available from the Internet Archiv
here
*. * . *.
References
Sources
* * * A biography by his daughter. *Further reading
* * *. * *External links
*1870 births Delafoss, Maurice Linguists of Mande languages French abolitionists {{france-academic-bio-stub