Part I
Colonial Africa

John F. Griffiths
Department of Meteorology
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas 77843

Thomas C. Peterson
National Climatic Data Center/NOAA
Asheville, NC 28801 USA

Introduction

Historical Background

Data Sources

Acknowledgements and Credits

Introduction

Studies of actual change of climate around the world must rely on past observations. It is obvious that as one goes further back in time the number of stations making such measurements decreases and in some regions so few stations exist that determining a real change of some climatic element is virtually impossible. Unfortunately, much of the continent of Africa falls into this category if one looks only at the currently digitized data. However, there exist many data that apparently have never been collated, let alone digitized; these are mainly the data collected by the colonial powers during their time of control of most of the continent. Attempts to obtain some of these data from countries now independent make it appear that most have not been retained, or their whereabouts in the country are unknown. Fortunately much can be discovered in the archives or publications of the colonial powers.

Many of the publications listed here are not well-known or never made available to the general public, and some are difficult to obtain. To make the task manageable, attention was focused mainly on monthly, not daily, data and sources that were concerned with at least temperature and precipitation. Because of this, it is believed that some guidance for future researchers interested in other variables would be useful and that is the aim of this summary, which concentrates on Africa alone. Other regions will be considered later.

The publications cited here generally take the investigator up to the year in which independence was obtained; which ranges from 1922 (Egypt) to 1990 (Namibia). Egypt however still had many government agencies run by British personnel until around 1951 and data to this date were sought. Eritrea became independent in 1993 after being federated with Ethiopia since 1952. Until around 1950 there were only two independent countries in Africa, Liberia and Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and, interestingly, neither had an organized meteorological or climatological service at the time.

Historical Background

Colonial and national boundaries in Africa have shown many changes since the middle 19th century. This means that sources of data for some areas are to be found in disparate sources. For example, data for Eritrea appear in Italian, Ethiopian, and British records. In addition many colonies came under a European power only gradually, usually beginning at the coast so that data from stations in the interior are not available until a number of years passed.

In order to help clarify the historical situation it is useful to present some relevant information country by country where needed. For the purpose of this project, 1840 is the earliest year considered.

ALGERIA (France) - Coast 1840; High Plateau 1856; all country 1914

ANGOLA (Portugal) - Coast and the Highland near Loanda 1840; interior 1890-1914

CAMEROON - Small area coast/inland (German) 1885; S. half (German) 1900; all (German) 1910

EGYPT - Turkish influence (1840); E. half (British) 1885; E. two-thirds (British) 1900; all (British) 1914

GABON (France) - Coast 1878; all 1885

GOLD COAST (British) - Coast 1840; all 1900

LIBYA - Under Turkish Sovereignty 1840-1910; Coast settled by Italy 1912; N. W. half (Italian) 1925; S W quarter (French) 1946, rest (British) 1943

MOZAMBIQUE (Portugal) - Only the Coast and the Tete River area 1840; extensive enlargement between 1885 and 1890

NIGERIA (British) - Coast 1880; S W half 1900; All 1914

SENEGAL (France) - Coast 1840; Along Senegal River 1885; all 1890

SOUTH AFRICA - Cape Province (British), Transvaal (Dutch) 1840; Orange Free State (Dutch), Natal (British) 1856; Transvaal (British) 1878; Transvaal (Dutch) 1885; all Colony (Union) (British) 1902 [Dutch = Boer Settlers]

SOUTHWEST AFRICA - Walvis Bay (British) 1878; western one-third (German) 1885

For the period considered here, Africa experienced seven colonial powers; Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It is possible to add the Netherlands to this list but data from the Boer controlled areas of Transvaal and the Orange Free State are sparse. The sources will be considered in this order, with short entries for Independent countries and Miscellaneous sources. Some problems arise due to territories, all or part, changing hands and also to name changes.

Belgium
The countries surveyed here are the Belgian Congo (now Zaire, previously Congo Free State), Ruanda (Rwanda) and Urundi (Burundi). Prior to about 1917, the latter two regions comprised part of German East Africa; they became independent in 1962. The Belgian Congo achieved independence in 1960.

France
French colonies and areas of influence were numerous, comprising Algeria (independent in 1962), Morocco (1956), Tunisia (1956), Madagascar (Malagasy, 1960), [Comoros and Reunion were part of the colony of Madagascar, the former becoming independent in 1975, the latter joining with France in 1946], French Somali Coast (Djibouti, 1977), Cameroon (German until 1916, 1960), French Equatorial Africa (FEA) and French West Africa (FWA). Mayotte, in the Comoros, rejoined with France in 1975.

French Equatorial Africa comprised the four territories of Chad (1966), French Congo (Congo, 1966), Gabon (1966), Ubangi-Shari (Central African Republic, 1966). Chad and Ubangi-Shari were part of the French Congo until 1910. FWA consisted of nine territories; Dahomey (Benin, 1960), French Guinea (Guinea, 1958), French Soudan (Mali, 1960), Ivory Coast (1960), Mauritania (1960), Niger (1960), Senegal (1960), Togo (German until about 1916, 1960), Upper Volta (Burkina Faso, 1960).

Germany
Germany had six territories in Africa but lost these during the World War I (1914-1918). These were Cameroon (to France), German East Africa comprising Tanganyika (to United Kingdom), Rwanda and Urundi (both to Belgium), German South-West Africa (to United Kingdom and later South Africa) and Togoland (to France and the United Kingdom, this part eventually embodied in the Gold Coast). Part of southern Tanganyika was given to the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

Italy
Four separate territories are involved here; Libya (which was considered as Tripolitania, and Cirenaica) was lost to British and French Military Administration from 1943 until 1952 when it became independent; Italian Somaliland (part of Somalia, British Military Administration 1942 to 1950, then back to Italy, independent 1960); Eritrea (to British Military Administration 1942 to 1952, then federated with Ethiopia and independent in 1993), Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia, occupied 1936 and returned to independence 1942). It must be noted that Jubaland (southern part of Italian Somaliland) was ceded by United Kingdom from Kenya in 1925.

Portugal
Six territories are involved; Angola (1974), Cape Verde Islands (1975), Mozambique (1975), Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau, 1974), Sao Tome and Principe (1975), and Madeira, which remains a province of Portugal.

In early years, Mozambique was controlled by trading companies, specifically those of Zambezia, Tete, Nyassa, and Mozambique.

Spain
The Spanish territories comprised Spanish Guinea (comprising Fernando Poo and Rio Muni, which joined to become Equatorial Guinea, 1968); Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara, previously Rio de Oro) which was annexed by Morocco and Mauritania in 1976; Ifni, an enclave, and parts of northern Morocco were ceded in 1956 and 1969, respectively; Ceuta and Mellila remain Spanish territories, as do the Canary Islands.

United Kingdom
As with France, the United Kingdom held control over many territories in Africa. These were Ascension Island, St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha which remain administered by the UK, Basutoland (Lesotho, 1966), Bechuanaland (Botswana, 1966), British Somaliland (part of Somalia, 1960), Egypt (1951), Gambia (1965), Gold Coast (Ghana, 1957), Kenya (1963), Mauritius (1968), Nigeria (1967), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia, 1964), Nyasaland (Malawi, 1964), Seychelles (1976), Sierra Leone (1961), Republic of South Africa (1961), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe, Unilateral Declaration of Independence 1965, independence 1980), South West Africa (Namibia, 1990), Sudan (1956), Swaziland (1968), Tanganyika(Tanzania, 1961), Uganda (1962), Zanzibar (1961, then federated with Tanzania).

British East Africa comprised Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, and Zanzibar from 1937, but for a few years before this it included Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland included Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

Data Sources

• Belgian
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Portuguese
  
• Spanish
  
• United Kingdom
  
• Independent Countries
  
• Miscellaneous
  

For the purpose of this specific investigation, emphasis was placed on obtaining data on mean monthly minimum and maximum temperatures and monthly precipitation amounts. This is because, as part of the Colonial Era Archive Project, our original interest in these volumes was to digitize selected monthly station data for inclusion in the Global Historical Climatology Network. This section gives the sources used while tables indicate what climatic variables are to be found in each publication. As would be expected, many data appear in more than one publication, for instance, in both monthly and annual summaries - no attempt was made to find all sources. It must be noted that not every issue of every reference has been studied. This is especially true when a country issued both annual and monthly summaries, for attention was focused on the former in the interest of time saving. Also, because a location is cited it does not mean the repository holds a complete set of the publication. Some publications may have earlier starting and later ending dates than given. but were not seen in the search.In the location entry, the following abbreviations were used:

NCDC - National Climatic Data Center, Foreign Data Library, Asheville, North Carolina

NML - National Meteorological Library, Meteorological Office, Bracknell, England

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Library , Silver Spring, Maryland

TAMU - Texas A&M University, Texas, 77843-3150, Author's Repository

These four centers each hold an appreciable amount of hardcopy data for Africa. In order to attempt to fill in gaps the Meteorological Services of the following countries were contacted - Algeria, Belgium, Djibouti, France, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.

Belgian Sources