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2 Milestones in Colonial Culture under the second empire (1851–1870) sandrine lemaire, Pascal Blanchard, and nicolas Bancel during the twenty-year period between the second abolition of 1848 and the Third republic’s colonial saga, napoleon iii headed France’s imperial policy. History , however, does not recall this period in terms of its great ultramarine destiny, or because of its leader’s successful or unsuccessful attempts at conquest. nevertheless , two events stand out as exceptions: the myth of the “arab Kingdom” and the fiasco that was the Mexican expedition. From the outset, it might appear that the second empire would not fit into the present topic of analysis, as it is often seen as but a “parenthesis” to French colonial history. Moreover, as legend would have it, the emperor once famously described the colonies as “a millstone round France’s neck.” if we look closely at the facts, namely at the appearance of overseas aspirations in official discourse, the creation of colonial policy, and the existent tension between the colonial project and the fight against both slavery and the slave trade, we see an emergence of a colonial culture in France between 1850 and 1870. admittedly, it was still barely nascent, marginal, and for the most part lacking a means of dissemination. Moreover, there is no question that only a small political and mercantile elite supported napoleon iii’s colonial project. indeed, when it came to the question of colonization, the elite expressed mostly either opposition or indifference. nevertheless, it was during this period that a colonial discourse was constructed, a discourse that would later be reasserted under the Third republic . its presence can be found in the media, in official statements, in encounters with delegations sent from africa and asia, and especially in the two great universal expositions that took place in Paris in 1855 and 1867. in addition to the fact that the period was rich in colonial events, a new generation of political agents was working to give a coherence to France’s overseas activity, notably through the creation of the Ministry of algeria and the Colonies (1858). Chasseloup-laubat, who held the position for an exceptionally extended period (1859–1867), was thus one of the key figures of the reforms undertaken at that time. other important players were louis Faidherbe in senegal (until 1865) 75 76 | Lemaire, Blanchard, and Bancel and General Jacques louis randon, algeria’s governor, who took office in the days following the major revolts of 1851–1852. These three “great colonials” were the second empire’s kingpins of colonial policy; they all contributed to its promotion in the metropole. Beyond the influence of these men, the two decades were marked by countless colonial undertakings and conquests. The affected regions included West africa, new Caledonia, China, Cochinchina, Cambodia, lebanon, Madagascar, Mexico, and others. Meanwhile, under the implementation of new policies, algeria was becoming the regime’s colonial laboratory. This far surpassed the simple myth of an “arab kingdom.” The idea of swaying public opinion in support of the regime’s colonial policy first emerged in this context. Colonial culture, which was still undergoing the growing pains of new colonial ambitions, was not yet defined. This period constructed a model that would ultimately serve as a template for the promotion of France’s colonial activity under the Third republic. a new Colonial dynamic The colonial space underwent massive transformations after the second abolition of 1848. during its tenure, the second republic transformed the old colonial regime in order to formulate a new model of ultramarine policy. The nascent second empire thus inherited a renovated colonial space. Henceforth, “colonial republican France saw to individual liberty by means of an elimination of slavery, encouraged assimilation, guaranteed political freedom, offered an outlet for the crises that rocked the metropole, and claimed to resolve the issues of pauperism and unemployment.”1 during this time, algeria became an integral part of France (departmentalization ), and a policy to populate it began to take shape. over time, the colonial issue became a national issue, with its implied stakes, debates, and points of contention. Born in this context, the second empire had a difficult time charting a legible course for its “colonial policy.” it thus set out to define it in more certain terms. at the moment of napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état (december 2, 1851), a series of rebellions broke out in algeria (in aures, Ziban, Kabylia, and laghouat), which forced the government to increase its presence in the...

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