These folders were created by the French by the turn of the 20th century for letters from indigenous West African leaders. In general these were from or to Muslim leaders, kings, chiefs and scholars, mostly in Arabic, and were written in the last half of the 19th century. Many of the letters are addressed to the French; but the archivists also put caches of letters which they captured as they advanced into Soudan (Mali) in the late 19th century. Occasionally a French translation is attached, carried out by someone in the Political Affairs or Muslim Affairs Bureau, located in Saint-Louis or Dakar. In addition, there is a considerable amount of correspondence from French officers, especially the commandants of posts such as Podor and Salde (Futa Toro) or Bakel and Senoudebou (Upper Senegal).

Most of the authors were located on the frontiers of further east in what would become Soudan (Mali), and they were writing primarily in the 1880s and 1890s, before the French consolidated their holdings under the Government General of French West Africa (from 1895 in Saint-Louis, from 1900 in Dakar). The authors lived in states and societies that were still mainly independent, although in some cases in protectorate relations with the French or heavily influenced by the French as they expanded into what would become French West Africa.

The letters are contained primarily in 2 series: 13G, which is mostly about the frontiers of Senegal, and 15G, which deals with the area of Soudan (Mali). My photocopies were printed from copies of microfilm obtained from the French colonial archives in Aix-en-Provence in 1977; the microfilm was originally done in Dakar at the Archives Nationales du Senegal. I deposited my positive microfilm at the Yale University Library. A copy is also in Section D of this collection.

The material is extremely rich, but must be read in the context of what was happening in the different areas of what became Senegal and Soudan.