The European powers in West Africa are…

The European powers in West Africa are interested only in coastal trading before the nineteenth century; they attempt no important inland exploration and establish no permanent settlements other than Saint Loui).

The European mercantile companies on the coast are charged with making the highest possible profit.

Four such French companies enjoy an official French-government monopoly of the Senegal River trade from 1659 to 1798.

Contact with the Maures and the black inhabitants of the valley comes about only in the course of trade.

From the beginning, French influence, competing with traditional trading partners north and east of Mauritania, come through Senegal.

In 1825 the new amir of Trarza, Muhammad al Habib, seeks to reassert his sovereignty over the French-protected Oualo Kingdom to the south of the Senegal River by marrying the heiress to the kingdom.

This action, which French authorities view as a hostile threat, combined with the amir's efforts to sell gum arabic to the British, bring a strong French reaction.

Although the Maures are able to lay siege to Saint Louis, a large French expeditionary force defeats the amir's forces.

The French conclude that to secure the continuing profitability of the gum arabic trade, they will have to forcibly occupy the northern bank of the Senegal River.