French Conquest of West AfricaWest Africa · 1880–1900“A thread from the great cord of two hundred and fifty. Hold it while I speak.”In twenty years France ate the interior of West Africa: Lat Dior of Cayor died fighting the railway he had sworn would cross his land only over his body; the Toucouleur empire fell city by city; Béhanzin's Dahomey burned its own capital rather than hand it over; Sikasso's great wall was stormed and its king chose death.