De la Réunion à l'Inde française. Philippe- Achille Bédier (1791-1865), une carrière coloniale

by Mireille Lobligeois, Pondicherry

This solid and comprehensive study traces the career of an administrative officer in India and in the Reunion Islands towards the end of the Napoleonic wars. It details life in these various outposts of the Indian Ocean from precolonial renaissance period to the end of the 19th century. It describes the multiple crises faced by Bédier – economic crisis, freedom movement of the Blacks, tensions between communities that had embraced reform, massive exodus of Indian labourers and the ensuing conflicts with the British as a result of this transfer of manpower.