born June 3, 1818, Lille, Fr.
died Sept. 29, 1889, Paris
Governor of French Senegal (1854–61, 1863–65) and a founder of France's colonial empire in Africa.
Faidherbe was trained as a military engineer and served in Algeria and Senegal before becoming the colonial governor of Senegal. Alarmed by the growing power of the Islamic leader Dakar .