born June 3, 1818, Lille, Fr.
died Sept. 29, 1889, Paris
Governor of French Senegal (185461, 186365) 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 Umar Tal , he took the offensive, driving off 02BD; Umar Tal, subjugating the Moorish tribes in the north, and transforming his colony into the region's dominant power. In 1857 he founded the capital city of Dakar .