École nationale de la France d'outre-mer, Paris 6e 2

The Colonial School (french: École coloniale, also known colloquially as ) was a French public higher education institution or

grande école A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles offer teaching, research and professional training in s ...

, created in Paris in 1889 to provide training for public servants and administrators of the French colonial empire. It also was a center for research in

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

and other scientific endeavors with a focus on French-administered territories. As France's overseas possessions changed and shrank, the school was restructured and renamed on several occasions: in 1934 as École nationale de la France d'outre-mer (ENFOM, "National School of Overseas France"), in 1959 as Institut des hautes études d'Outre-Mer (IHEOM, "Institute of Higher Overseas Studies"), and in 1966 as Institut international d’administration publique (IIAP, "International Institute of Public Administration"). It had students from both

Metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

and its overseas possessions and colonies. Its latest incarnation, the IIAP, was sometimes referred to as "the foreigners' ENA" with reference to France's

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...

, and was eventually merged into ENA in 2002.

Background

In 1885, explorer and administrator Auguste Pavie created a training program for native employees of the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

service in

French Cambodia The French protectorate of Cambodia ( km, ប្រទេសកម្ពុជាក្រោមអាណាព្យាបាលបារាំង; french: Protectorat français du Cambodge) refers to the Kingdom of Cambodia when it was a Fren ...

, which took the name of ("Cambodian mission"). This was succeeded in 1889 by the Colonial School as a fully-fledged establishment for the professional education of colonial services staff. Its creation, supported by

State Councillor A state councillor () is a high-ranking position within the State Council, the executive organ of the Chinese government (comparable to a cabinet). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the ministers of various departments. ...

, was the first successful effort to create a permanent establishment specifically for the training of French civil servants, thus prefiguring both ENA and the

French National School for the Judiciary The French National School for the Judiciary ( French: ''École nationale de la magistrature'' or ENM) is a French ''grande école'', founded in 1958 by French President Charles de Gaulle and the father of the current French Constitution, Michel ...

. African students were admitted from 1892 alongside the Cambodian class, and soon later, students from Metropolitan France as well. In 1927, were created at both

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

and

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges (''lycées'') in France. The school educates more than ...

to prepare future students of the Colonial School, and the latter's training was made free of charge in 1931.

Building

The school's building in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, on 2 avenue de l'Observatoire near the

Jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

, was designed by architect and built from 1895 to 1911. The Colonial School moved there in 1896 after having been located during its first few years on rue Jacob. It is a prime exemplar of

French colonial French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. Many former French colonies, especially those in Southeast Asia, have previously been reluctant to promote their colonial architectur ...

Moorish Revival architecture, with inspiration principally from

Moroccan architecture Moroccan architecture refers to the architecture characteristic of Morocco throughout its history and up to modern times. The country's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military ...

, and used to be known colloquially as the "old mosque" since it predated the

Grand Mosque of Paris The Grand Mosque of Paris (french: Grande Mosquée de Paris), also known as the Great Mosque of Paris or simply the Paris Mosque, is located in the 5th arrondissement and is one of the largest mosques in France. There are prayer rooms, an outdoo ...

, built in a similar style. Its decorative features include works by painters , and , and by

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

artist . The building was successively the seat of ENFOM, IHEOM, and IIAP including after the latter's absorption by ENA in 2002. Some of the building's decoration evoking colonial glories was deemed inappropriate and removed in the 1970s. In 2007, Sciences Po acquired ENA's Parisian campus on the

rue de l'Université ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

, and ENA made the Colonial School building its sole Parisian location at the end of that year. On , ENA was in turn replaced by the

Institut national du service public The Institut national du service public (INSP; English: ''French National Institute of Public Service'') is a ''grande ecole'' dedicated to the recruitment, initial training, and continuing training of French executives and managers. It was creat ...

, which kept the Colonial School building as its Paris campus. File:École nationale de la France d'outre-mer, Paris 6e 3.jpg, Main portal on avenue de l'Observatoire File:Paris May 2013 - L’Ancienne École Coloniale (7).jpg, Ceramic detail displaying the date 1889 as reference to the school's creation File:Angle rue Auguste-Comte et avenue de l'Observatoire.JPG, Corner with rue Auguste Comte, with adjacent Lycée Montaigne in the background File:ENA-Paris patio.jpg, Main courtyard File:ENA-Paris bibliothèque.jpg, Library with painted ceiling by Claude Bourgonnier

Leadership

Directors

* 1889–1905: Etienne Aymonier * 1905-1917: Maurice Doubrère * 1918-1926: Max Outrey * 1926-1933: Georges Hardy * 1933-1937: Henri Gourdon * 1937–1946: Robert Delavignette * 1946-1950:

Paul Mus Paul Mus (1902–1969) was a French writer and scholar. His studies focused on Viet Nam and other South-East Asian cultures. He was born in Bourges to an academic family, and grew up in northern Viet Nam (Tonkin). In 1907 his father opened the Col ...

* 1950-1959: Paul Bouteille * 1959–1964: François Luchaire * 1965-1974: Jean Baillou * 1974-1982: Henri Roson * 1982-1985: Gaston Olive * 1985-1993: Jean-Pierre Puissochet * 1993: Michel Franc * 1993-2001: Didier Maus

Selected faculty

Hubert Lyautey Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854 – 27 July 1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early in ...

Jules Brévié Joseph-Jules Brévié (12 March 1880 – 28 July 1964) was a French colonial administrator who became governor-general of French West Africa from 1930 to 1936, and then governor-general of French Indochina from 1937 to 1939. He promoted liberal an ...

Pierre Moussa Pierre Moussa (born 24 July 1941) is a Congolese politician who has been President of the Commission of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa since 2012. He served in the government of Congo-Brazzaville as Minister of Planning f ...

* Louis Vignon *

Charles-André Julien Charles-André Julien (2 September 1891 – 19 July 1991) was a French journalist and historian specialised in the history of the Maghreb, his most famous work is ''Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord : Des origines à 1830'' (History of North Africa ...

* Henri Brunschwig *

Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor (; ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist who was the first president of Senegal (1960–80). Ideologically an African socialist, he was the major theoretician o ...

Selected alumni

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

(1876-1944), French poet * Félix Éboué (1884-1944), colonial administrator *

Sisavang Vong King Sisavangvong ( lo, ພຣະບາທສົມເດັຈພຣະເຈົ້າມະຫາຊີວິຕສີສວ່າງວົງສ໌, 14 July 1885 – 29 October 1959) Born Prince Khao , was one of the last kings of Luang Praba ...

(1885-1959), King of Luang Prabang and of Laos *

Phetsarath Rattanavongsa Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa (''Somdej Chao Maha Uparaja Petsaraj Ratanavongsa ''( lo, ສົມເດັຈເຈົ້າ ມຫາ ອຸປຣາຊ ເພັຊຣາຊ ຣັຕນວົງສາ) (19 January 1890 – 14 October 1959 ...

(1890-1959), Prime Minister of Laos *

Raymond Dronne Capitaine Raymond Dronne (8 March 1908, in Mayet, France – 5 September 1991, in Paris) was a French civil servant and, following World War II, a politician. He was the second Allied officer to enter Paris as part of the liberation forces duri ...

(1908-1991), French resistance fighter *

Pierre Messmer Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (; 20 March 191629 August 2007) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under L ...

(1916-2007), French Prime Minister and colonial administrator *

Hamani Diori Hamani Diori (6 June 1916 – 23 April 1989) was the first President of the Republic of Niger. He was appointed to that office in 1960, when Niger gained independence. Although corruption was a common feature of his administration, he gained in ...

(1916-1989), first President of the Republic of Niger * Gabriel Lisette (1919-2001), Chadian statesman * Yves de Daruvar (1921-2018), French administrator * Pierre Alexandre (1922-1994), French anthropologist * Charles Assemekang (1926-), Congolese politician *

Cheikh Hamidou Kane Cheikh Hamidou Kane (born 2 April 1928) is a Senegalese writer best known for his 1961 novel '' L'Aventure ambiguë'' (''Ambiguous Adventure''), about the interactions of western and African cultures. Its hero is a Fulani boy who goes to study i ...

(1928-), Senegalese writer * Babacar Ba (1930-2006), Senegalese statesman *

Habib Thiam Habib Thiam (21 January 1933 – 26 June 2017)"Sénégal : décès de l'ancien ...

(1933-2017), Senegalese statesman *

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has served as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.

(1933-), president of Cameroon * Gervais Djondo (1934-), Togolese entrepreneur * Abdou Diouf (1935-), second President of Senegal * Adamou Ndam Njoya (1942-2020), Cameroonian politician *

Enrique Peñalosa Enrique Peñalosa Londoño (born 30 September 1954) is a Colombian politician. He was mayor of Bogotá from 1998 until 2001 and elected again in 2015 for the 2016–2019 term. He was prominently featured in the Panama Papers for use of off-s ...

(1954-), Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Nationale De La France D'outre-Mer Educational institutions established in 1889 Educational institutions disestablished in 2002 French colonial empire French Third Republic Education in Africa Education in Paris

outre-mer ''Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea'' is a prose collection by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was the first major work by Longfellow and it was inspired by his travels in Europe as a young man. The term "outre-mer" is French fo ...

French West Africa French Equatorial Africa French public administration schools 1889 establishments in France