Contenu du sommaire

The Agricultural Economy of the Seychelles The Seychelles archipelago, peopled and colonized at the end of the 18th century, is composed of two types of islands, granitic and coral, and is located in the central western part of the Indian Ocean. The granitic group, to the North, contains most of the population of the archipelago and most of the natural resources. The agricultural economy produces primarily copra, plus a little cinnamon. Vanilla is produced in smaller quantities. The large plantations, owned by a few descendants of European colonists and Asiatic businessmen, and worked by farm hands of Afro-Malagasian stock who are descendants of former slaves, compose the work force of this agricultural economy. Because of the distance involved, the fundamental features of the traditional colonial plantation system has been preserved in the archipelago, as the example of the island of Silhouette shows. Historically based on speculative crops for which demand has always been sporadic, the agricultural economy of the Seychelles, threatened by the decline of coconut three groves, appears to be in a highly precarious state. The renovation efforts undertaken remain quite limited, and it is still too early to say whether tourism, in view of the construction of an airport, will suffice to take up the slack caused by the shaky agricultural activities.

Problems of the Development of Hoggar and Urban Growth in Tamanrasset The population of Hoggar, very thinly spread, has doubled in the last 15 years or so. It approximates about 20,000 inhabitants. The growth in the number of settlers (barely 30 % of the total population in 1946 and nearly 65 % in 1969) contrasts with the stagnation in the number of Tuareg nomads. The latter live less and less from the products of their herds and from caravan traffic. Having lost, since 1962, their servants, their lands and the resources which they derived from them, they work in increasing numbers in the fields of mineral prospection and equipment, as well as for public services. Agriculture is beginning to be modernized partially, thanks to the introduction of cooperatives. There are 34 traditional villages (against 68 in 1956) and 15 cooperatives. But the problems of water and distance, which renders commercialization of production difficult, remain the major obstacles to greater growth. Tamanrasset (4,000 inhabitants) benefits directly from these social and economic mutations by accomodating the majority of the new settlers and by exerting its influence as an urban center in the heart of a vast desert region.

Transformations in the Traditonal Habitation in the Chad : from the Circle to the Square This study is based on the findings of a change in the traditional Sahelian habitation : the spreading use of the rectangular dwelling at the expense of the round dwelling. The study region chosen is the old «Duck's Bill», an area of land situated between Logone and Chari to the south of Fort Lamy. After an inventory of the different types of competing or allied dwellings, the ways in which the home and the group dwelling are changed are presented. A large part of the study is devoted to data regarding choice of dwelling, reasons for this choice and the implications of it.