# List of colonial administrators of French West Africa

This is a list of European colonial administrators (French: Gouverneur général de l'Afrique occidentale française) responsible for the territory of French West Africa, an area equivalent to modern-day Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.

## List

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
| 16 June 1895 to 1 November 1900 | Jean-Baptiste Chaudié, Governor-General | |
| 15 July 1897 to 2 October 1897 | Noël Ballay, acting Governor-General | Acting for Chaudié |
| 28 July 1898 to 13 November 1898 | Noël Ballay, acting Governor-General | Acting for Chaudié |
| 1 November 1900 to 26 January 1902 | Noël Ballay, Governor-General | |
| 19 April 1901 to 26 October 1901 | Victor Lanrezac, acting Governor-General | Acting for Ballay |
| 26 January 1902 to 15 March 1902 | Pierre Paul Marie Capest, acting Governor-General | |
| 15 March 1902 to 15 December 1907 | Ernest Roume, Governor-General | |
| 29 June 1902 to 25 October 1902 | Victor Liotard, acting Governor-General | Acting for Roume |
| 10 June 1903 to 29 October 1903 | Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General | Acting for Roume |
| 8 July 1904 to 5 October 1904 | Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General | Acting for Roume |
| 21 July 1905 to 5 November 1905 | Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General | Acting for Roume |
| 18 March 1905 to 22 April 1905 | Camille Guy, acting Governor-General | Acting for Roume |
| 15 December 1907 to 9 March 1908 | Martial Henri Merlin, acting Governor-General | 1st time |
| 9 March 1908 to 26 June 1915 | William Merlaud-Ponty, Governor-General | |
| January 1912 to August 1912 | François Joseph Clozel, acting Governor-General | Acting for Ponty |
| 14 June 1915 to 3 June 1917 | François Joseph Clozel, Governor-General | Acting for Ponty to 26 June 1915 |
| 3 June 1917 to 22 January 1918 | Joost van Vollenhoven, Governor-General | |
| 22 January 1918 to 30 July 1919 | Gabriel Louis Angoulvant, acting Governor-General | |
| 30 July 1919 to 16 September 1919 | Charles Désiré Auguste Brunet, acting Governor-General | |
| 16 September 1919 to 18 March 1923 | Martial Henri Merlin, Governor-General | 2nd time |
| 18 March 1923 to 15 October 1930 | Jules Carde, Governor-General | |
| 31 May 1924 to 19 October 1924 | Auguste Dirat, acting Governor-General | Acting for Cardé |
| 17 April 1926 to 19 November 1926 | Auguste Dirat, acting Governor-General | Acting for Cardé |
| 23 March 1929 to 30 October 1929 | Auguste Dirat, acting Governor-General | Acting for Cardé |
| 15 October 1930 to 27 September 1936 | Joseph Jules Brévié, Governor-General | |
| 6 April 1933 to 2 December 1933 | Albéric Auguste Fournier, acting Governor-General | Acting for Brévié |
| 7 May 1935 to 5 December 1935 | Pierre Boisson, acting Governor-General | Acting for Brévié |
| 27 September 1936 to 14 July 1938 | Jules Marcel de Coppet, Governor-General | |
| 14 July 1938 to 28 October 1938 | Léon Geismar, acting Governor-General | |
| 28 October 1938 to 10 August 1939 | Pierre Boisson, acting Governor-General | 1st time |
| 10 August 1939 to 25 June 1940 | Léon Henri Charles Cayla, Governor-General | |
| 25 June 1940 to 13 July 1943 | Pierre Boisson, Governor-General | 2nd time; also named Vichy French High Commissioner for all "French Africa", responsible for the territories that did not rally to the Free French |
| 13 July 1943 to 2 April 1946 | Pierre Charles Cournarie, Governor-General | |
| May 1946 to 27 January 1948 | René Victor Marie Barthes, Governor-General | |
| 27 January 1948 to 24 May 1951 | Paul Béchard, Governor-General | |
| 24 May 1951 to 21 September 1952 | Paul Louis Gabriel Chauvet, acting Governor-General | |
| 21 September 1952 to 5 July 1956 | Bernard Cornut-Gentille, Governor-General | |
| 5 July 1956 to 4 April 1957 | Gaston Cusin, Governor-General | |
| 4 April 1957 to July 1958 | Gaston Cusin, High Commissioner | |
| July 1958 to 22 December 1958 | Pierre Messmer, High Commissioner | |