Jean Vogt 1929–2005: His Life as a Seismologist, Geologist, Geographer, and Historian - Historical Seismology: Interdisciplinary Studies of Past and Recent Earthquakes - page 5

Ta b l e 1 Geological missions of Jean Vogt from 1955 to 1960 (list not exha ustive)
1955 Senegal (Djifere); Western Mali (Kenieba)
1956 Senegal (Lompoul); C ote d'Ivoire
1957 Western Mali (Mandingue Plateau), French Guiana, Cura¸ao
1958 Benin (Cotonou)
1958-1960 Niger
1959 Northern Benin (Alibori and Mekrou basins)
1959 C ote d'Ivoire (Lobo); Guinea (Beyla); Western Mali (Kenieba)
1960 Niger; Western Mali (medium Bagoe)

Jean Vogt was in no case a geologist, but his education and expertise as a
geographer, and specifically as a geomorphologist, made him very useful for the
prospecting and reconnaissance missions of the AOF Geological Service. AOF was
a federation of eight Western African territories: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali (as
French Sudan), Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, Burkina Faso (as Upper Volta), and
Benin (as Dahomey). In the next years, he performed numerous geological missions
in AOF, often in very crude conditions. He spent usually several months on the
field, often alone or with one or more indigenous workers, travelling either on foot,
or with various means of transport ranging from pirogues to planes. From his notes
and reports, we can list but a few of these prospectings (Table 1). During these years
he continued to be supported by Tricart and was still listed by the CNRS as Stagiaire
without salary, until the end of 1959.

4 Globetrotter with the BRGM 1960-1974

By the end of 1960, after 2 years of rapid political evolution, the twelve territo-
ries that belonged to French Western Africa and French Equatorial Africa had be-
come independent states, as well as the two former German colonies of Togo and
Cameroon under French protectorate since 1919, and as Madagascar. The process
had begun when a new constitution was voted in 1958, in France and overseas, as
a consequence of the civil war in the then French Algeria. The constitution created
the Communaute Fran¸aise , promoting the French African territories to autonomous
republics. One country, Guinea, voted against the constitution and became indepen-
dent four days later, on 2 October 1958. The evolution was from then on very rapid,
and between January and November 1960 all the aforementioned countries accessed
to independence, thus putting an end to the French Empire-Union-Community (its
three successive statutes) in Africa. Anticipating the coming independences, a new
French central geological service was created on 23 October 1959, the Bureau
de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM), which joined together the BU-
MIFOM (Overseas), the BRGGM 2

(France), the BRMA 3 (Algeria) and the BMG 4

2

Bureau de Recherches Geologiques, Geophysiques et Minieres .

3

Bureau de Recherches Minieres de l'Algerie .

4

Bureau Minier Guyanais .