Alfred Albert Martineau
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Alfred Albert Martineau (18 December 1859 in Artins – 25 January 1945 in Varennes) was a notable historian and colonial administrator in the French Colonial Empire.
He wrote extensively on colonial affairs and the history of French colonial expansion, in particular a six-volume Histoire des colonies françaises et de l'expansion française dans le monde (1930–1934) co-authored with former French Foreign Minister Gabriel Hanotaux.[1] Upon retirement from colonial service in 1921 he taught colonial history at the Collège de France until 1935.[2]
He was a founding member of the Société de l'histoire de l'Inde française, the Societe francaise d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer (1912) and the Académie des sciences coloniales (1922).[3]
Martineau was born on 18 December 1859 in Artins, which was then part of the Second French Empire.[4] He graduated from the École Nationale des Chartes, where he trained as an archivist-paleographer.[5]
Political career
In 1888 he joined the executive committee of the far-right nationalist Ligue des Patriotes.[6] He was soon elected as a Member of Parliament of the French Parliament for Paris's 19th arrondissement in October 1889.[5] In January 1890, he left the league, which resulted in him being booed and beaten by his constituents, to which he promised to resign.[6] However, he joined the Republican majority government soon after.[6] In 1893 he was elected to the Superior Council of the Colonies as a delegate of Nossi Bé, where he advocated to the council for the establishment of a French protectorate over Madagascar.[7]
