A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races by Harry Johnston

It has been asserted with some degree of probability that certain seamen-adventurers of Dieppe found their way along the West coast of Africa as far as the Gold Coast in the 14th century, a hundred years before the Portuguese; and that they established themselves on the Senegal river, built two or more settlements (Little Paris, and Little Dieppe) on the Liberian coast, and established trading stations at "La Mine d'Or" (Elmina), at Accra, and at Kormantin, on the Gold Coast. The Dieppois station at Elmina was said to have been founded in 1382; and the legend runs that forty years later, owing to the wars in France having distracted Norman commerce from over-sea enterprise, these settlements were abandoned. There may have been some truth in these accounts of Norman discoveries on the West coast of Africa set forth in the second half of the 17th century. A Norman adventurer undoubtedly rediscovered the Canary Islands in the 14th century; and it is probable that the Rio d'Ouro and even the whole coast of West Africa as far as the Gulf of Guinea were known to Italian seamen before these features were placed on the map by the Portuguese. When, three centuries later, the French founded a settlement at the mouth of the Senegal, they are said to have discovered the remains of a Norman fort (built by adventurers from Dieppe) and to have made it the nucleus of the modern town of St Louis.

At any rate, soon after the Portuguese had laid bare the coast of Guinea, ships began to sail from the Norman ports to resume or to commence the West African trade, though no attempt was made to establish any political settlements; for in the matter of founding colonies in Africa, France was considerably behind Portugal, Holland, and England. However, in 1637, a young Frenchman named Claude Jannequin de Rochefort was pacing the quays at Dieppe with vague aspirations to be "another Cortes. " Happening to ask where a certain ship was going, and being told in reply that she was bound for the "Senaga" river in Africa, near Cape de Verde, he instantly resolved to go, and before many hours were over was entered on the ship's book as a soldier; he afterwards performed the duties of clerk to the captain. It would seem that this vessel, which had not only soldiers but monks on board, must have been despatched by some far-seeing authority, since before the Sieur de Rochefort joined its company it had been determined to stop on the West African coast north of the Senegal river, cut down trees, build a small boat, and use it to explore the Senegal. This plan had been formulated in complete ignorance of the fact that the coast north of the Senegal and south of Morocco contains no timber for boat-building. Finding this to be the case, the Dieppe expedition, under the command of Captain Lambert, with the Sieur de Rochefort among its soldiers, went on to the Senegal and put together a small boat out of timber which had been brought from France. Into this small vessel was transferred a portion of the crew, including De Rochefort; and the Senegal river was explored for 110 miles from its mouth. Although the Dieppe adventurers were said to have built a fort on the site of St Louis in 1360, and the Portuguese had a few trading posts on its lower reaches in the 15th century, there were no Europeans on the river when it was visited by De Rochefort, though the Dutch had established stations on the coast not far off. After obtaining concessions from the natives, Captain Lambert's expedition returned to France, experiencing many delays and adventures on the way; and six years after he had started from Dieppe De Rochefort published an interesting account of their adventures.