Automobiles, Entrepreneurs, and Empire

Abstract By the end of World War I, business leaders began promoting the automobile as the ideal technology for touring French North Africa. Leading industrial companies such as Dunlop, Michelin, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, and Citroën led initiatives to promote leisured automobile travel in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. These efforts aligned with the French colonial administration's increasing focus on technology, especially motorized mobility to develop, maintain, and govern its North African empire. This article explores the intersection of technology and colonialism in French North Africa during the interwar period through the lens of automobile-based tourism. Questioning the divisions between politics, technology, and leisure, it examines the ideological uses and material effects of auto-tourism from the perspective of mobility. In doing so, it highlights the role of leisure-driven colonial automobility in shaping France's interwar imperial policies and colonial practices.