author
Augustin Bernard
1865–1947
A leading French geographer and historian of North Africa, he helped shape how France studied Algeria and the wider colonial world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work joined scholarship, teaching, and public debate at a time when geography was closely tied to empire.
1 Audiobook
La pénétration saharienne (1830-1906)
by Augustin Bernard, Napoléon Lacroix
About the author
Born in Chaumont-sur-Tharonne on August 26, 1865, Augustin Bernard became a French geographer and historian known especially for his work on North Africa. He studied under Marcel Dubois and belonged to the generation of French geographers working around Paul Vidal de la Blache, helping expand French geographical research beyond Europe.
Bernard specialized in Algeria, Morocco, and the broader French colonial world. He wrote extensively on North Africa and taught colonial geography for many years, building a reputation as an important scholar in that field. Modern readers should note that this work was shaped by the assumptions and political setting of French colonial rule.
He died in Bourbon-l'Archambault on December 29, 1947. His books and articles remain part of the historical record for anyone interested in the history of geography, French scholarship, and the colonial era.