French Algeria ( French : Alger until 1839, then Algérie afterwards; unofficially Algérie française , Arabic : الجزائر المستعمرة ), also known as Colonial Algeria , was the period of Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France . French rule lasted until the end of the Algerian War which resulted in Algeria gaining independence on 5 July 1962.
142-557: The French conquest of Algeria began in 1830 with the invasion of Algiers which toppled the Regency of Algiers , though Algeria was not fully conquered and pacified until 1903. It is estimated that by 1875, approximately 825,000 indigenous Algerians were killed. Various scholars describe the French conquest as genocide . Algeria was ruled as a colony from 1830 to 1848, and then as multiple departments, an integral part of France , with
284-601: A genocide . The coastal and mountainous parts of Algeria were controlled by the Regency of Algiers . The Regency (or Deylik), while nominally part of the Ottoman Empire , acted independently from the Ottoman Sultan . The dey ruled the entire Regency, but only exercised direct control in and around Algiers , with Beyliks ( Governorates ) established in the Western , Central , and Eastern parts of
426-623: A French ship for the Italian peninsula . 2,500 janissaries also quit the Algerian territories, heading for Asia, on 11 July. The French army then recruited the first zouaves (a title given to certain light infantry regiments) in October, followed by the spahis regiments, while France expropriated all the land properties belonging to the Turkish settlers , known as Beliks . In
568-407: A favorable peace treaty the next year. The treaty of Tafna gained conditional recognition for Abd al Qadir's regime by defining the territory under its control and salvaged his prestige among the tribes just as the shaykhs were about to desert him. To provoke new hostilities, the French deliberately broke the treaty in 1839 by occupying Constantine . Abd al Qadir took up the holy war again, destroyed
710-536: A garrison there before return to Algiers to plan an attack against Constantine . Abdelkader continued to harry the French at Tlemcen, so additional troops under Thomas Robert Bugeaud , a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who was experienced in irregular warfare, were sent from Oran to secure control up to the Tafna River and to resupply the garrison. Abdelkader retreated before Bugeaud, but decided to make
852-577: A large plain; there he told them that at his age they should be concerned with heaven and not with earth, that he refused their offer, but that he begged them to defer their vote to one of his younger sons, whom he showed them. He enumerated at length the titles of this one to govern his countrymen: his early piety, his pilgrimage to the Holy Places, his descent from the Prophet; he made known several striking clues which heaven had used to designate him in
994-727: A majority in the Chamber of Deputies . Polignac opened negotiations with Muhammad Ali of Egypt to essentially divide up North Africa. Ali, although nominally a vassal of the Ottomans, eventually rejected this idea. As popular opinion continued to rise against Polignac and the King, they decided that a foreign policy victory such as the capture of Algiers would turn opinion in their favour again. Admiral Duperré took command in Toulon of an armada of 635 ships and then headed for Algiers. Following
1136-470: A military expedition against Algiers. Admiral Duperré commanded an armada of 600 ships that originated from Toulon , leading it to Algiers. Using Napoleon 's 1808 contingency plan for the invasion of Algeria, General de Bourmont then landed 27 kilometres (17 mi) west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch on 14 June 1830, with 34,000 soldiers. In response to the French, the Algerian dey ordered an opposition consisting of 7,000 janissaries , 19,000 troops from
1278-584: A military expedition. However, the Count of Villèle , an ultra-royalist , President of the council and the monarch's heir, opposed any military action. The Bourbon Restoration government finally decided to blockade Algiers for three years. Meanwhile, the Berber pirates were able to exploit the geography of the coast with ease. Before the failure of the blockade, the Restoration decided on 31 January 1830 to engage
1420-748: A military, authorities previously absent under the Articles of Confederation. The nascent nation's first naval vessels were commissioned in 1794 to counter Algerian piracy. Subsequently, in 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the United States, citing unpaid tribute. The first military land action overseas of the United States was executed by the US Marines and the US Navy in 1805 at
1562-568: A mixed system of "total domination and total colonization" whereby French military would wage total war against civilian populations while a colonial administration would provide rule of law and property rights to settlers within French occupied cities. Some governments and scholars have called France's conquest of Algeria a genocide . For example, Ben Kiernan , an Australian expert on Cambodian genocide wrote in Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur on
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#17327662523431704-581: A mysterious man arrived in Kabiliya. He presented himself as Mohamed ben Abdallah (the name of the Prophet ), but is more commonly known as Sherif Boubaghla . He was probably a former lieutenant in the army of Emir Abdelkader , defeated for the last time by the French in 1847. Boubaghla refused to surrender at that battle, and retreated to Kabylia. From there he began a war against the French armies and their allies, often employing guerrilla tactics. Boubaghla
1846-540: A nuisance for France since 1837, and have launched several ambushes such as the Battle of Beni Mered , thus it was Imperative to destroy Abdelkader's forces in the region. After successfully routing Ahmed in the Battle of Tizi Ouzou , the French ambushed the remaining Algerian forces near Issers , successfully destroying the local forces, and causing the surrender of Ahmed bin Salem. This defeat ended Abdelkader's influence in
1988-507: A plan for the invasion of Algeria originally developed by Major Boutin under Napoleon in 1808, General de Bourmont then landed 34,000 soldiers 27 kilometres (17 mi) west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch , on 14 June 1830. To face the French, the dey sent 7,000 janissaries , 19,000 troops from the beys of Constantine and Oran, and about 17,000 Kabyles . The French established a strong beachhead and pushed toward Algiers, thanks in part to superior artillery and better organization. On 19 June
2130-659: A point of no return in Franco-Algerian relations and led to the outbreak of the Algerian War which was characterised by the use guerrilla warfare by National Liberation Front , and crimes against humanity by the French. The war ended in 1962, with Algeria gaining independence following the Évian Accords in March 1962 and a self-determination referendum in July 1962. During its last years as part of France, Algeria
2272-569: A policy of penetration." —Ben Kiernan, Blood and Soil When France recognized the Armenian genocide , Turkey accused France of having committed genocide against 15% of Algeria's population. On 1 December 1830, King Louis-Philippe named the Duc de Rovigo as head of military staff in Algeria. De Rovigo took control of Bône and initiated colonisation of the land. He was recalled in 1833 due to
2414-757: A relevant presence of missionaries to bring faith, but more importantly, the education and cultural system of France in Algeria, as happened with the Alliance Israelite Universelle for the Jews community. In fact, from the 1850s, along with the Cremieux Decree, there has been a mass involvement of France regarding the type of education that Jews and Kabyle had to receive, in order to create people loyal to France, but also acting and behaving like French. Barbary States The Barbary Coast (also Barbary , Berbery , or Berber Coast )
2556-638: A resourceful warrior. From his capital in Tlemcen , Abd al Qadir set about building a territorial Muslim state based on the communities of the interior but drawing its strength from the tribes and religious brotherhoods. By 1839, he controlled more than two-thirds of Algeria. His government maintained an army and a bureaucracy, collected taxes, supported education, undertook public works, and established agricultural and manufacturing cooperatives to stimulate economic activity. The French in Algiers viewed with concern
2698-482: A stand on the banks of the Sikkak River. On July 6, 1836, Bugeaud decisively defeated Abdelkader in the Battle of Sikkak , losing less than fifty men to more than 1,000 casualties suffered by Abdelkader. The battle was one of the few formal battles Abdelkader engaged in; after this defeat he restricted his actions as much as possible to guerrilla-style attacks. Ahmed Bey had continuously resisted any attempts by
2840-550: A strategic location near Constantine in the Zibra region, with Louis-Philippe, due d'Aumale, a twenty-two-year-old general leading the troops. The necessity of arriving at Constantine by a different route, following the firm and successful resistance of the amir Abdel Kader and the bey of Constantine Haji Ahmed, led to the decision to assault that specific area. In truth, the Sahara's dry environment and non-strategic location, at least for
2982-459: A term applied primarily to ethnic Europeans born in Algeria. The indigenous Muslim population comprised the majority of the territory throughout its history. Gradually, dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, due to their lack of political and economic freedom, fueled calls for greater political autonomy , and eventually independence from France. The Sétif and Guelma massacre , in 1945, marked
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#17327662523433124-435: A viable way in endorsing the revolts. The final trigger that initiated such a great movement, however, was the mutiny in 1871 of a Spahi , after it refused to obey French commands. Around 150,000 Kabyles revolted, bringing warfare around the whole region, reaching almost the capital. Moreover, the majority of these rebels were not properly armed and trained, but a chaotic mass of peasants fighting for their freedom. However,
3266-581: Is for their part that civilization is situated." French forces deported and banished entire Algerian tribes. The Moorish families of Tlemcen were exiled to the Orient, and others were emigrated elsewhere. The tribes that were considered too troublesome were banned, and some took refuge in Tunisia, Morocco and Syria or were deported to New Caledonia or Guyana. Also, French forces also engaged in wholesale massacres of entire tribes. All 500 men, women and children of
3408-470: The Algerian War (1954-1962), the French used deliberate illegal methods against the Algerians, including (as described by Henri Alleg , who himself had been tortured, and historians such as Raphaëlle Branche) beatings, torture by electroshock, waterboarding , burns, and rape. Prisoners were also locked up without food in small cells, buried alive , and thrown from helicopters to their death or into
3550-589: The Battle of Agueddin in which they were defeated by Abdelkader in all three military engagements, however Abdelkader soon made the choice to withdraw from Morocco and enter French territory for negotiations. in December 1847, Abd al-Qādir chose to surrender to the French, under terms that he be allowed to enter exile in the Middle East. The French violated these terms, holding him in France until 1852, when he
3692-535: The Bourbon Restoration by Charles X , as an attempt to increase his popularity amongst the French people. He particularly hoped to appeal to the many veterans of the Napoleonic Wars who lived in Paris. His intention was to bolster patriotic sentiment, and distract attention from ineptly handled domestic policies by "skirmishing against the dey." In the 1790s, France had contracted to purchase wheat for
3834-560: The First (1801–05) and Second (1815) Barbary Wars. An Anglo-Dutch force, led by Admiral Lord Exmouth , carried out a punitive expedition , the August 1816 bombardment of Algiers . The Dey was forced to sign the Barbary treaties , because the technological advantage of U.S., British, and French forces overwhelmed the Algerians' expertise at naval warfare . Following the conquest under
3976-516: The French army . One by one, the amir's strongholds fell to the French, and many of his ablest commanders were killed or captured so that by 1843 the Muslim state had collapsed. Abd al Qadir took refuge in 1841 with his ally, the sultan of Morocco , Abd ar Rahman II , and launched raids into Algeria. This alliance led the French Navy to bombard and briefly occupy Essaouira ( Mogador ) under
4118-578: The July monarchy , France referred to the Algerian territories as "French possessions in North Africa". This was disputed by the Ottoman Empire, which had not given up its claim. In 1839 Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult , Duke of Dalmatia, first named these territories as "Algeria". The invasion of Algeria against the Regency of Algiers (Ottoman Algeria) was initiated in the last days of
4260-466: The Marquesas Islands or elsewhere. In one word, annihilate everything that will not crawl beneath our feet like dogs. Whatever initial misgivings Louis Philippe's government may have had about occupying Algeria, the geopolitical realities of the situation created by the 1830 intervention argued strongly for reinforcing French presence there. France had reason for concern that Britain , which
4402-462: The Mitidja Plain and envisioned the large-scale production there of cotton . As governor-general (1835–36), he used his office to make private investments in land and encouraged army officers and bureaucrats in his administration to do the same. This development created a vested interest among government officials in greater French involvement in Algeria. Commercial interests with influence in
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4544-461: The Prince de Joinville on August 16, 1844. A French force was destroyed at the Battle of Sidi-Brahim in 1845. However, Abd al Qadir was obliged to surrender to the commander of Oran Province, General Louis de Lamoricière , at the end of 1847. Abd al Qadir was promised safe conduct to Egypt or Palestine if his followers laid down their arms and kept the peace. He accepted these conditions, but
4686-785: The Tafna [ fr ] River, was particularly porous since there were shared tribal connections that crossed it. The Regency of Algiers was one of the main bases of the Barbary pirates and Barbary Slave Traders who attacked Christian ships and coastal settlements in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic . Like the rest of the Barbary Coast , the Regency of Algiers lived from the trade of slaves or goods captured from Europe , America and Africa . The European powers bombarded Algiers on different occasions in retaliation and
4828-478: The jihad . Then member of parliament Alexis de Tocqueville described Abdelkader's rise to power in his 1837 Letter on Algeria as follows: To the west of the province of Algiers, near the borders of the Moroccan empire, there has long been established a very famous family of marabouts. They descend from Mohammed himself, and their name is venerated throughout the Regency. At the time the French took possession of
4970-532: The locust plagues of 1866 and 1868, as well as by a rigorous winter in 1867–68, which caused a famine followed by an epidemic of cholera . The French began their occupation of Algiers in 1830, starting with a landing in Algiers . As occupation turned into colonization, Kabylia remained the only region independent of the French government. Pressure on the region increased, and the will of her people to resist and defend Kabylia increased as well. In about 1849,
5112-519: The 16th century onward, it was divided into the political entities of the Regency of Algiers , Regency of Tripoli , Regency of Tunis , and the Alawi Sultanate . Major rulers and petty monarchs during the times of the Barbary states' plundering parties included the dey of Algiers , pasha of Tripoli , bey of Tunis , and the sultan of Morocco . In 1625, the pirate fleet of Algiers, by far
5254-587: The 1837 Siege of Constantine . Abd Al-Qādir continued to give stiff resistance in the west. Finally driven into Morocco in 1842, by large-scale and heavy-handed French military action, he continued to wage a guerrilla war until the Moroccan government, under French diplomatic pressure following its defeat in the Franco-Moroccan War , attacked him and drove him out of Morocco. He surrendered to French forces in 1847. Some governments and scholars have considered France's conquest of Algeria as constituting
5396-463: The Algerian insurgency of Abd El-Kader . The latter fought for years against the French. Directing an army of 12,000 men, Abd El-Kader first organized the blockade of Oran. Algerian refugees were welcomed by the Moroccan population, while the Sultan recommended that the authorities of Tetuan assist them, by providing jobs in the administration or the military forces. The inhabitants of Tlemcen , near
5538-402: The Algerian population. Colonel Lucien de Montagnac stated that the purpose of the pacification was to "destroy everything that will not crawl beneath our feet like dogs" The scorched earth policy, decided by Governor General Thomas Robert Bugeaud , had devastating effects on the socio-economic and food balances of the country: "we fire little gunshot, we burn all douars, all villages, all huts;
5680-613: The Arab Mohammed ben Allel . The campaign was a success, albeit the Algerian forces were routed in the battle of Oued El Alleug . Throughout 1840 he waged guerrilla war against the French in the provinces of Algiers and Oran. Valée's failures to end the war led to his replacement in December 1840 by General Bugeaud . Bugeaud instituted a strategy of scorched earth , combined with fast-moving cavalry columns not unlike those used by Abd al-Qādir to progressively take territory from Abd al-Qādir. The troops' tactics were heavy-handed, and
5822-545: The Berber-Algerian forces led by Mohamed Ben Zaamoum defeated the French army with minimal casualties. The French forces were strategically ambushed by the Algerians, who welcomed them at first and attacked them from the mountain, in a sudden and vigorous manner, soon after. In the Second Battle of Blida , through ambushes, Algerian forces effected a French retreat. Both battles were fought in 1830 and France
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5964-689: The Busnach, Jewish merchants of Algiers, provided large quantities of grain for Napoleon's soldiers who participated in the Italian campaign of 1796. But Bonaparte refused to pay the bill, claiming it was excessive. In 1820, Louis XVIII paid back half of the Directory's debts. The Dey , who had loaned the Bacri 250,000 francs , requested the rest of the money from France. French Algeria (19th–20th centuries) Algerian War (1954–1962) 1990s– 2000s 2010s to present The Dey of Algiers
6106-726: The Constantine beylik, but was repulsed in the Battle of Constantine ; the failure led to Clausel's recall. He was replaced by the Comte de Damrémont , who led an expedition which captured Constantine the following year, although he was killed during the siege and replaced by Sylvain Charles, comte Valée . In May 1837, General Thomas Robert Bugeaud , then in command of Oran, negotiated the Treaty of Tafna with Abd al-Qādir, in which he effectively recognized Abd al-Qādir's control over much of
6248-686: The Dey, while in reality they were completely controlled by tribal confederacies, and smaller kingdoms such as that of Kel Ahaggar . The Dey was supported, or in some cases controlled by the Janissaries of the Odjak of Algiers , although their power was heavily limited after 1817. The territory was bordered to the west by the Sultanate of Morocco and to the east by the Beylik of Tunis . The western border,
6390-533: The El Oufia tribe were killed in one night, while all 500 to 700 members of the Ouled Rhia tribe were killed by suffocation in a cave. The Siege of Laghouat is referred by Algerians as the year of the "Khalya ," Arabic for emptiness, which is commonly known to the inhabitants of Laghouat as the year that the city was emptied of its population. It is also commonly known as the year of Hessian sacks, referring to
6532-399: The French and their makhzen allies at Oran in 1832. In the same year, jihad was declared and to lead it tribal elders chose Muhyi ad Din's son, twenty-five-year-old Abd al Qadir . Abd al Qadir, who was recognized as Amir al-Muminin (commander of the faithful), quickly gained the support of tribes throughout Algeria. A devout and austere marabout, he was also a cunning political leader and
6674-411: The French army from two merchants in Algiers, Messrs. Bacri and Boushnak, and was in arrears paying them. Bacri and Boushnak owed money to the dey and claimed they could not pay it until France paid its debts to them. The dey had unsuccessfully negotiated with Pierre Deval , the French consul, to rectify this situation, and he suspected Deval of collaborating with the merchants against him, especially when
6816-452: The French army has set foot. Who wants the end wants the means, whatever may say our philanthropists. I personally warn all good soldiers whom I have the honour to lead that if they happen to bring me a living Arab, they will receive a beating with the flat of the saber.... This is how, my dear friend, we must make war against Arabs: kill all men over the age of fifteen, take all their women and children, load them onto naval vessels, send them to
6958-546: The French captured Constantine under Sylvain Charles Valée the following year, on 13 October 1837. Historians generally set the indigenous population of Algeria at 3 million in 1830. Although the Algerian population decreased at some point under French rule, most certainly between 1866 and 1872, the French military was not fully responsible for the extent of this decrease, as some of these deaths could be explained by
7100-500: The French conquered Algiers. In 1795–96, the French Republic contracted to purchase wheat for the French army from two Jewish merchants in Algiers. The merchants, who had debts to Hussein Dey , the Dey of Algiers, claimed inability to pay those debts until France paid its debts to them. The dey unsuccessfully negotiated with Pierre Deval , the French consul, to rectify this situation, and suspected Deval of collaborating with
7242-456: The French conquest of Algeria : By 1875, the French conquest was complete. The war had killed approximately 825,000 indigenous Algerians since 1830. A long shadow of genocidal hatred persisted, provoking a French author to protest in 1882 that in Algeria, "we hear it repeated every day that we must expel the native and, if necessary, destroy him." As a French statistical journal urged five years later, "the system of extermination must give way to
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#17327662523437384-482: The French defeated the dey's army at the battle of Staouéli , and entered Algiers on 5 July after a three-week campaign. The dey accepted capitulation in exchange for his freedom and the offer to retain possession of his personal wealth. Five days later, he went into exile in Naples with his family. The Turkish Janissaries also quit the territory, leaving for Turkey. The dey's departure ended 313 years of Ottoman rule of
7526-472: The French during the Algerian War during the 1950s against Algerians include deliberate bombing and killing of unarmed civilians, rape, torture , executions through " death flights " or burial alive , thefts and pillaging. Up to 2 million Algerian civilians were also deported in internment camps. During the Pacification of Algeria (1835-1903) French forces engaged in a scorched earth policy against
7668-527: The French forces, with the goal of establishing a proper colonial presence. He and others formed a company to acquire agricultural land and to subsidize its settlement by European farmers, triggering a land rush . Clauzel recognized the farming potential of the Mitidja Plain and envisioned the production there of cotton on a large scale. During his second term as governor general (1835–36), he used his office to make private investments in land and encouraged army officers and bureaucrats in his administration to do
7810-469: The French general Jacques Louis César Randon was caught but managed to escape later. On 26 December 1854, Boubaghla was killed; some sources claim it was due to treason of some of his allies. The resistance was left without a charismatic leader and a commander able to guide it efficiently. For this reason, during the first months of 1855, on a sanctuary built on top of the Azru Nethor peak, not far from
7952-586: The French government made no provisions in 1820 to pay the merchants. Deval's nephew Alexandre, the consul in Bône , further angered the dey by fortifying French storehouses in Bône and La Calle , contrary to the terms of prior agreements. After a contentious meeting in which Deval refused to provide satisfactory answers on 29 April 1827, the dey struck Deval with his fly whisk . Charles X used this slight against his diplomatic representative to first demand an apology from
8094-414: The French or others to subjugate Constantine, and continued to play a role in resistance against French rule, in part because he hoped to eventually become the next Dey. Clausel and Ahmed had tangled diplomatically over Ahmed's refusal to recognize French authority over Bône, which he considered to still be Algerian territory, and Clausel decided to move against him. In November 1836 Clausel led 8,700 men into
8236-500: The French settlements on the Mitidja Plain, and at one point advanced to the outskirts of Algiers itself. He struck where the French were weakest and retreated when they advanced against him in greater strength. The government moved from camp to camp with the amir and his army. Gradually, however, superior French resources and manpower and the defection of tribal chieftains took their toll. Reinforcements poured into Algeria after 1840 until Bugeaud had at his disposal 108,000 men, one-third of
8378-404: The French, he laid claim under the treaty to territory that included the main route between Algiers and Constantine. When French troops contested this claim in late 1839 by marching through a mountain defile known as the Iron Gates, Abd al-Qādir claimed a breach of the treaty, and renewed calls for jihad. In 1839 he launched the Mitidja Campaign led by the Kabyle commander Ahmed bin Salem , and
8520-484: The French, who were short on provisions, began withdrawing toward Arzew, Abdelkader led 20,000 men against the beleaguered column, and in the Battle of Macta routed the force, killing 500 men. The debacle led to the recall of Comte d'Erlon. General Clausel was appointed a second time to replace d'Erlon. He led an attack against Mascara in December of that year, which Abdelkader, with advance warning, had evacuated. In January 1836 Clausel occupied Tlemcen , and established
8662-405: The Hajj one more time. Muhieddine, the father of Abdelkader and the superior of a religious brotherhood, who had spent time in the Dey's jails for opposing the Dey's rule, launched attacks against the French and their makhzen allies at Oran in 1832. In the same year, tribal elders in the territories near Mascara chose Muhieddine's son, twenty-five-year-old Abdelkader, to take his place leading
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#17327662523438804-420: The Kabyle communities and the French colonizers brought with the idea of manufacturing a new type of relationship that could have legitimized the French conquest of Algeria by promoting the belief that these Kabyle were different from the rest of the Algerians. This idea stemmed from cultural differences between the communities, such as the monogamy between the Kabyle. Hence, from that moment on, there has been
8946-416: The Moroccan border, asked that they be placed under the Sultan's authority in order to escape the invaders. Abderrahmane named his nephew Prince Moulay Ali Caliph of Tlemcen, charged with the protection of the city. In retaliation France executed two Moroccans: Mohamed Beliano and Benkirane, as spies, while their goods were seized by the military governor of Oran, Pierre François Xavier Boyer . Hardly had
9088-477: The Moroccans and imprisoned them. Following this failure by the Moroccans, an assassin was sent to kill Emir Abdelkader. The nephew of Abd al-Rahman, Moulay Hashem was sent along with the governor of the Rif, El Hamra in command of a Moroccan army to attack the Emir, however the Moroccans were severely defeated in battle , El Hamra was killed, Moulay Hashem had barely escaped with his life and Abd al-Rahman accepted this defeat. The Moroccans led another offensive in
9230-417: The Nineteenth Century that the substantive cause of the altercation was the French attempts to fortify a previously disused warehouse at La Calle, in an attempt to turn La Calle and the local region into a colonial outpost for the French, and that the dey's discussion of the debts arose as a secondary concern. After a contentious meeting on 29 April 1827 in which Deval refused to provide satisfactory answers,
9372-474: The United States initiated the Barbary Wars in order to put an end to Algerian privateering against Christian shipping. The conquest of Algeria began in the last days of the Bourbon Restoration by Charles X of France . It aimed to put a definite end to Barbary privateering and increase the king's popularity among the French people, particularly in Paris, where many veterans of the Napoleonic Wars lived. Algerian slave trade and piracy immediately ceased after
9514-449: The Zwawas from Thénia. Meanwhile, the French were ambushed by the tribes of Isser and Amraoua, but they were quickly repelled. On 18 and 19 May the French 2nd Light Infantry division defeated a few hundred Algerian defenders at Béni Aïcha. The French lost three soldiers, while the Algerians lost 18. On the same day, a few hundred Kabyles tried to ambush the French army, but were easily defeated, suffering considerable losses. Emir Abdelkader
9656-414: The age of 14, Abdelkader attained the title of Hafiz , and was active in the family mosque where he explained passages of the Quran. At age 18, in 1825, Abdelkader and his father performed the Hajj . After fulfilling their pilgrimage to Mecca, they travelled to Damascus, where they studied for a few months. After this stay, they made another pilgrimage to Baghdad. Before heading home in 1828, they performed
9798-488: The battle at Staouéli, attempted to coordinate resistance against the French with the beys of Oran and Constantine, but they were unable to agree on leadership. Clauzel in November led a French column of 8,000 to Médéa , Titteri's capital, losing 200 men in skirmishes. After leaving 500 men at Blida he occupied Médéa without resistance, as the bey had retreated. Clauzel introduced a formal civil administration in Algiers, and began recruiting zouaves , or native auxiliaries to
9940-414: The better equipped French defenders. In 1834 the French, under the lead of Maximilien Joseph Schauenburg, attacked the city of Hadjout. The resistance used guerilla tactics, but was crushed by August 1835. On 23 February 1837, the French continued their campaign against the Algerian resistance in the Mitidja plains. On 24 February, the French met Algerian resistance on the Mitidja plains, and pushed towards
10082-451: The bey of Tunis to supply "local" rulers that would operate under French administration. The bey refused, seeing the obvious conflicts inherent in the idea. The French foreign ministry objected to negotiations Clauzel conducted with Morocco over the establishment of a Moroccan bey in Oran, and in early 1831 replaced him with Baron Berthezène . Berthezène was a weak administrator opposed to colonisation. His worst military failure came when he
10224-516: The beys of Constantine and Oran , and about 17,000 Kabyles . The French established a strong beachhead and pushed toward Algiers, thanks in part to superior artillery and better organization. The French troops took the advantage on 19 June during the battle of Staouéli , and entered Algiers on 5 July after a three-week campaign. The dey agreed to surrender in exchange for his freedom and the offer to retain possession of his personal wealth. Five days later, he exiled himself with his family, departing on
10366-542: The biggest roadblocks. Promises of future recognition for Ahmed ben Salem, a tribe commander who put up resistance to Kader's plans in the Sahara Desert, for example, made the French-hostile resistance in the towns, first, much more difficult, and, second, produced a negative impression on the local population. Following this, the French army was able to control the many revolts, both by secret alliances and
10508-440: The blockade. When France in 1829 sent an ambassador to the dey with a proposal for negotiations, he responded with cannon fire directed toward one of the blockading ships. The French then decided that more forceful action was required. Following the failure of the ambassador's visit, Charles appointed as prime minister Jules, Prince de Polignac , a hardline conservative. This outraged the liberal French opposition, which then had
10650-547: The border areas. When French diplomatic efforts to convince Morocco to expel Abd al-Qādir failed, the French resorted to military means with the First Franco-Moroccan War in 1844 to compel the sultan to change his policy. France launched a campaign in 1845 in the Kabylia region in hopes of destroying Abdelkader's local forces led by the aforementioned Ahmed bin Salem . The Kabyle Zwawa forces have been
10792-685: The city of Larbaa, which, at the time, was still under the rule of Algerian tribes. The city was captured two days later. On 8 May 1837, the Kabyles from the regions of the Col des Beni Aïcha, the Issers and Amraoua raided the Mercier farm of Reghaïa under French rule. This motivated the French to start an attack against the Zwawa Kabyles, and the Kabyles of Isser. On the 17 May the French pushed back
10934-586: The coast in the Gulf of Bougie, shelled Kherrata. Vigilantes lynched prisoners taken from local jails or randomly shot Muslims not wearing white arm bands (as instructed by the army) out of hand. It is certain that the great majority of the Muslim victims had not been implicated in the original outbreak. The dead bodies in Guelma were buried in mass graves, but they were later dug up and burned in Héliopolis . During
11076-551: The colony's disparate treatment of various ethnic groups, resulted in the trial of the surviving commanders in Constantine in 1873, following the French repressions. Moreover, major importance is assigned to the effect that the Crémieux Decree in 1870 had on the population. The revolt was led by Cheikh Mokrani , head of the Kalâa of Ait Abbas , originally allied with the French state. One important aspect that contributed to
11218-552: The country, the head of this family was an old man called Mahiddin. To the illustration of birth, Mahiddin added the advantage of having been to Mecca and of having long and energetically opposed the exactions of the Turks. His sanctity was in great honour and his skill well known. When the surrounding tribes began to feel the unbearable discomfort caused to men by the absence of power, they came to Mahiddin and proposed that he take over their affairs. The old man gathered them all together on
11360-404: The country. The remainder of the territory (including much of the interior), while nominally ruled by Algiers, was effectively under the control of local Berber and Arab leaders, who usually acted as vassals to Dey, albeit not always. In the northern Saharan parts some oasis kingdoms such as the Sultanate of Tuggurt were controlled by the Regency. The inner Saharan parts were only claimed by
11502-415: The dey struck Deval with his fly-whisk (then called a fan ). Charles X used this slight against his diplomatic representative to first demand an apology from the dey, and then to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. The blockade lasted for three years, and was primarily to the detriment of French merchants who were unable to do business with Algiers, while Barbary pirates were still able to evade
11644-485: The dey, and then to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. France demanded that the dey send an ambassador to France to resolve the incident. When the dey responded with cannon fire directed toward one of the blockading ships, the French determined that more forceful action was required. Pierre Deval and other French residents of Algiers left for France, while the Minister of War , Clermont-Tonnerre , proposed
11786-474: The east of the country. By the end of the decade the French occupation consisted of over a hundred thousand soldiers. A French force was destroyed at the Battle of Sidi Brahim in 1845. Abd al-Rahman of Morocco following the 1844 Treaty of Tangiers had outlawed the Emir from his entire kingdom. Abd al-Rahman secretly sent soldiers to attack Abdelkader and destroy his supplies, six months after Abdelkader routed
11928-455: The enemy flees across taking his flock." According to Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison , the colonization of Algeria led to the extermination of a third of the population from multiple causes (massacres, deportations, famines or epidemics) that were all interrelated. Returning from an investigation trip to Algeria, Tocqueville wrote that "we make war much more barbaric than the Arabs themselves [...] it
12070-466: The enemy from multiple sides, In fact, even if Tuareg groups were poorly armed, their knowledge of the environment and resistance to the climate conditions made them dangerous enemies. Furthermore, the Sahara expedition was not seen by everyone as a strict necessity for the French state, both because of its numerous difficulties in the strategic plans that were proposed and because of the lack of certainty in its development. According to several historians,
12212-613: The faithful), quickly gained the support of tribes in the western territories. In 1834 he concluded a treaty with General Desmichels , who was then military commander of the province of Oran. In the treaty, which was reluctantly accepted by the French administration, France recognized Abdelkader as the sovereign of territories in Oran province not under French control, and authorized Abdelkader to send consuls to French-held cities. The treaty did not require Abdelkader to recognize French rule, something glossed over in its French text. Abdelkader used
12354-444: The first French colonial intentions, were not worth the army's time and effort. The French, on the other hand, were able to maintain a successful policy in the Sahara, which tried to make the conquest as bloodless as possible by forming partnerships with specific tribes. In truth, not all local leaders supported Abdel Kader's colonial resistance efforts, with partnerships between French officials and certain local leaders serving as one of
12496-515: The government also began to recognize the prospects for profitable land speculation in expanding the French zone of occupation. They created large agricultural tracts, built factories and businesses, and hired local labor. Among others testimonies, Lieutenant-colonel Lucien de Montagnac wrote on 15 March 1843, in a letter to a friend: All populations who do not accept our conditions must be despoiled. Everything must be seized, devastated, without age or sex distinction: grass must not grow any more where
12638-516: The hands of Tuareg forces triggered a final French expedition. In 1902, a French military expedition entered Hoggar Mountains and defeated Kel Ahaggar in a battle in Tit . The conquest of the Saharan lands in Algeria finished in 1903 when France conquered the kingdom of Kel Ahaggar. Noticeable, the French policies in Sahara focused on the already well-known strategy of "divide and rule" and on attacking
12780-586: The implementing of the Constitution of French Second Republic on 4 November 1848, until Algerian independence in 1962. For a period between 1860 and 1870, the then-French emperor Napoleon III transformed Algeria into a client state , expanding freedoms, and limiting colonisation, a move deeply unpopular by the French colonists. As a recognized jurisdiction of France, Algeria became a destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants. They were first known as colons , and later as pieds-noirs ,
12922-461: The initial victories began to fade after the deployment of several French units which defeated the insurrection, especially with the final capture of Cheick Mokrani's brother. A number of dissidents was also brought to New Caledonia, where a large Algerian community, known as Algerians of the Pacific , still exists. The French expedition to conquer the Saharan lands began in March 1844 at Biskra,
13064-476: The interior of the country. Initially, the Algerian resistance was mainly divided between forces under Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif at Constantine , seeking to reinstate the Regency of Algiers, primarily in the east, and nationalist forces in the west and center. Treaties with the nationalists under Emir Abdelkader enabled the French to first focus on the elimination of the remnants of the Deylik , achieved with
13206-543: The interior of what is now Algeria. Abd Al-Qādir used the treaty to consolidate his power over tribes throughout the interior, establishing new cities far from French control. He worked to motivate the population under French control to resist by peaceful and military means. Rivalries between clans and brotherhoods that had divided Algeria prior to the French invasion were resolved under his organization, wherein he divided controlled territory into districts, each one reinforced and in control of its own defense. Seeking to again face
13348-462: The interior, away from French influence. Trézel countered by marching a column of troops out from Oran to protect the territory of those tribes on 16 June 1835. After exchanging threats, Abdelkader withdrew his consul from Oran and ejected the French consul from Mascara, a de facto declaration of war. The two forces clashed in a bloody but inconclusive engagement near the Sig River . However, when
13490-491: The land and expropriation of properties. His suppression of resistance in Algiers was brutal, with the military presence extended into its neighborhoods. He was recalled in 1833 due to the overtly violent nature of the repression, and replaced by Baron Voirol . Voirol established French occupation in Oran, and another French general, Louis Alexis Desmichels , was given an independent command that gained control over Arzew and Mostaganem . On 22 June 1834, France formally annexed
13632-520: The largest, numbered 100 ships of various sizes, carrying 8,000 to 10,000 men. The corsair industry alone accounted for 25 percent of the workforce of the city, not counting other activities of the port. The fleet only averaged 25 ships in the 1680s, but these were larger vessels than had been used since the 1620s, so the fleet still employed some 7,000 men. In addition, 2,500 men manned the pirate fleet of Tripoli, 3,000 in Tunis, and several thousand more in
13774-478: The local population. The policy of limited occupation was formally abandoned in 1840 for one of complete control. Voirol was replaced in 1834 by Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon , who became the first governor of the colony, and who was given the task of dealing with the rising threat of `Abd al-Qādir and continuing French failures to subdue Ahmed Bey , Constantine's ruler. In the First Battle of Blida ,
13916-434: The marchers and the local French gendarmerie, when the latter tried to seize banners attacking colonial rule. After five days, the French colonial military and police suppressed the rebellion, and then carried out a series of reprisals against Muslim civilians. The army carried out summary executions of Muslim rural communities. Less accessible villages were bombed by French aircraft, and cruiser Duguay-Trouin , standing off
14058-477: The merchants against him, especially since the French government made no provision to pay the merchants in 1820. Deval's nephew Alexandre, the consul in Bône , further angered the dey by fortifying French storehouses in Bône and La Calle despite prior agreements. While the unpaid debts are attributed as the primary cause of the Fan Affair, David Todd argues in A Velvet Empire: French Informal Imperialism in
14200-399: The methods used by the French to establish control over Algeria reached genocidal proportions , with war, famine and disease leading to the deaths of between 500,000 and 1 million Algerians within the first three decades of the conquest out of an estimated population of 3 million. French losses from 1830 until 1862, were 480,000 total dead (civilians and soldiers). The interaction between
14342-435: The midst of his brothers, and he proved that all the ancient prophecies which announced a liberator to the Arabs evidently applied to him. The tribes proclaimed by common agreement the son of Mahiddin emir-el-mouminin, that is to say, leader of the believers. This young man, who was then only twenty-five years old and of poor appearance, was named Abd-el-Kader. Abdelkader, who was recognized as Amir al-Muminin (commander of
14484-513: The minister of war — who years earlier as general in Algeria had been badly defeated by Abd al Qadir — had him consigned in France in the Château d'Amboise . According to Ben Kiernan , colonization and genocidal massacres proceeded in tandem. Within the first three decades (1830–1860) of French conquest, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Algerians, out of a total of 3 million, were killed due to war, massacres, disease and famine. Atrocities committed by
14626-695: The news of the capture of Algiers reached Paris than Charles X was deposed during the Three Glorious Days of July 1830, and his cousin Louis-Philippe , the "citizen king ," was named to preside over a constitutional monarchy . The new government, composed of liberal opponents of the Algiers expedition, was reluctant to pursue the conquest begun by the old regime, but withdrawing from Algeria proved more difficult than conquering it. Alexis de Tocqueville 's views on Algeria were instrumental in its brutal and formal colonization. He advocated for
14768-427: The occupied areas of Algeria, which had an estimated Muslim population of about two million, as a military colony . The colony was run by a military governor who had both civilian and military authority, including the power of executive decree. His authority was nominally over an area of "limited occupation" near the coast, but the realities of French colonial expansion beyond those areas ensured continued resistance from
14910-577: The overtly violent nature of the repression. Wishing to avoid a conflict with Morocco, Louis-Philippe sent an extraordinary mission to the sultan, mixed with displays of military might, sending war ships to the Bay of Tangier . An ambassador was sent to Sultan Moulay Abderrahmane in February 1832, headed by the Count Charles-Edgar de Mornay and including the painter Eugène Delacroix . However
15052-468: The peace provided by this treaty to widen his influence with tribes throughout western and central Algeria. While d'Erlon was apparently unaware of the danger posed by Abdelkader's activities, General Camille Alphonse Trézel , then in command at Oran, did see it, and attempted to separate some of the tribes from Abdelkader. When he succeeded in convincing two tribes near Oran to acknowledge French supremacy, Abdelkader dispatched troops to move those tribes to
15194-433: The plunder. This activity had a profound effect on future relations between the French occupiers and the natives. In 1833 a French commission wrote that "we have sent to their deaths on simple suspicion and without trial people whose guilt was always doubtful ... we massacred people carrying safe conducts ... we have outdone in barbarity the barbarians". The expulsion of the Turks created a power vacuum in significant parts of
15336-406: The population suffered significantly. Abd Al-Qādir was eventually forced to establish a mobile headquarters that was known as a smala or zmelah . In 1843 French forces raided this camp while he was away from it, capturing more than 5,000 fighters and Abd al-Qādir's warchest. Abd Al-Qādir was forced to retreat into Morocco, from which he had been receiving some support, especially from tribes in
15478-650: The pretext of assisting and rescuing enslaved Christians, usually Europeans taken as captives in raids. Again, Jean II d'Estrées bombarded Tripoli and Algiers from 1685 to 1688. An ambassador from Algiers visited the Court in Versailles, and a treaty was signed in 1690 that provided peace throughout the 18th century. During the Directory regime of the First French Republic (1795–99), the Bacri and
15620-475: The reasons of the revolt was the widespread perception among Kabyle leaders of a loss of autonomy in decision-making, as well as among the ǧamāʿa , Kabyle village assemblies. This was also the case with the loss of authority that the Kalâa of Ait Abbas was confronting. Moreover, the Paris case of the Commune also probably played a part in demonstrating a possibility to fight the French administration, providing
15762-486: The ruler of the Regency of Algiers , and the French consul escalated into a blockade , following which the July Monarchy of France invaded and quickly seized Algiers in 1830, and seized other coastal communities. Amid internal political strife in France, decisions were repeatedly taken to retain control of the territory, and additional military forces were brought in over the following years to quell resistance in
15904-512: The same. This development created a vested interest among government officials in greater French involvement in Algeria. Commercial interests with influence in the government also began to recognize the prospects for profitable land speculation in expanding the French zone of occupation. Over a ten-year period they created large agricultural tracts, built factories and businesses, and bought cheap local labor. Clauzel also attempted to extend French influence into Oran and Constantine by negotiating with
16046-710: The sea with concrete on their feet. Claude Bourdet had denounced these acts on 6 December 1951, in the magazine L'Observateur , rhetorically asking, "Is there a Gestapo in Algeria? ." D. Huf, in his seminal work on the subject, argued that the use of torture was one of the major factors in developing French opposition to the war. Huf argued, "Such tactics sat uncomfortably with France's revolutionary history, and brought unbearable comparisons with Nazi Germany . The French national psyche would not tolerate any parallels between their experiences of occupation and their colonial mastery of Algeria." General Paul Aussaresses admitted in 2000 that systematic torture techniques were used during
16188-466: The success of a Muslim government and the rapid growth of a viable territorial state that barred the extension of European settlement. Abd al Qadir fought running battles across Algeria with French forces, which included units of the Foreign Legion, organized in 1831 for Algerian service. Although his forces were defeated by the French under General Thomas Bugeaud in 1836, Abd al Qadir negotiated
16330-426: The sultan refused French demands that he evacuate Tlemcen . In 1834, France annexed as a colony the occupied areas of Algeria, which had an estimated Muslim population of about two million. Colonial administration in the occupied areas — the so-called régime du sabre (government of the sword) — was placed under a governor-general , a high-ranking army officer invested with civil and military jurisdiction, who
16472-400: The territory, from which resistance to French occupation immediately arose. The news of the capture of Algiers had hardly reached Paris when Charles X was deposed during the Three Glorious Days of July 1830, and his cousin Louis-Philippe , the "citizen king", was named to preside over a constitutional monarchy . The new government, composed of liberal opponents of the Algiers expedition,
16614-541: The territory. While the French command had nominally agreed to preserve the liberties, properties, and religious freedoms of the inhabitants, French troops immediately began plundering the city, arresting and killing people for arbitrary reasons, seizing property, and desecrating religious sites. By mid-August, the last remnants of Turkish authority were summarily deported without opportunity to liquidate significant assets. One estimate indicates that more than fifty million francs in assets were diverted into private hands during
16756-416: The traditional submission as a slave to a husband. In fact, at that time Boubaghla left his first wife (Fatima Bent Sidi Aissa) and sent back to her owner a slave he had as a concubine (Halima Bent Messaoud). But on her side, Lalla Fadhma wasn't free: even if she was recognized as tamnafeqt ("woman who left her husband to get back to his family ," a Kabylia institution), the matrimonial tie with her husband
16898-472: The use of power and coercion and power in specific cases. In 1881, the Algerian coast was completely at the hand of the French government. Moreover, the past clashes in the Sahara and the difficulties encountered had made any future possibilities of a final annexation of the whole Sahara region scarce. Nevertheless, rivalries with the British Empire and the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Flatters at
17040-527: The use of torture during the war. In June 2000, Bigeard declared that he was based in Sidi Ferruch , a torture center where Algerians were murdered. Bigeard qualified Louisette Ighilahriz 's revelations, published in the Le Monde newspaper on June 20, 2000, as "lies." An ALN activist, Louisette Ighilahriz had been tortured by General Massu. However, since General Massu's revelations, Bigeard has admitted
17182-598: The use of torture, although he denies having personally used it, and has declared, "You are striking the heart of an 84-year-old man." Bigeard also recognized that Larbi Ben M'Hidi was assassinated and that his death was disguised as a suicide. In 2018 France officially admitted that torture was systematic and routine. French conquest of Algeria French victory Invasion force: The French conquest of Algeria ( French : Conquête de l'Algérie par la France ; Arabic : الغزو الفرنسي للجزائر ) took place between 1830 and 1903. In 1827, an argument between Hussein Dey ,
17324-410: The various minor pirate bases such as Bona, Susa, Bizerta, and Salé . The corsairs were not solely natives of the cities where they were based; while many were Arabs and Berbers, there were also Turks, Greeks, Albanians, Syrians, and renegade Italians, especially Corsicans, among their number. The establishment of the U.S. Constitution in 1789 empowered the federal government to levy taxes and maintain
17466-543: The victory fanned the flames of resistance, leading to attacks on colonial settlements. The growing colonial financial interests began insisting on a stronger hand, which Louis-Philippe provided in Savary, Duke Rovigo at the end of 1831. Rovigo regained control of Bône and Bougie (present-day Béjaïa ), cities that Clauzel had taken and then lost due to resistance by the Kabyle people . He continued policies of colonisation of
17608-524: The village where Fadhma was born, there was a great council among combatants and important figures of the tribes in Kabylie. They decided to grant Lalla Fadhma, assisted by her brothers, the command of combat. The French faced other opposition as well in the area. The superior of a religious brotherhood, Muhyi ad Din , who had spent time in Ottoman jails for opposing the bey's rule, launched attacks against
17750-419: The war against the French. With her inspiring speeches, she convinced many men to fight as imseblen (volunteers ready to die as martyrs) and she herself, together with other women, participated in combat by providing cooking, medicines, and comfort to the fighting forces. Traditional sources tell that a strong bond was formed between Lalla Fadhma and Boubaghla. She saw this as a wedding of peers, rather than
17892-492: The war and justified it. He also recognized the assassination of lawyer Ali Boumendjel and the head of the FLN in Algiers, Larbi Ben M'Hidi , which had been disguised as suicides. Bigeard , who called FLN activists "savages ," claimed torture was a "necessary evil ." To the contrary, General Jacques Massu denounced it, following Aussaresses's revelations and, before his death, pronounced himself in favor of an official condemnation of
18034-639: The way the captured surviving men and boys were put alive in the hessian sacks and thrown into dug-up trenches. From 8 May to June 26, 1945, the French carried out the Sétif and Guelma massacre , in which between 6,000 and 80,000 Algerian Muslims were killed. Its initial outbreak occurred during a parade of about 5,000 people of the Muslim Algerian population of Sétif to celebrate the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II; it ended in clashes between
18176-781: The western region of Oran , Sultan Abderrahmane of Morocco , the Commander of the Faithful , could not remain indifferent to the massacres committed by the French Christian troops and to belligerent calls for jihad from the marabouts . Despite the diplomatic rupture between Morocco and the Two Sicilies in 1830, and the naval warfare engaged against the Austrian Empire as well as with Spain , then headed by Ferdinand VII , Sultan Abderrahmane lent his support to
18318-821: Was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community . Since the capture of Algiers in 1516 by the Ottoman admirals, brothers Ours and Hayreddin Barbarossa , Algeria had been a base for conflict and piracy in the Mediterranean basin. In 1681, Louis XIV asked Admiral Abraham Duquesne to fight the Berber pirates . He also ordered a large-scale attack on Algiers between 1682 and 1683 on
18460-471: Was a relentless fighter, and very eloquent in Arabic. He was very religious, and some legends tell of his thaumaturgic skills. Boubaghla went often to Soumer to talk with high-ranking members of the religious community, and Lalla Fadhma was soon attracted by his strong personality. At the same time, the relentless combatant was attracted by a woman so resolutely willing to contribute, by any means possible, to
18602-410: Was allowed to go to Damascus . The Ottomans lodged a formal protest over the invasion of Algeria, but they never conceded the loss of the province. A map of "Ottoman Africa" from 1905 still shows the empire as possessing a border with Morocco to the west of the "region" ( hitta , a term for a territory with vague borders) of Algeria. The most serious native insurrection since the time of Abd al-Qadir
18744-669: Was born Abdelkader Ibn Muhieddine Ibn Mostapha Ibn Mohamed Ibn Mokhtar El-Hasani El-Djezairi (Arabic: عبد القادر ابن محيي الدين ابن مصطفى ابن محمد ابن المختار الحساني الجزائري ) in May 1807, in the Algerian province of Oran . As the son of a religious figure and Marabout , Abdelkader was born into a wealthy and religious family and thus he himself also enjoyed various forms of education. He was schooled in Islamic sciences, Quran, and Greek and Arabian treatises on ancient and modern history, philosophy, philology, astronomy, geography, and medicine. At
18886-492: Was called to support the bey at Médéa, whose support for the French and corruption had turned the population there against him. Berthezène led troops to Médéa in June 1831 to extract the bey and the French garrison. On their way back to Algiers they were continually harassed by Kabyle resistance, and driven into a panicked retreat that Berthezène failed to control. French casualties during this retreat were significant (nearly 300), and
19028-546: Was led by Ahmad ibn Muhammad , bey of Constantine . He initiated a radical overhaul of the Ottoman administration in his beylik by replacing Turkish officials with local leaders, making Arabic the official language, and attempting to reform finances according to the precepts of Islam . After the French failed in several attempts to gain some of the bey 's territories through negotiation, an ill-fated invasion force, led by Bertrand Clauzel , had to retreat from Constantine in 1836 in humiliation and defeat. However,
19170-426: Was only able to capture Blida in 1839. Béjaia experienced constant conflicts with the French until its capture. After the fall of the Dey, the tribes of Mézzaïa took over the city. In 1831 they defeated a minor French expedition against them. Nevertheless, in 1833 France captured the city with minimal losses, from Kabyle and Kouloughli forces. The Algerian Kabyles tried to recapture the city in 1835, but failed against
19312-415: Was pledged to maintain the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, would move to fill the vacuum left by a French withdrawal. The French devised elaborate plans for settling the hinterland left by Ottoman provincial authorities in 1830, but their efforts at state-building were unsuccessful on account of lengthy armed resistance. The most successful local opposition immediately after the fall of Algiers
19454-698: Was reluctant to pursue the invasion begun by the old regime. However, the victory was enormously popular, and the new government of Louis-Philippe only withdrew a portion of the invasion force. General Bourmont, who had sent troops to occupy Bône and Oran, withdrew them from those places with the idea of returning to France to restore Charles to the throne. When it was clear that his troops were not supportive of this effort, he resigned and went into exile in Spain. Louis-Philippe replaced him with Bertrand Clauzel in September 1830. The bey of Titteri, who had participated in
19596-412: Was responsible to the minister of war. Marshal Bugeaud , who became the first governor-general, headed the conquest. Soon after the conquest of Algiers, the soldier-politician Bertrand Clauzel and others formed a company to acquire agricultural land and, despite official discouragement, to subsidize its settlement by European farmers, triggering a land rush . Clauzel recognized the farming potential of
19738-414: Was still in place, and only her husband's will could free her. However he did not agree to this, even when offered large bribes. The love between Fadhma and Bou remained platonic, but there were public expressions of this feeling between the two. Fadhma was personally present at many fights in which Boubaghla was involved, particularly the battle of Tachekkirt won by Boubaghla forces (18–19 July 1854), where
19880-468: Was the 1871 Mokrani Revolt in the Kabylia, which spread through much of Algeria. By April 1871, 250 tribes had risen, or nearly a third of Algeria's population. At this time there were roughly 130,000 colonists in Algeria, who were in control of most of the arable land. This number would grow to over a million before the century's end. The Kabyle uprising, which erupted in response to prolonged famine and
20022-565: Was the name given to the coastal regions of central and western North Africa or more specifically the Maghreb and the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Algiers , Tunis , and Tripoli , as well as the Sultanate of Morocco from the 16th to 19th centuries. The term originates from an exonym for the Berbers . Barbary was not always a unified political entity. From
20164-573: Was weak politically, economically, and militarily. Algeria was then part of the Barbary States , along with today's Tunisia; these depended on the Ottoman Empire , then led by Mahmud II but enjoyed relative independence. The Barbary Coast was the stronghold of Berber pirates, who carried out raids against European and American ships. Conflicts between the Barbary States and the newly independent United States of America culminated in
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