Africa Imperialism Blogs: March 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

After the France came into Algeria, the Algerian people attempted to fight back in 1830, but it was not successful because of disease the French brought and the lack of weapons of the Algerians. When the French began to colonize, the Algerians are treated very badly and violence is common among the people. France is able to buy or confiscate land as needed.

Monday, March 4, 2013

"The French colonization of Algeria lasted a long time: 132 years."

-Ahmed Ben Bella

"At midday I heard fighting. In the evening I saw the body of an Algerian which had been left in the street by the French army. This immediately reminded me of the Occupation even if I had not seen such atrocities myself. I was deeply shocked to see that the body was still there four or five hours after the fighting. The normal human reaction would have been to take the body away. It was obvious that it had been left there to inspire fear and terror in the Algerian population."
-Pierre Deeschemaeker

Type of Area

The French first began to colonialize Algeria in the 1830's. In 184 nearly all of Algeria was under French control. Many French settlers began to move into Algeria when colonialization started but the Algerian military resistance lasted untill the 1870's. War became a big issue with France in the 1950's and early 60's untill France granted Algeria independence in 1962. French presence lasted over 100 years until Algeria gained indepedence. After Algeria was granted independence, almost all French left the country, taking many Algerians who were cooperated closely with the French. As an independent counrty, Algeria was far from thriving, and did poorly economically, despite the discovery of gas and oil.

Direct or Indirect Rule?

Algeria was put under the direct rule of France. Thousands of immigrants travelled to the nation and took the land and resources from the native people. On July 5, 1830 the French invaded and quickly took over the country. The Algerians fought back in two wars in 1832 and 1837 to oppose the French. Another failed war took place in 1840 and the French tried to terrify the Algerians by destroying their crops and wells. The one free nation, Morocco, was seized in 1847. To keep Algeria in order, France began to control trade, education, the army and security, finances, and agriculture. The Jewish and Sunni Muslim people were allowed to keep their religions and family services like marriages.

France Invasion

The French became involvd with Algeria because Algeria's coast provided harbors that were defended easily and had served as a baisi for port cities since the millenium BCE. After 1815 France negotiated with the Algiers to stop piracy against French ships. In 1830 the French King justified an invasion on the Algiers and captured thier city.Although they captured the city they did nothing to stop the resistance by the Berbers. This caused two wars agaisnt Frace led by the Berber leader Abd al-Kader in 1832-4 and 1835-7. In the third war, the French resorted to terror tactics. al-Kader was allowed to hide out in Morocco, so in 1844, the French invaded Morocco and captured al-Kader. In the end the French signed the Treaty of Tangier, and recognized Moroccan independance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4r8bAyeci4

Cultural Groups in Algeria

Algeria's cultural groups weren't influenced much as much of the rest of Africa was. 99% of the population is Berber or Sunni Muslim culture. 1% are Christian or Jewish, but they are scattered all around the country. Now, Algeria is home to many different kinds of cultures such as Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Fatimids, Turkish Ottomans, and other kinds of Berbers.
About 14 to 25 million people speak the "Berber language" although there are many versions and dialects. The main language the people of Algeria speak is Arabic, but the second most common is French, (Thanks to French Imperialism.)

History of Algeria Before Imperialism

Algeria is located on the North West side of Africa. Prior to imperialism by France, Algeria was full of people of different races, religions and racial backrounds. There wasn't very much political or cultural influences. The only independent state was Morroco and Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya were provinces of the Ottoman Empire.

The ports cities didn't have a central group of people it was controlled by. The Ottoman Empire took over these ports.The Algerian's protected pirates who attacked European ships. Ottoman deys decided they should be punished and in 1815, made The Treaty of Vienna to punish them. After 1815, piracy and trading were negotated with by France.

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