Algeria
Algeria's coast provides easily-defended harbors that served as the basis for port cities since the time of the Phoenicians in the first millennium BCE. Since then, Romans, Vandals, Ummayyids, Abbassids, and Fatimids all controlled the coast at different periods, and by the 1500s, the ports were brought under the nominal control of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman government was represented by officials in Oran and Algiers who received protection from Ottoman military garrisons.
By the 19th century, Morocco became independent of Ottoman rule under its own sultan. The rest of the North African port cities were ruled by Ottoman deys who faced fairly constant opposition from Berber chiefs who controlled the inland regions. During the …show more content…
In 1830, the French king used a minor incident to justify an invasion of Algiers on July 5 which quickly captured the city but did nothing to reduce resistance by Berbers from the interior. France fought two wars against forces led by the Berber leader Abd al-Kader of Mascara (southeast of Oran) in 1832-4 and 1835-1837 without either side prevailing. During a third war with Abd al-Kader in 1840-1841, the French resorted to terror tactics, filling in desert wells and destroying farms. The Moroccan sultan allowed al-Kader to hide in Morocco, so the French invaded Morocco in 1844 where they captured al-Kader. The Moroccan sultan, as the leader of an independent country, was angered by the invasion and other European powers supported his demands for compensation. In the end, the French signed the Treaty of Tangier on September 10, 1844 and recognized Moroccan independence. Six months later, the Convention of Lalla Maghnia (March 18, 1845) established a river called the Oued Kiss as the border between Morocco and Algeria along the Mediterranean Coast. The border was left undefined further inland, laying the basis for many further border …show more content…
Resistance continued deeper in the desert, and resulted in the complete destruction of a railroad surveying mission (the Flatters Expedition) in 1880-1881. The last resistance ended in the desert in 1932, in the region of Mali north of Timbuktu. One byproduct was the creation of a system of fortified French posts in the interior, staffed by soldiers of the Foreign Legion, with their headquarters at Colomb Bechar (located west of Ghardaia).
In the colonial period, government policy focused on encouraging French settlement in the Algerian coastal plain and, to a lesser extent, modernizing the Muslim population. French immigration was successful and by 1956, the French settlers represented roughly nine percent of Algeria's population. The rest was divided between Arabs (50%), Berbers (25-30%) and other groups (Khabylie, M'zab, etc: 10%). As late as 1960, the goal of French policy was to integrate Algeria into the French nation as a province just like Brittany, Corsica, Savoy, or Alsace.
Question: Can you think of a similar situation in U.S. history?
Algeria's coast provides easily-defended harbors that served as the basis for port cities since the time of the Phoenicians in the first millennium BCE. Since then, Romans, Vandals, Ummayyids, Abbassids, and Fatimids all controlled the coast at different periods, and by the 1500s, the ports were brought under the nominal control of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman government was represented by officials in Oran and Algiers who received protection from Ottoman military garrisons.
By the 19th century, Morocco became independent of Ottoman rule under its own sultan. The rest of the North African port cities were ruled by Ottoman deys who faced fairly constant opposition from Berber chiefs who controlled the inland regions. During the …show more content…
In 1830, the French king used a minor incident to justify an invasion of Algiers on July 5 which quickly captured the city but did nothing to reduce resistance by Berbers from the interior. France fought two wars against forces led by the Berber leader Abd al-Kader of Mascara (southeast of Oran) in 1832-4 and 1835-1837 without either side prevailing. During a third war with Abd al-Kader in 1840-1841, the French resorted to terror tactics, filling in desert wells and destroying farms. The Moroccan sultan allowed al-Kader to hide in Morocco, so the French invaded Morocco in 1844 where they captured al-Kader. The Moroccan sultan, as the leader of an independent country, was angered by the invasion and other European powers supported his demands for compensation. In the end, the French signed the Treaty of Tangier on September 10, 1844 and recognized Moroccan independence. Six months later, the Convention of Lalla Maghnia (March 18, 1845) established a river called the Oued Kiss as the border between Morocco and Algeria along the Mediterranean Coast. The border was left undefined further inland, laying the basis for many further border …show more content…
Resistance continued deeper in the desert, and resulted in the complete destruction of a railroad surveying mission (the Flatters Expedition) in 1880-1881. The last resistance ended in the desert in 1932, in the region of Mali north of Timbuktu. One byproduct was the creation of a system of fortified French posts in the interior, staffed by soldiers of the Foreign Legion, with their headquarters at Colomb Bechar (located west of Ghardaia).
In the colonial period, government policy focused on encouraging French settlement in the Algerian coastal plain and, to a lesser extent, modernizing the Muslim population. French immigration was successful and by 1956, the French settlers represented roughly nine percent of Algeria's population. The rest was divided between Arabs (50%), Berbers (25-30%) and other groups (Khabylie, M'zab, etc: 10%). As late as 1960, the goal of French policy was to integrate Algeria into the French nation as a province just like Brittany, Corsica, Savoy, or Alsace.
Question: Can you think of a similar situation in U.S. history?