Colonization and

Independence in Africa 39

Algeria: What were the effects of assimilation?

Assimilation is the process by which one culture becomes more like another culture. In the case of Algeria,
French leaders wanted to change Algeria’s culture to make it more French—for example, by encouraging people to
speak French, limiting the influence of Islam, and educating Algerians about French history, literature, and political
ideas. In this case study, you will explore the effects of French attempts to assimilate Algerians into French society
by examining social and cultural colonial policies. As you read, consider how colonial laws pushed Algerians to
change their cultural practices. What effects did these changes have?

Algeria is the largest coun- M e di t er r an ea n Se a

try in Africa, and was a French SPAIN Algiers
Constantine
colony for more than 130 AT L A N T I C Oran Alger Constantine
years—much longer than the OCEAN
Oran
colonial experiences of most
Touggourt
African countries. Like other Touggourt TUNISIA
countries in North Africa, Ghardaïa (France)
Algeria has a long history of MOROCCO Aïn-Sefra

contact with Europe and the (France) Ghardaia Ouargla

Middle East, and has a large

Arab population. The vast ma- Ain-Sefra

jority of Algerians are Muslim.

Oasis LIBYA
(Italy)
How did Algeria become ALGERIA
(France)
a French colony?
The French army invaded MAURITANIA
(France)
Algeria in 1830. France colo-
nized Algeria for a number of
reasons, including a desire to
increase trade, spread French
culture and religion, and MALI
(France)
respond to rising diplomatic
tensions with Algeria’s ruler.
Algeria’s experience of colo- NIGER
(France)
nialism was different from
that of most African countries
because of its relationship to
France. Unlike other colonies,
Algeria was administered as if Colonial Algeria
it were a province of France,
Administrative Divisions
not a separate entity. The
Railroads
French viewed Algeria as an
integral part of their country.
Algeria became a French
a status that they would not otherwise have had
“settler colony,” that is, a colony with a significant
in mainland France. This was in large part due to
population of European settlers that wielded a
the social divisions in Algerian society. By the late
great deal of political power. The majority of these
nineteenth century, colonial policies had turned
settlers were small farmers who grew wheat or
Muslims into second-class citizens compared
produced wine. Living in Algeria afforded them
to European settlers. Laws defined Algerians as

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40 Colonization and
Independence in Africa

Felix Jacques Antoine Moulin, Archives nationale d’outre-mer, 8Fi427/28.

This photograph from 1856-57 shows a French school for girls in Algiers, the capital of Algeria. French was the
official language in Algeria throughout the colonial period. Many Algerians who could not speak French were
excluded from jobs in government, international business, and other sectors.

“subjects,” rather than citizens unless they agreed tion, many migrated to Algeria’s towns and cities
to stop following Islamic laws, and governed their or worked for low wages on settler farms. Tens of
behavior with harsh punishments for offenses thousands migrated to France.
such as speaking ill of the French government The French believed their civilization was
or being rude to a colonial official. Informal superior, and viewed Algerian Muslim culture as
segregation kept Algerians out of certain neigh- “primitive” and “medieval.”Algerians were frus-
borhoods, beaches, and businesses. Racism and trated with the inequalities of the colonial system.
discrimination permeated society. By 1936, out of They resented the ways in which their culture was
a population of more than 4.5 million, only 2,500 belittled by colonial policies and settler racism, and
Muslim Algerians had chosen to become citizens. were angry about their loss of land. Many refused
to accept French rule. At the same time, after more
What was life like in the colony? than a century of French rule, some Algerians
By the 1930s, inequalities between settlers and viewed themselves as French as well as Algerian.
Algerians were stark. Colonial policies had divided European settlers used their political power to
up communal Algerian lands, allowing settlers oppress the native population and to protect their
to buy thousands of square miles of the best land own privileges. By 1954, there were nearly one
where they could produce crops for export. Most million European settlers living in Algeria, almost
Algerians, on the other hand, were subsistence 80 percent of them born in Algeria. These settlers
farmers on small plots of land. Poverty, hunger, and felt a deep attachment to Algeria as their home-
malnutrition were widespread. To escape destitu-

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 Colonization and
Independence in Africa 41
land. Although French politicians often supported and their desire to end colonialism. In the town
measures to assimilate Algerian Muslims and grant of Sétif, the demonstrations turned into a violent
them citizenship, settlers opposed any attempts to revolt, and Algerians murdered more than one
increase rights for Muslims. hundred settlers. The French response was swift
and brutal. The colonial army and settler vigilante
groups killed thousands of Algerians in return.
How did people in Algeria resist colonialism?
It was clear that France was not budging from its
When French forces invaded Algeria in 1830,
position on Algeria’s colonial status. The brutality
they ended the Ottoman Empire’s three hundred
of France’s response drove many more Algerians to
year rule of the region. Although Algerians were
join the nationalist cause, and to see violence as the
pleased to be freed from Ottoman rule, they did
only way to win independence.
not submit to another foreign power willingly.
Algerian militants fought against the French for
decades. Parts of Algeria, for example, the remote What were the human costs of the Algerian War?
mountain regions and Sahara Desert in the south, In 1954, France lost a nine-year war against na-
did not come under French control until the twen- tionalists in Indochina (present-day Vietnam), and
tieth century. also faced uprisings in Tunisia and Morocco. This
Algerian resistance was often linked to re- convinced Algerian nationalists that France could
ligion, with Islam playing an important role in finally be challenged and defeated.
organizing opposition. Islam also allowed Algeri- Led by the Front de Libération Nationale
ans to assert an identity and cultural pride outside (FLN), Algerians began one of the longest and most
of the colonial system. As a result, French repres- violent decolonization struggles of the twentieth
sion of Algerian uprisings also aimed to limit the century to gain their independence from France.
influence of Islam. For example, after a rebellion in The Algerian War, which began in 1954, pitted
1871, the colonial authorities not only confiscated Algerian militants against the French army, white
the land of those involved, but also passed decrees settlers, and Algerians recruited by the French.
to label Arabic a
foreign language,
limit pilgrimages to

French President Charles De Gaulle and the Six-Year War, National Security Council, Central
Mecca, and monitor
Islamic schools.
In the 1920s and
1930s, a number of
Intelligence Agency, National Archives, 1960. Still image from video.
Algerian nationalist
groups formed in Al-
geria and France. By
the mid-1940s, many
Algerians were call-
ing for independence
by force if necessary.
On May 8, 1945—the
official date of the
end of World War II
in Europe—nation-
alist groups staged
demonstrations
across Algeria in or- In 1956, the French government sent paratroopers into Algiers. The crackdown by
der to draw attention paratroopers was brutal; entire neighborhoods of Algerian Muslims were taken in for
interrogation or imprisonment. Paratroopers were known for using torture to extract
to the link between information. This photograph shows French paratroopers standing guard near a crowd of
the end of fascism FLN supporters.

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42 Colonization and
Independence in Africa

The war dragged on for eight long

French President Charles De Gaulle and the Six-Year War, National Security Council,
years, with brutal violence on both
sides. Although France granted in-

Central Intelligence Agency, National Archives, 1960. Still image from video.
dependence to Tunisia and Morocco
in 1956, it was not willing to give up
Algeria. Conflict took place not only in
Algeria, but also in France, particularly
in Paris where many Algerians lived.
Algerian nationalists aimed to cre-
ate a climate of fear and insecurity by
targeting the European settler popula-
tion in Algeria with bombs and other
acts of terrorism. The most infamous
conflict of the war raged from 1956 to
1957 in Algiers, Algeria’s capital city. It
began as a series of FLN attacks on city
police and settler targets. The French Algerians working for the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN)
military responded with mass torture, carried out targeted bombings in public spaces popular among
executions, and imprisonment. By the French settlers in the capital city of Algiers. This led to increased
late 1950s, two million Algerians had security by the French military and police. In this photograph, a
been placed in detention camps, an French military officer is using a metal detector on an Algerian
woman to check for explosives or other weapons.
effort by the French to isolate the FLN.
The war took a devastating toll, with as
many as one million Algerian casual-
ties and tens of thousands of settlers and French
soldiers dead.

When did Algerians gain independence?

The French were militarily successful, but their
methods came under sharp international criticism.
By the end of the 1950s, it was clear that France
had lost the war for public opinion. In March 1962,
the French government negotiated a ceasefire with
the FLN.
Continued violence between settler groups and
the FLN resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands
more in the months after the ceasefire. Algeria
gained its independence on July 3, 1962. Divisions
in the FLN led to more violence in July and August.
After elections in September, Ahmed Ben Bella
became the first president of Algeria.

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 Colonization and
Independence in Africa 43

Primary Sources from the Historical Record

Overview: French policy aimed to assimilate in face of furious competition from other races, all
Algerians into French society by pressuring them to marching along the same routes.”
speak French, follow French customs, and gradu-
ally participate in government and society as French The Sénatus-Consulte (senate decree) of 14 July 1865
citizens. But Algerians could only gain French under France’s Emperor Napoléon III
citizenship if they agreed to disavow Islamic civil law, “Art. 1. The Muslim native is French; neverthe-
which governs matters such as marriage, divorce, less he shall continue to be governed under Muslim
and inheritance. By 1936, out of a population of law….
more than 4.5 million, only 2,500 Muslim Algeri- “He may, on application, be granted the rights
ans had chosen to become citizens. The adoption of French citizenship; in this case, he shall be gov-
of French culture meant losing aspects of Algerian erned under the civil and political laws of France.”
culture. By 1954, some Algerian Muslims could no
longer speak Arabic, and most could not read or Governor-General of Algeria Jacques Soustelle, at the
write in Arabic. Although French leaders continued Algiers Assembly in February 1955
to claim Algeria as a part of France until 1960, many “France is at home here…or rather, Algeria
Algerians worked hard to protect or regain aspects and all her inhabitants form an integral part of
of their culture that had come under attack from France, one and indivisible. All must know, here
French colonialism. and elsewhere, that France will not leave Algeria
The following sources express French and Al- any more than she will leave Provence and Brittany
gerian perspectives on assimilation. The sources are [two provinces in mainland France]. Whatever
from a variety of French and Algerian scholars as happens, the destiny of Algeria is French.”
well as political and religious leaders.
Max Lejeune, French Minister for the Armed Forces,
March 15, 1956
French Perspectives “We want the men in Algeria to be more free,
Background: During much of the colonial more fraternal, more equal, that is to say more
period, French leaders viewed their own culture French. We must guarantee their political liberties
as superior and believed that one of the goals of and their social emancipation in the face of a few
colonialism should be to spread French culture to thousand rebels inspired by unemployment, the
France’s colonial territories. Although leaders in absence of hope, religious fanaticism, and not least
France tried to ease some of their citizenship require- the fit of nationalists who aspire to an unrealizable
ments for Algerians in the twentieth century, settlers independence.”
in Algeria blocked any attempts to give more rights
to Muslim Algerians. Emporer Napoléon III in a letter to Aimable Pélissier,
governor-general of Algeria, 1863
Gabriel Hanotaux, French government official and histo- “[W]e have not come to Algeria to oppress
rian, in his book L’Engergie française, 1902 and exploit them, but to bring them the benefits of
“Let me be clearly understood: this is not only civilization….”
a matter of a vast number of conquests; it is not
even a matter of the increase of public and private A. Arnaud and H. Méray, Les Colonies françaises, or-
wealth. It is a question of extending overseas to ganisation administrative, judicaire, politique et financière,
regions only yesterday barbarian the principles of a 1900
civilization of which one of the oldest nations of the “Assimilation, by giving the colonies institu-
world has the right to be proud. It is a question of tions analogous to those of metropolitan France,
creating near us and far away from us so many new little by little removes the distances which separate
Frances; it is a question of protecting our language, the diverse parts of French territory and finally
our customs, our ideas, the French and Latin glory, realizes their intimate union....”

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44 Colonization and
Independence in Africa

French Prime Minister Léon Blum and Government Minis- Manifesto of 10 February, 1943 by Ferhat Abbas and
ter Maurice Violette’s proposal to give Muslims in Algeria colleagues, presented to Algeria’s Governor-General
the right to vote (the bill was never debated in the French Marcel Peyrouton
Parliament because of strong opposition by Algerian set- “Today the representatives of this Algeria, re-
tlers and their allies), December 30, 1936
sponding to the unanimous desire of their peoples,
“[E]xperience has shown that it was impossible
cannot escape the overriding duty of posing the
to continue treating as subjects without essential
problem of their future.
political rights French natives of Algeria who have
fully assimilated French thought but who for family “So doing, they do not intend to disavow the
or religious reasons cannot give up their personal French and Western culture that they have re-
status. Algerian natives are French. It would be ceived, which remains dear to them. It is, on the
unjust to refuse henceforth the exercise of politi- contrary, by assimilating the moral and spiritual
cal rights to those among them who are the most riches of Metropolitan France and the tradition
cultured and who have furnished important guar- of liberty of the French people that they find the
antees of loyalty…. strength and justification for their present action….
“But it seems impossible to invest all natives “[T]he Algerian people, in its desire for peace
immediately with political rights. The massive and liberty, raises its voice to denounce the colonial
majority are still far from desirous of using these rule imposed on it, to recall its earlier protests and
rights and do not yet show themselves capable of reclaim its rights to life….
doing so…. [C]ertain (hostile) influences would “One need only examine the process of the
not fail to profit from the inexperience of this mass colonization in Algeria to realize how the policy
by overwhelming it with propaganda…. of assimilation, applied automatically to some and
“[T]o our way of thinking, the right of suf- refused systematically to others, has reduced the
frage [right to vote] is a reward either for services Islamic society to the most complete servitude.
rendered or for intellectual achievement.” “[C]olonization...demands the simultane-
ous existence of two societies, one oppressing the
Algerian Perspectives other….
Background: For most Algerians, French ef- “There lies the deep and brutal drama to which
forts to replace Algerian culture with French culture colonization has given birth. The identification
limited their opportunities in colonial society. For and formation of a single people under the ‘same
example, an Algerian who did not speak French paternal government’ has failed…. The European
could not hold certain jobs or communicate with and Muslim blocs remain distinct from each other
French officials and settlers. The promotion of French without a common spirit. The one is strong in its
culture created a divided society, with Algerians privileges and social position; the other is threat-
as second-class citizens. Educated Algerians who ened by the demographic problem of its creation
spoke French often had mixed feelings about French and by the place in the sun that it claims and has
culture. While many strongly opposed the restrictions been denied….”
of colonialism, they also appreciated French political
ideas of liberty and human rights. Recollections of Ahmed Ben Bella, first president of Alge-
ria, 1964
Sheikh Abdul-hamid Ben Badis, founder of the Associa- “I think I was fourteen when, at my école
tion of Algerian Muslim Ulema, April 1936 primaire supérieure [high school], an incident
“[The Muslim Algerian nation]…has its cul- occurred which made a deep impression on me.
ture, its traditions and its characteristics, good or One of my teachers…was French and an excellent
bad like every other nation of the earth. And…we teacher when he did not bore us with long digres-
state that this Algerian nation is not France, cannot sions on the religions of the world…. Faith in his
be France, and does not wish to be France.” own religion made him believe that all others were
bad and despicable.

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 Colonization and
Independence in Africa 45
“One day during school, he did not hesitate to
go for his Moslem pupils, launching a violent attack
on Islam. ‘Your prophet Mohammed,’ he shouted
at the end of this diatribe, ‘was nothing but an
imposter!’
“I stood up, pale with anger. ‘Sir,’ I told him, ‘it’s
all very well for you to say that to children. We are
too young and ignorant to argue with you, but you
must understand that to us our religion is sacred.
No, no, it is wrong of you to speak like this.’
“Of course…[the teacher]…blew up. It was
terrible. I was punished, dismissed from the class,
and even threatened with expulsion…. And it was a
double scandal, as I well knew. Firstly, for a pupil to
tick off a teacher was bad enough. But for a ‘native’
to stand up to a European made me a thousand
times more guilty.”

Recollections of Ahmed Ben Bella, first president of Alge-

ria, 1964
“It is very noticeable that, when the colonial
learns a foreign language, he more or less adopts
the mental attitudes which that language repre-
sents. If he still possesses and utilizes his own
language, his experience will be enriched by this
process. But if his thoughts are no longer inspired
by his own language, and have to be conveyed
in the speech of the conqueror, then it is clear
that there is a real estrangement from his native
tongue….
“Algerians such as myself who do not ac-
cept this estrangement from the Arabic language,
nevertheless notice it in the deep disquiet which
they experience when they try to give expression to
their ideas in French, while at the same time they
‘feel’ in Arabic. A state of perpetual divorce is thus
established in us, between the head and the heart,
between the intellect and the emotions.”

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