Projects of Colonization of Algeria During the Early French Occupation (1830–1834)

Abstract

After the French invasion of Algeria in 1830 and with the further conquest of North African lands, the share of the European population in the conquered territories was constantly increasing. At the same time, at the early stage of the French occupation of Algeria in 1830-1834, the fate of the lands seized by the French was not resolved, and there were different solutions to the “Algerian question”. This period has not received sufficient coverage in historiography. This article examines plans for the colonization and further development of Algeria on the materials of the Archives nationales d'outre-mer in Aix-en-Provence (A.N.O.M. F 80/1161), containing many projects dedicated to the colonization of the country, which were sent by French citizens for consideration in the Chamber of Deputies in the period 1830–1834. An auxiliary source used in the article is the published transcripts of the debates in the French Parliament. The projects of colonization were various and mostly utopian, and the authors themselves did not have clear understanding of the natural, ethno-confessional, and social realities of the country in which they proposed to establish a colony. The analysis of the archival materials revealed a wide cross-section of opinions on the structure of the future colony in Algeria and demonstrated the aspirations of the French of that time to regain the prestige of France in the international arena, to get a rich colony, and to evict the “inconvenient” population, i.e. prisoners, the poor, the unemployed, and emigrants to Algeria.