This is what baffled me, and I was wondering what made the French settlers come to Algeria in the first place.
Why Were French People Settling Algeria?
- Thread starter TickTock The Witch's Dead
- Start date
TFSmith121
Banned
Are you asking why France went to war or
Why the Europeans (not all French) emigrated there?
Or both?
Best,
Why the Europeans (not all French) emigrated there?
Or both?
Best,
Yup, basically the TL here is: France loses all its colonies after the 7 year war, then the revolution happens, then Napoleon tries to conquer Europe. A king is put in place.
Now, everybody sees it as more beneficial to put energy in the conquest of far away land rather than the conquest of Europe as France was still quite an agressive country. It just happens that France owes a ton of money to the Bey of Algeria (the local representative of the Ottoman rulers). During negotiations, the bey hit the French representative with his fan, a gesture which was offensive but not completely bonkers aggressive either. France used that as a pretext to go to war and conquer extremely rich and fertile regions while the rest of Europe watched as, for once, they weren't the ones on the bad side of French guns and cannons.
It was also a matter of pride as France sought to regain some semblance of colonial Empire after getting thrown out of North America and India
Well, Aleister Crowley went there to carry out the 1-28 Aethyrs of the Enochian magickal system and to condition himself for a further assault on K2 or Kanchenchunga (neither of which happened) and the Black Panthers and Timothy Leary went there to escape government persecution.
Does this help?
Lateknight
Banned
Why did europeans settle in algeria? Same reason reason they settled in america, there was land that they could take cheaply and who doesn't want more land.
More political instability? Local European conflict? Lots of reasons, point is, they wanted to go somewhere, it's was rich and next door.
Kinda like, you're a burglar, you need some money and you know you have a very rich neighbour who leaves every weekend while leaving the key under a rock.
Why bother go further? Add to that, that the French owed money to them. No more Bey, no more debt.
Kinda like, you're a burglar, you need some money and you know you have a very rich neighbour who leaves every weekend while leaving the key under a rock.
Why bother go further? Add to that, that the French owed money to them. No more Bey, no more debt.
On top of that, some people were deported there. There were also financial incentives to move there. There were also others, for instance, European Algerians weren't not conscripted. Until 1918, Europeans barely paid taxes, as these were paid by the Arabs but administered by European-controlled communes and so on. And yes, extremely fertile land close to the coast, that brought good profits especially with the development of the wine industry.
That being said, the average European Algerian was poorer than the average Frenchman, both in terms of salary and of living, Algeria imported everything as it lacked its industry, and with lower salaries than in France, electricity, for instance was 30% more expensive.
elkarlo
Banned
I thought that the French were around 50% of the Euros there?
Also add Maltese to the list
TFSmith121
Banned
Yep, that's pretty much the story...
Douglas Porch's The Conquest of the Sahara, and VG Kiernan's Colonial Empires and Armies, tell the same stor(ies), more or less.
Best,
Douglas Porch's The Conquest of the Sahara, and VG Kiernan's Colonial Empires and Armies, tell the same stor(ies), more or less.
Best,
twovultures
Donor
Couscous? That shit's delicious, definitely worth the trouble of a conquest to get.
But with so many rebellions of Algerians how could the colons have confidence to come?
And plus, are there any alternative "Algerias" France might have conquered?
And plus, are there any alternative "Algerias" France might have conquered?
Also, Charles X thought a successful foreign campaign would improve his public standing, as his regime was increasingly unpopular. (This turned out to be wrong - he was toppled barely three weeks after the capture of Algiers.)
twovultures said:
Oh my, yes. I've been out of France for a couple years now and it's impossible to find a decent couscous anywhere else in Europe north of the Alps.
Randomwriterguy said:
Most of the rebellions were not in the cities but more South in the mountains and the desert. So as long as you stayed in Oran or Algers, no problem.
For alternatives, maybe more South? I'm not sure, Africa wasn't well explored at that time. Madagascar perhaps? Algeria was really next door from Marseilles, huge advantage. To better answer you, may I ask why are you asking the question? Is it for a particular story, something about Algeria...? Algeria was rich and right there but if you reformulate I might be able to help more
SlideAway said:
Pieds-Noirs (Black feet) would be a better term for them
It's used specifically for European colonists.Yup but a lot of these took the French nationality after a while or during the wars (source, family history
)