Jean-Luc Bertini for Figaro magazine
MAINTENANCE – As Algeria celebrates sixty years of independence, historian Pierre Vermeren publishes a history of contemporary Algeria, from the 19th-century Algiers’ Regency to modern-day Hirak. He shows there that France is not responsible for all evils and misfortunes in Algeria.
Your book tells of Algeria even before the French presence. Was there a national feeling back then?
The question never arose in this form before the nineteenth century, except for islands or peoples attacked (England, Ireland, etc.). The nation is a new idea invented and theorized by the Americans in 1776 and by the French in 1789. Since then it has spread all over the world. Humanity used to live under the regime of empires or kingdoms: the principle of belonging was not national but imperial, through submission to the princes. The Regency of Algiers was no exception to the rule: it was the main province of the Ottoman Empire because of its location and tax wealth.
also readAlgerian War: Oran the Bloody
The French incursion aroused groups hostile to the “Roumis”. But others passed from the service of the Turks to that of the French. Still others tried to stay free. Abdelkader was never able to unite the whole country against the French, hence his defeat. Then Algerian nationalism…
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