French North Africa
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French North Africa (French: Afrique du Nord française; Arabic: شمال إفريقيا الفرنسية) is a term that is often applied to the three territories that were controlled by France in the Maghreb region of North Africa during the colonial era, comprising Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. In contrast to French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa, which existed as federations of French colonies and administrative entities in their own right, French North Africa was never more than a term of convenience to refer to the three separately-governed territories, which had different forms of colonial regime.[1]
History
In the 19th century, the decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire, which had loosely controlled the area since the 16th century, left the region vulnerable to other forces. In 1830, France invaded Algiers and began its conquest of Algeria, and after its formal annexation in 1848, France treated Algeria as an integral part of France, the métropole, or Metropolitan France.[2]
In subsequent decades, a substantial European settler population emerged in Algeria and was known as the pieds-noirs. Seeking to expand their influence beyond Algeria, the French established protectorates to the east and the west of it. The French protectorate of Tunisia was established in 1881, following a swift military invasion,[3] and the French protectorate in Morocco in 1912, following a prolonged military campaign. Both protectorates lasted until 1956, when they gained full independence, Tunisia on 20 March and Morocco on 7 April.
French rule in North Africa finally ended as a result of the Algerian War (1954–1962) and the March 1962 Évian Accords, which enabled the July 1962 Algerian independence referendum.[4] Algeria formally became independent the same month.
See also
- Algerian nationalism
- Army of Africa (France)
- Declaration of 1 November 1954
- Pacification of Algeria
- Proclamation of Independence of Morocco
- Tunisian national movement
- Italian North Africa
- British North Africa
References
- ^ Hoisington, William A. Jr. (1991). "The Mediterranean Committee and French North Africa, 1935–1940". The Historian. 53 (2): 255. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.1991.tb00806.x.
- ^ Fage, J. D.; Oliver, Roland Anthony (1985). The Cambridge History of Africa. Vol. 6. p. 159. ISBN 0-521-22803-4.
- ^ Watson, William E. (2003). Tricolor and Crescent: France and the Islamic World. p. 28. ISBN 0-275-97470-7.
- ^ Berstein, Serge (1993). The Republic of de Gaulle 1958–1969. p. 54. ISBN 0-521-25239-3.
Further reading
- Edwards, Albert (2009) [1913]. The Barbary Coast: Sketches of French North Africa. ISBN 978-1-163-29185-6.
- Gottmann, Jean (1943). Economic problems of French North Africa. OCLC 26508046.
- Liebesny, Herbert J. (1943). The Government of French North Africa. University of Pennsylvania Press. OCLC 904009.
- Thomas, Martin (2005). French Empire Between the Wars. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6518-6.
- Wallerstein, Immanuel M. (1961). Africa: The Politics of Independence and Unity. OCLC 413201.
