First Letter on Algeria

June 23rd, 1837

Great events have just taken place in Algeria; we can believe that others are still in preparation. So the time is ripe, Monsieur, to do as you have asked and tell you what I know about Algiers. I do so all the more willingly because, although there has been much discussion about this country, very little is understood about it.

Mr. Desjobert, in a highly esteemed and recently published book on our new colony, asserts that, in order to speak properly about a foreign country, it is best not to have travelled there. This is an advantage that I share with him, but I do not boast of it. On the contrary, I hold the vulgar opinion that in order to effectively make a thing known to others, it is useful to know it oneself, and that, in order to know it well, it is not without utility to have seen it. I will not therefore boast of not having been to Africa, but I will try to make the most of the accounts of several of my friends who have stayed there for a long time, and to make it as clear as possible for people to realize that I have not witnessed for myself what I am trying to portray.

I think that before talking about the inhabitants, it is good to tell you something about the country itself. These two things are linked and explained by each other.

As you know, Algeria extends almost in a straight line from west to east, for a space of… leagues. Parallel to the sea rises a chain of high mountains called the Atlas. Sometimes the Atlas recedes abruptly towards the south and opens up long, wide plains; at other times, it suddenly approaches the shore and bathes its last ranges in the waves. From time to time it folds in on itself and envelops deep valleys in its contours.

A thousand small streams flow on all sides of its flanks. But nowhere does the Atlas concede to lower itself even for a moment to the level of the plains and to allow the passage of a great river which would carry the arms and arts of Europe to the depths of the deserts.

In the Atlas live the Kabyles; in the valleys the Arabs. Whenever you see a mountain, you can be sure that it hides a Kabylian tribe in its sinuosities, and as soon as you see a plain, you can expect the camp of the Arab to appear soon on the horizon. The two races are thus constantly intermingled, but they never merge.

You will no doubt ask me what is the origin of these Kabyles so singularly mixed with the Arabs yet always distinct from them. The Institute still has doubts. Some claim that they are Iberians and believe they recognize analogies between their language and Gascon. Others think that they are Arabs who migrated long ago from the borders of Judea. There are some who believe that they are descendants of the Vandals. You can rest assured, Monsieur, that up to now nobody knows anything about it. But to tell the truth, this does not really matter. It is the Kabyles of today that we need to understand, not their forefathers.

The Kabyles have an entirely different language from that of the Arabs, and their customs are not similar. The only point of contact between the two races is religion.

The Kabyles are sedentary, they cultivate the soil, build houses and have preserved or acquired some of the most necessary crafts. Their cities exploit iron mines; they manufacture gunpowder; they forge weapons of all kinds and weave coarse fabrics. Do not imagine that all these Kabyles form a great people subject to the same government. They are still divided into small tribes, as in the first age of the world. These tribes have no power over each other or even any link between them, they live separately and often at war, each of them has its own independent government which it establishes itself and its own uncomplicated legislation. If Rousseau had known the Kabyles, he would not have spouted so much nonsense about the Caribbean and other American Indians: He would have looked to the Atlas for his models; there he would have found men who are subject to a kind of social police and yet almost as free as the isolated individual who enjoys his wild independence in the depths of the woods; men who are neither rich nor poor, neither servants nor masters; who appoint their own chiefs, and scarcely notice that they have chiefs, who are content with their state and remain in it.

But there are some axioms of the politics of these Kabyles that perhaps Rousseau would not perhaps have approved of so much. These people have as their fundamental maxim that no foreigner should set foot on their territory. They will not be dissuaded on this point. They come to sell their goods in our markets, they come down to the plains to hire out their services, they willingly enlist in our armies, but if you were to want to visit them in their mountains as a reciprocal gesture, with the best intentions in the world, and with the sole aim of discussing morality, civilization, fine arts, political economy or philosophy, they would certainly cut your head off. It is a principle of government, from which they are stubbornly determined not to depart.

I am assured that the Kabyles have a very lukewarm religion; that they are a prosaic and self-interested race who are much more concerned with this world than with the next, and that it will be easier to defeat them with our luxury and our arts than with our cannons.

I would have much more to tell you about the Arabs; but I must limit myself. The limits of the journal oblige me to do so.

In Europe, it is generally believed that all Arabs are shepherds, and we readily imagine them spending their lives herding flocks of sheep in immense pastures which belong to no one, or which, at least, belong only to the entire tribe. This is how they were three thousand years ago, and this is how they are still found today in the deserts of Yemen. But that is not at all how they are seen along the Atlas. Would you believe, Monsieur, that there is not an inch of land in the vicinity of Algiers which does not have a known owner, and that there is no more vacant land in the plain of the Mitidja than in that of Argenteuil? Each owner is provided with a title drawn up in good form before a public officer. These are, you will admit, strange savages. What do they lack, if you please, to resemble civilized men entirely, than to argue every day about the limits indicated in their contracts? But this they hardly do for the following reason: if the Arabs have not remained completely pastoral and nomadic, they have not become completely sedentary and agricultural either. They are alternately one and the other. A small number of them have houses, the vast majority have retained the practice of living in tents. Every year they sow some of their fields and graze large herds on all the others. Each tribe thus has a very large territory, the greater part of which is always uncultivated and the other part is cultivated with little skill. As long as a field is left uncultivated, each member of the tribe may graze his cattle on it; but the moment the owner comes forward and sows, those fruits belong to him alone.

You see, the Arabs of the African coast are both farmers and pastoralists. Most of them are constantly changing places, but they never go beyond a certain radius. They have reached a period of transition where, placed between the nomadic and the sedentary life, not being yet strongly attached to one, but no longer firmly attached to the other, they may be fixed definitively by chance circumstances in one or the other direction. I will make you understand later on the advantage that we can draw from this state of affairs.

As one goes further south, one encounters fewer cultivated fields and more herds; tents multiply, houses disappear; the habits of the population become less and less sedentary; nomadic life takes over. Thus we arrive at the great desert on the other side of the Atlas. It is here that the biblical Patriarchs and Arabs are said to have been found. There, no more limits, no more boundaries to the fields, no more titles to the possession of the land, but an immense solitude where the tribes wander ceaselessly in the complete and full freedom of the desert, dragging in their wake a prodigious number of camels, mares and sheep.

At the time when the successors of Mohammed invaded Egypt and Numidia, the Arabs followed them in tribes. These Arabs conquered everything they encountered as far as the foot of the Pyrenees, and in all the countries where they settled they retained the same form of society. The Arabs of the coast of Africa are still today divided into small tribes more or less independent of each other, as they were 1200 years ago in Arabia, when their great religious passion pushed them all at once towards the West.

Each of these small societies elects its own chiefs, who are called sheiks, and discusses its own affairs in common. However, all these tribes are really one people. They all have the same origin, the same memories, the same opinions, the same customs, they once formed a single nation, and were still governed, if not by a single government, then at least by a single government in some areas.

In the Arab tribes we do not see such complete equality as among the Kabyle peoples; on the contrary, we discover great inequalities. In each tribe there are a number of families, most of them ancient, who possess vast estates, large herds and many servants. The chiefs of these families have fine horses which they are always riding, and fine and beautiful weapons which are seen in their hands every day; they form a sort of military aristocracy which, by the tacit consent of the rest of the population, directs more or less all affairs.

But the main Arab aristocracy has its origin in religion. Listen carefully to this, I beg you Monsieur, for the matter is both important and singular. There are men who in the past, by their piety and knowledge, acquired a reputation of extraordinary sanctity. These men, who are called marabouts, were surrounded by public respect during their lives and generally exerted a great influence on the minds of the surrounding populations; and what is particular is that they transmitted all this to their descendants. In each marabout’s family, a holy and learned man is born in each new generation, who maintains the good reputation and power of his predecessors. There is hardly a tribe where one does not find one or more marabouts who generally live near the tomb of their most famous ancestor and give very generous hospitality to those who come to make pilgrimages there, because, in general, they are rich. These marabouts are men of religion and science, who feel, or affect, a great distance for the tumultuous and lying occupations of this world. While the military aristocracy are always on horseback, with yatagan or rifle in hand, the marabout rides a donkey, and passes unarmed and scantily clad through the crowd of men of war, who hasten to open their ranks as he passes and kiss his hand. In spite of this poor appearance, the marabouts must nevertheless be considered the most influential members of Arab society. They are the intelligence of this great body of which the military aristocracy forms the heart and limbs. It is generally the marabouts who restore peace between the tribes and who secretly direct the main springs of their politics.

Note well, Monsieur, that Abd-el-Kader, of whom you have heard so much, belongs to one of the most renowned families of marabouts of the Regency, and that he is a marabout himself. This explains many things.

As for the general traits of the Arab character, they have been known for many centuries. And they are found in Algeria as anywhere. The Arabs of the African coast have the same brilliant and sensual imagination, the same shrewd and sagacious mind, the same courage and inconstancy as their fathers. Like them, they belong to that mobile and indomitable race which adores physical pleasures, but which places freedom above all else, and which prefers to flee into the sands of the desert rather than vegetate under a master.

The Arabs of the African coast have, moreover, a host of vices and virtues which are not peculiar to them but which belong to the period of civilisation in which they find themselves. Like all half-wild peoples, they honour power and strength above all else. They have little regard for the life of men, and despise commerce and the arts, like these, they love above all war, pomp and noise; defiant and credulous, given over sometimes to unthinking enthusiasm and sometimes to exaggerated despondency, they fall and rise again without difficulty, often excessive in their actions and always better disposed to feel than to think.

After having spoken to you about the two main races which populate Algeria, it is good to finish by saying a word about a third race which no longer exists there, but which for three centuries obtained a preponderant power there. I speak of the Turks.

When the Spaniards had driven the Arabs from the Iberian Peninsula, they soon followed them to the coasts of Algeria. The latter called upon the Turks, then at the height of their power and glory, who, having defeated the Christians and seized Algiers, declared themselves masters of those they had come to defend.

Do not imagine, Monsieur, that the Turks, conquerors of Algiers and part of the Regency, wanted to found an empire there for their descendants. Not at all. These Turks were so proud of themselves and their country that they despised their own children, who were born of Arab women. Preferring their race to their family, they did not want to recruit from among their sons. But every year they sent to Turkey for new soldiers. Things thus established continued. It was still the same in 1830. Every year the dominant race went to the coast of Asia to recruit new soldiers, leaving their own children in obscurity and helplessness.

It is necessary to tell you what were the principles and means of government of these Turks. This is necessary to understand all that has happened since we took their place.

The Turks, most of whom lived in Algiers, formed a small but very brave and turbulent militia which had the right to choose the head of government. It was from this militia that most of the civil servants and all the military officials were taken.

These Turks thus formed an aristocratic body and showed the defects and qualities of all aristocracies. Full of immense pride, they showed at the same time a certain self-respect which made them speak and almost always act with nobility. Moreover, they were only concerned with the interests of their own body, and had a great contempt for everything that was foreign to it.

As for what they called their government, it consisted of the following:

The Turks tried to reduce the Kabyle tribes. But only a very few of them managed to have their sovereignty recognized. All the others retreated to their mountains and remained inaccessible.

I presume that it is the continual proximity of these Turks that has made the Kabyles adopt this fundamental maxim of which I spoke earlier, by virtue of which all foreigners who come to walk on the slopes of the Atlas are cut off their heads.

Turkish domination was more easily established over the Arabs who, as I said, live on open plains. Here is how they did it: five or six thousand Turks enclosed in Algiers could not have reduced these mobile tribes, who flee at the approach of the hand that wants to seize them. But there has never been established a tyranny that did not find among the oppressed it’s instruments. The Turks singled out certain tribes to whom they granted privileges and great independence on condition that they helped them to enslave the others. Moreover, in the very tribes on which their yoke was laid, they attached to themselves by similar means, especially by exemption from taxation, most of the members of that military aristocracy of which I have spoken above. In this way they were able to use the Arabs to dominate the Arabs. But these auxiliary Arabs were always commanded by Turks. Every year, a Turkish officer came out of Algiers followed by a few soldiers of his own nation, who themselves were joined by what were called the Marzem Horsemen. These were the Arab horsemen I have mentioned. They rode through the country in this crew; they collected taxes peacefully or levied them violently on the tribes that refused to pay them. This was the basis of the Turkish government. It is not to be believed, Monsieur, that the money raised in this way served, as is the practice, or at least seems to be the practice, in all civilised nations, to ensure the tranquillity and prosperity of those who paid it. Almost all of it went into the Dey’s coffers or back to his soldiers.

The Turks had, however, made some very incomplete attempts to establish something resembling a public administration among the Arabs.

They had divided the country, especially in the vicinity of the towns, into districts called outans in which several tribes lived. At the head of this population they placed a Turkish officer with the title of caïd and a few soldiers of the same nation to whom were added, if necessary, the Marzem Horsemen. The duty of this officer was to exercise criminal justice, to ensure public peace and the safety of the roads, a duty which he fulfilled very little. For despite his care, the tribes were constantly at war with each other and often led by the caïd himself, who, in order to retain some authority over them, was obliged to share their passions and embrace their quarrels.

The Turks had used another means to secure cities. They maintained a garrison, which they often renewed. The soldiers posted there married Arab women and had children. The children born in Algeria from the unions of Turks and Arabs had a particular name, they were called Coulouglis and formed a race distinct from the other two. The Turks, without granting the Coulouglis a share in the government or a place in their militia, nevertheless assured them by privileges a preponderant position which attached them to the government and separated their interests from those of the rest of the governed. These Coulouglis thus formed a friendly population in the towns where they had originated, on which one could rely, and which easily defended itself when not left entirely to its own devices.

Thus, in the mountains, there were more or less independent Kabyles; in the plains, very incompletely subjugated Arabs; in the towns, Turks and Coulouglis and a mixed population with no fixed character, of which I will say a word at the end.

You already know enough to see, Monsieur, that this so-called Turkish government was not really a government but a continuation of conquest, a violent exploitation of the vanquished by the conqueror. Not only had the Turks established themselves on the coasts of Africa as strangers, but they had solved the difficult problem of governing for three hundred years a country where they were always strangers and where they constantly appeared as newcomers arriving for their own private ends, and not the public administration of the conquered people.

I have mentioned how things were done in the Algiers district. A similar procedure was followed in the three Beyliks which recognised the authority of the Dey. The Turks had divided Algeria into three governments: one in the east with Constantine as its capital, the other in the south which was called the Beylik of Tittery and the third in the west which formed the province of Oran. These three Beys were appointed by the Dey. They settled in the main town of the province like the latter in Algiers and governed there by the same means. But in general their power was even more limited than his and more contested.

I had promised not to finish without telling you a word about that part of the population of the towns which is neither Turkish nor Coulouglie. It consisted of Jews, about whom you know as much as I do, since they are there as they appear everywhere, and Moors. These Moors belong to various races; but the greatest number of them are Arabs whom their sedentary tastes, the desire to enjoy their wealth in peace or to acquire it by trade, has fixed in the towns. They are a spiritual race, gentle, intelligent and very friendly to order. The Arabs of the plain, who sleep under the stars and live under the skies, with their swords in their hands, and who, by necessity, are given over to the pains and joys of an adventurous existence, profess the most superb disdain for this peaceful and industrious portion of their countrymen. In their contempt they give these Moors a name which in Arabic means sellers of pepper, and can only be translated into English as Shopkeeper. I bet you thought, Monsieur, that this epithet, which is so often used nowadays, originated in the midst of our riots. You can see that it comes from far away and I even believe it to be very venerable because of its antiquity. The Orientals do not change their good words anymore than their beliefs, and I would not be surprised if this one did not go back to the first ages of the world.

In a nutshell, I have shown you what Algeria was like before our conquest. In the next letter I will try to make known quickly what we have done, and I will try to indicate as best I can what remains to be done.