French North Africa
French North Africa (French: Afrique du Nord française, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is a term that is often applied to the three territories that were controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era: 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
[edit]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, French troops captured Algiers, and from 1848 to 1962, when Algerian independence occurred, 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
[edit]- Algerian nationalism
- Army of Africa (France)
- Declaration of 1 November 1954
- French colonial empire
- French conquest of Algeria
- Pacification of Algeria
- Proclamation of Independence of Morocco
- Tunisian national movement
References
[edit]- ^ 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.
- ^ J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver, The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 6 (1985), p. 159
- ^ William E. Watson, Tricolor and Crescent: France and the Islamic World (2003), p. 28
- ^ Serge Berstein, The Republic of de Gaulle 1958–1969 (1993), p. 54.
Sources
[edit]- Edwards, Albert, Sketches of French North Africa (2009)
- Gottmann, Jean, Economic problems of French North Africa (1943)
- Liebesny, Herbert J., The Government of French North Africa (1943)
- Thomas, Martin, French Empire Between the Wars (2005)
- Wallerstein, Immanuel M., Africa: The Politics of Independence and Unity (1961)
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- History of North Africa
- French colonisation in Africa
- 1830 establishments in the French colonial empire
- 1830 establishments in Africa
- 1962 disestablishments in Africa
- 1962 disestablishments in the French colonial empire
- States and territories established in 1830
- States and territories disestablished in 1962