Subject: resistance fighter
Culture: Algerian Arab
Setting: French occupation, Algeria 1830s-1840s
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Grbašić/Vukšić 1989 p250
"After the end of its unsuccessful attempt to expand in Europe, marked by the fall of Napoléon, the French bourgeoisie began to turn its sights upon North Africa. In 1830, General Bourmont's corps, assisted by the fleet, landed at Algiers and captured the city. When the French tried to take the rest of the country, they met with the stiff resistance of Algerian tribes led by Abd-el-Kader. In 1835, at the head of 8,500 light desert horsemen, he destroyed General Trezel's column of 2,500 men and six cannon. Abd-el-Kader's successful guerrilla operations in the vast, semi-desert expanses forced France to increase its occupation force to 100,000 men."
Costume
* Racinet 1988 p58 f2&3
"The Algerian shirt is short with baggy sleeves which fasten at the wrist. The everyday costume of the people is a haik, a pair of small leggings and, according to circumstances, a turban or a red woollen cap.
"Often this is worn with a short jacket, with or without sleeves. Baggy culottes are worn with large folds that go down to the bottom of the leg; watches and purses are hung from belts. Slippers are worn on the feet, but the calves are usually bare: only old people wear stockings and even then only in cold weather.
"The Moors of Tunisia wear a fez, or a red hood with a tassel of blue silk, with a small white calico bonnet beneath it. Next comes a waistcoat: with buttons -- a farmela -- or without -- a sadria, then an embroidered jacket, trousers, attached to an undershirt with laces, and stockings. Shoes, called sebbat, are worn outdoors, and slippers indoors.
"Scribes wear a kaftan: a large coat that reaches down as far as the heels. A zouka is a type of kaftan that stops at the knees, and another variation is a gefara, a type of small burnous."
Saber
*
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Knife
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