History of the Maghreb - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Historiography

History of the history

The Arab Maghreb was born at the time of French colonization of Morocco and Algeria (Hassan II). Created primarily to face the economic crisis of the pértole, there were construction of a gas station, and two of oil. The union first is that of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in 1830. Two years later, Mauritania and Libya follow these three countries. The interest of the researchers and the historians for the the Maghreb takes its rise with the French Colonisation (Prise of Algiers in 1830); this interest is justified partly by strategic reasons (appropriation of the language, culture, geography…).

Development of an important ethnological and sociological knowledge, in particular with the Morocco (at the beginning of the 20th century). The party taken “utilitarian” of the first research is obvious; nevertheless, they constitute a considerable sum of information.

Some scientists made school, among which Evariste Lévi-Of Provence and Jacques Berque. In the years 1960, a generation of Maghrebian researchers trained in France appears (A. Larwi, Mr. Talbi, Dachraoui…). The study of the dynasties is the base of research, and a chronology starts to emerge. Between the years 1970 and 1990, the dynamics of research knows one hollower period, in particular because of the Décolonisation. Since, however, there is a certain reinvestment, of which it is probably necessary to seek the causes in the return on the topicality, the appearance of French new generations of population of Maghrebian origin, or the national reappropriation of their history by young nations. Many extremely political and ideological delicate questions, like that of the roots, or the problems of the language, nourish this interest for the History of the Maghreb. Thus problems of the “arabity” of the Maghreb countries, Arab nationalism, that of the Berber culture and its language.

One can put a question: does the Maghreb leave, little by little, of the shock caused by the colonial period? One thus perceives a movement of return over the period which extends from XVIe at the 20th century, successively marked by the dominations Othoman, then European. “Transmediterranean” exchanges on the question, start to be tied.

Stakes: economy, tourism which pushes with the opening despite everything the significant points: colonization, political situation, oppression of the women, language…

Historical materials

The historian of the Maghreb has several sources:

Written sources

Chronic histories, Eastern, Maghrebian and Andalusian. They are primarily centered on a reign or a dynasty, which they present under the chronological, event-driven, and political angle. Work is done on the original or copies, which are translated or not. It remains in this field an immense work to make.
Accounts of voyage, related to the interest geographical, cultural, the variety of the habits and the landscapes. Often very precise and rich of descriptions, these documents are elements of the erudite culture in a vast and dynamic world.
biographical Dictionaries (tabaqât) of all formats, which inform variously about the characters who composed the company (dictionaries of poets, doctors…). The manâqib of it are a particular category, centered on the lives of saints, by places or times. Those, had one will have real, on the whole company (and not limited to the people), and their biographies reveal “another aspect” of the religious life. Moreover, they are an immense source of “peripheral” information, but essential, on the small boroughs, the popular life, the moussems, etc the works can be added with texts justifying, polemical, and are a space of debate.
Collections of fatwa and nawâzil: they are texts juridico-monk. The nawâzil is “concrete cases”: it describes a very precise case, problems which can include any field, and compiles the explanations and the standpoint of a whole series of well-read men over several centuries.
Treated theological (in immense quantity), scientists, policies (who can be legal as well as “ethical”), commercial (preserved in the chancelleries of the Christian kingdoms - Barcelona, the Vatican, Italian cities… -, bilingual; on the other hand few files on the Moslem side before the 16th century and the installation of the Othoman bureaucracy, by cause of the dynastic ruptures)
Literature of merchants, navigators, memories of captivity (of Christians or Moslems) abounding in information, under literary varnish.
Files makhzeniennes (i.e. source official): as of the 18th century.

Monuments and archeology

epigraphic Sources (engravings): currency, monuments, waqf /habous (notarial acts of the gifts)… these sources offer precise details on the dates, the names of monarchs and notable, etc

Limits of the sources in the Maghreb

It is difficult to reach a knowledge of the interior economy of the world Musulman, for lack of registers and accounts, and this, contrary to Europe.
the possibilities offered by the Archéologie, potentially enormous but which run up against the poverty of the means implemented, with the questions of crowned and the burials, and with that of the means of construction of the studied period (Pisé, ground) which leave few traces).
How to approach the company? The main part of the sources refers to a company “of in top”, and male. The testamentary files, the legal collections, however, light all the fields of the social life (including the women).
the Berber identity . The the Maghreb sees cohabiting of the populations Arab and Berber, but in fact the Berber tribal structures nourish and build the political fact. The Andalusian literature frequently stigmatizes the Berber one (insurrectionist, rough, politically and religieusement deviating). Nevertheless, there is no dynamics of confrontation, but of the exchanges. Existence of an independent Berber religious literature.

Geographical definition of the Maghreb

Subsets

the Ifriqiyya corresponds to current the Tunisia, extending on the Kabylie towards the west.
the Maghreb Al-Awsat, literally the central Maghreb
the Maghreb Al-Aqsâ, the Maghreb Western, the current Morocco
the Maghreb then knows a larger opening on the the Sahara than today.

Geographical aspects

the space of the Maghreb is parcelled out, which played a key role in the defense of particularisms.
the coasts, marshy and inhospitable, were not as gravitational, nor the plains, as the colonists cleansed in order to develop agriculture to with it.
the climate is not Mediterranean, because average altitude is high.
the relief is directed East-West, which means difficult penetration vertical, but easy horizontal communications (it is the way which the conquests took).
Two slopes, one directed towards north, and the Mediterranean, the other towards the South, opened on the the Sahara. The Atlas, exchange and moderate, is an agricultural space.

Maghrebian space is compartmentalized, rather little urbanized, allowing maintains it particularisms and tribal structures, and positioned in intermediary (North-South, East-West). At the 16th century, the discoveries of new trade route will destabilize the companies of the Maghreb.

Great chronological stages

Before the Arab conquest

Towards 1100 before JC: expansion phenician in North Africa and creation of many counters along the coasts of which Carthage
264-146 before JC: 3 Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome. After the last war, Rome shaves Carthage and creates its first province on the African continent Africa corresponding to the north of current Tunisia

112-105: rebellion carried out by Berber the Jugurtha against Rome

The Moslem conquest (646-711)

646 : the Arabs settle in the North-West of Libya
670: foundation of Kairouan by Oqba Ibn Nafaa which will be used as a basis for the Arab conquest of the remainder of the Maghreb
Fin of the 7th century: invasion of all Maghreb, the Byzantines are driven out
695-705: Berber revolt against the Arabs carried out by the queen Kahena in the Aurès
711: the Arabs control all Maghreb.

711-1500

Othoman period

1492: Spain is entirely reconquered (taken Grenade) by the Christians. Jews and Moslems are expelled towards the Maghreb
1505 - 1510: Spanish attempts to control the coasts of the Maghreb. Construction of the Spanish fortress, the Dogvane opposite the wearing of Algiers.

European colonization

1827 : diplomatic crisis enters France and Algeria
1830: the French troops take Algiers, beginning of colonization
1838-1847: resistance of Abd el Kader
1848: Algeria is declared French territory

Second world war

Independences

The Arab conquest

Administration. Methods of conversion

Three elements come into play to define the methods according to which the Maghreb will be managed by the Arab conquerors : • Motivations of the winners, who will be generally to exploit this territory with their profit. • Birth of the Kharijisme • The same methods according to which the conquest proceeded.

The Maghreb seems a secondary ground of expansion, the invested means are modest and undergo the by-effects of the crises of the central capacity. It is a place of escape and refuge, for the persecuted groups (Shiites, Kharijites, family members of the Prophet), which in general will be well accommodated (enemies of my enemies…), in particular Kharijites and their levelling ideology.

(to be supplemented)

Motivations of the conquest

the Maghreb is a country little known of the Arab , at the time of its conquest, and much less prestigious than the Syria or the Iraq, which are the cradle of antiques civilizations, powerful cities, and monotheisms. On the contrary, the Maghreb seems a perfidious country, which mislays, and raises the general mistrust of the authorities and the chroniclers. This distrust can, with wrong way, being interpreted like an echo of the encountered difficulties, resistances, and appears by a stigmatization.
the end of the conquest directly does not imply a change of administration of the subjected populations, and the punctures remain massive, which in fact is illegal, when that touches with converted populations.

In 739, the Caliphs Omeyyades always require women Berbères for their Harem; in 754, the Abbassides will make the same request, which however will be refused by the governor of the time, which will explain why conversion with fact abolished slavery. Between these two dates, occurred an essential event: between 740 and 742, a generalized insurrection, in the name of the Islam protestor Kharijite, of the Berber exploited and exasperated.

The question of the spoils and the tax

Some points TO PERHAPS CLASSIFY

the garrison of the Maghreb includes/understands: 10000 with: 40000 men, accompanied by their family, and recipients of the spoils.
the exploitation can take the form of taking away varied, of luxury, human, of food, according to the needs for the capacity.
the statute of the new converts is in question. The situation presents a sharp shift between the levelling aspect carried by Islam, and the reality of the exploitation of the Berber ones. This aspect will facilitate the diffusion of the kharijism.
Of the competitions appears among the leading one and the soldiers, between older, Berbères and Arab new converts and.
Kharâj and Jiziya - the first is a tax on land on the conquered grounds; the statute of these last being crystallized during the period of the conquest; the second is a tax by capitation imposed to People of the Book and considered as a pact of protection, allowing them, in spite of an often difficult statute, to preserve their religion. Resulting from Qur' ân, this one does not apply (in theory) to the new converts, but in practice it is taken in the Maghreb and in Egypt.

These two taxes will solidify the reports/ratios of domination inherited the conquest, between winners and overcome, and will still give them repercussion centuries later by poking the discords.

Two elements enter in contradiction, which are the need for the capacity to find funds, and the development of a Moslem right.

The point of rupture will be done between 720 and 739;

the rise of the needs for the Caliphate, will push the governors to extend Jiziya; temptation will be to impose contrary measurements on the Moslem right, in Egypt and in the Maghreb.
the refugees kharijites will be well accommodated, and will excite with rising;

In 739, the insurrections kharijites of Berber will have as an engine the rebellion and the desire of integration in Umma, often in the name of the “true” islâm against that of the occupants.

The Maghreb Kharijite, between revolt and integration

(to be supplemented)

European colonizations

See the articles Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia.
Spanish Africa

See too

External bonds

the Maghreb under French domination (1830-1962) by Philippe Conrad, Historian.
Italy and the Maghreb with the Middle Ages by Georges Jehel, Professor emeritus of the Universities.
Christian Africa, of the “great persecution” to the invasion vandal by François Decree, Professor emeritus of the universities.
Christian Africa, of the invasion vandal in the Moslem Maghreb by François Decree, Professor emeritus of the universities.
Africa vandal by Serge Lancel, Professor emeritus of the university of Grenoble, Member of the Institute.
characteristics of Islam in the Maghreb by Paul Balta, Old directing of the Center of studies of the contemporary East at the university of Paris III-Sorbonne New.

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