French Colonialism in Algeria and the Definition of Genocide
Updated: Oct 21
By Solenn Renault
France's colonization of Algeria started in 1830 with the invasion of Algiers and lasted for 132 years until Algeria's independence in 1962. The initial process of colonization led to the native population of Algeria being reduced by a third between 1830 and 1857 through starvation, illness and massacres.
The repression of Algerians and Algerian identity was also manifested politically through the legal integration of Algeria as French territory, which stripped it of its independance and imposed a differenciated legal status on Muslim Algerians. Muslim Algerians were deprived of their rights to political representation.
Uprisings against France's colonial regime were heavily sanctioned, which included deportations. Economically, Muslim Algerians were deprived of their land through dispossession and then required to farm their former land by colonial authorities.
Algerian culture and identity were devalued in comparison to French history and identity through the banning of the Arabic language in the Algerian educational system.
France tried to "unveil" women both metaphorically and literally. Changes in women's roles were justified by declaring pre-colonial Algeria to be oppressive of women. French authorities claimed to be "liberating" women through their integration into a new French identity.
When taking into account all those elements, it is imperative to examine whether France's actions fit the legal definition of genocide as it is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, but also the definition of cultural genocide as Raphael Lemkin theorized it.
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