The First Empire
This timeline forms part of our close-up on: Abd el-Kader.
1804
Tribal uprisings across Algeria
1808
6 September (uncertain): the birth of Abd el-Kader at Oued-el-Hamman, near Mascara. Algeria was, and had been since the 16th century, under Turkish rule.
June 1815 The Restoration (France)
1818
Hussein becomes the last ‘Dey’ of Algiers. The word ‘dey’, which is Turkish, referred to (among other things) the ruler of the regency of Algiers or Tunis under the Ottoman Empire.
1826-1828
Abd el-Kader and his father complete their pilgrimage to Mecca, before visiting Egypt.
1827
A diplomatic crisis breaks out between France and Algeria after Hussein hits the French consul Deval with a fly-swat.
1830
14 June: French troops (37,000) land in Algeria, at the bay of Sidi-Ferruch.
July 1830 Establishment of the July Monarchy (France)
1830
5 July: The Dey of Algiers confirms his capitulation and France takes control of Algiers.
30 October: Having completed the expeditionary stage of the invasion, Louis-Philippe authorises Clauzel to start the process for an occupation of the area.
26 November: Medea is occupied.
1831
4 January: Oran is seized by General Damrémont
31 January: General Berthezène succeeds Clauzel. Clauzel later replaces Drouet as the governor-general of French possessions in Africa (1935) only to be replaced himself by Damrémont in 1837.
14 September: General Boyer is appointed commander of the garrison in Oran. General Desmichels later replaces him as garrison commander (23 April 1833) before being replaced himself by General Trézel (January 1835). D’Arlanges succeeds Trézel in Oran on 8 July 1835.
1832
March: Permanent occupation of Bône (now Annaba). On 23 March, Captain Armandy and Captain Youssouf capture the kasbah in Bône.
27 April: Abd el-Kader’s father proclaims the first jihad (holy war) against the infidels (the invading French forces).
1-4 May: Abd el-Kader harries French troops who are entrenched at Oran.
1833
17 July: Abd el-Kader takes control of the town of Tlemcen, in the north-west of Algeria, with the exception of the citadel. He names Hammadi Sakkal caïd of the town.
29 July: Desmichels occupies Mostaganem and Mazagran on the Algerian coast.
29 September: General Trézel takes Bougie (known as Béjaïa, a Mediterranean port on the Algerian coast).
1834
26 February: Signature of two treaties between Abd el-Kader and Desmichels which recognize the emir’s sovereignty.
22 November: Abd el-Kader is named as head of the Hachem beni-Amer tribes.
1835
16 June: The chiefs of the Douaïr and Zmela tribes sign the ‘Fig tree’ convention, making the tribes French subjects.
28 June: Abd el-Kader defeats General Trézel at Macta.
1836
July: Abd el-Kader is defeated at the river Sikkak by General Bugeaud.
1837
30 May: At the Treaty of Tafna, France recognises the sovereignty of Abd el-Kader over two-thirds of Algeria. However, France holds onto several important possessions, including Algiers, Blida and Oran.
13 October: French troops take Constantine after a week-long siege during which General Damrémont is killed. General Valée succeeds him.
1839
October: The episode known as “le passage des portes de fer” reignites the war between France and Abd el-Kader. In direct contravention of the Treaty of Tafna, Louis-Philippe sends French troops to Constantine through the ‘portes de fer’, a narrow gorge that runs through the Biban mountains in the north of Algeria.
18-20 November: Abd el-Kader declares war on France. The order is given to evacuate the Mitidja of French inhabitants, putting an end to the first stage of colonisation.
1840
December: Louis-Philippe gives the order to conquer the entirety of Algeria.
1843
16 May: Abd el-Kader’s smala (camp) is captured by the Duke d’Aumale while Abd el-Kader is away on campaign.
1844
14 August: French victory at the battle of Isly.
1847
23 December: Abd el-Kader surrenders to French forces.
Between 25 December 1847 and 8 November 1848, Abd el-Kader and his entourage are moved between different holding sites in France until arriving at the Château d’Amboise, where they remain for four years.
February 1848 The Second Republic is proclaimed
1848
12 November: Algeria is officially declared “French territory”.
1850-1870
Various uprisings in the Aurès Moutains and in Kabylia are violently repressed by French troops. Famine devastates Algeria between 1866 and 1868.
1851
Spring: Abd el-Kader is given permission to walk outside of the confines of the Château d’Amboise.
1852 Reestablishment of the Empire (Second Empire) in France
1852
16 October: Abd el-Kader and his entourage are given their freedom by Napoleon III.
21 December: Abd el-Kader leaves France and lands in Constantinople on 7 January 1853.
December: Laghouat (a city in southern Algeria) falls to French troops.
1858-1860
From June 1858 to December 1860: the short-lived ‘Ministère de l’Algérie et des Colonies’.
September 1860: Napoleon III travels to Algeria in preparation for his planned “arab kingdom” policy.
1864-1865
7 April 1864-April 1865: Revolt in southern Oran.
14 July 1865: A Sénatus Consulte declares all indigenous peoples of Algeria French subjects. They had the option of requesting French citizenship but would have to fulfil certain criteria and would no longer be governed according to their statute, but rather French law.
4 September 1870 The Third Republic is proclaimed
24 October: The Crémieux decree grants French nationality to all Jewish Algerians.
1871
March: The Mokrani brothers lead an uprising against land seizures in Kabylia.
1883
26 May: Abd el-Kader dies in Doummar, in Syria, and his body is transferred to Damas. In 1964, his remains are brought back to Algiers, in Algeria where they remain to this day.