Throughout history, there have been invasions and occupations. Starting with Alexander The Great, the idea came about that with land came power. The mid 1800’s brought about a resurgence of countries, mainly France and England, wanting more land. But unlike the past 400 years where the new land that was added was completely new land inhabited only by uncivilized savages, the land now being added was already inhabited with “civilized” people with their own government. This colonial period lasted for about one hundred to one hundred fifty years and left a lasting impact on the countries that were withdrawn from. Algeria, in North Africa, is one such country. Occupied by the French from 1830 to 1962 life during occupation cast a shadow over what life would be like in Algeria when France would no longer be there.
France invaded Algeria in 1830 under the pretense that the Algerian government had insulted the French consul in Algiers. In reality, the invasion was a ploy by the reinstated French monarchy to revive its domestic popularity. After the invasion of Algiers the French army was sent out to acquire the agricultural land from the Algerian people. When the Europeans began to colonize Algeria
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The months that followed were chaos. To take care of this problem, the government nationalized all property of the departed colonists. Everyday life continued to be a struggle under the current government system, but in 1965 a military coup seized control of the country and life began to improve. The people of Algeria, under influence of the government, moved in to run the newly state sponsored businesses. The European settlers were largely of peasant farm or working-class origin from the poor southern areas of Italy, Spain and France. In fact, for some, their quality of life improved. Men waited in lines for jobs and women waited in lines for food. Distribution of goods was at a standstill. These poor farmers then turned this land into a profitable agricultural area, and thus, their social status began to improve with their wealth. , the Algerian people were considered second-class citizens and were often not allowed to participate in the everyday workings of Algeria. In the 1840’s and the 1850’s, to encourage settlement in rural areas official policy was to offer grants of land for a fee and a promise that improvements would be made. The only thing that was offered to the Algerian people from the French was education as Algeria was considered a vital part of France, but more often than not, the Algerian people went unschooled because all the male members of the family had to work to provide for the family. Only with an economic upturn of
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the 1990’s did life improve, but it did not match the quality of life the people had briefly experienced in the 1980’s. The businesses were then given the opportunity to have to workers elect representatives who would work in conjunction with the state appointed representatives.
Approximate Word count =
957
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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