ARCH 1616
Between Sahara and Sea:
North Africa from Human Origins to Islam
Brett Kaufman
[email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:30-4:30 pm
Rhode Island Hall 007
Modern European Colonization of North Africa
Evolutionary versus Post-Colonial Archaeology
European and Arab Perceptions of the Other in
the Colonial Period
European Conquest of North Africa
North Africa in the Arab Spring
Can we understand the North African past, or
any past, as separated from a Euro-centric
tradition?
Why are we studying colonialism in the same course
where we are learning about early human biological
evolution?...
Some tenets of post-colonial studies…
Post-colonial studies presuppose that our interpretations
and even methodology may be influenced by the history of
Western colonization. By using the term post-colonial we
refer both to the study of colonial interactions, and also the
bias that we as Western scholars must attempt to
acknowledge.
Post-Colonial
French colonial mission to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, ca. 1890-1899
Post-Colonial
“Our imagination of the past has been colored by recent colonial enterprises and studies of
native peoples that may, in fact, have little bearing on the realities of societies preceding the
advent of Europe as a world power.” Lyons and Papadopoulos 2002
Post-Colonial
“A mixture of Orientalist attitudes and adventures impelled the primitivist search for “pure”
cultures and was not balanced by any reflexive inclination to consider the material
consequences of colonialism itself.” Lyons and Papadopoulos 2002
French colonial officer and Melanesians, Uarail, New Caledonia, ca. 1874-1881
Post-Colonial
“Nationalist archaeology, furthermore, valued the indigenous heritage of pre-colonial
eras as a cornerstone of the nation’s authenticity and legitimacy.” Lyons and
Papadopoulos 2002
Evolutionary Archaeology
Racist interpretations of human evolution
If a society is considered a “fossilized entity”…
► They are static, not dynamic
► Incapable of progress
► Doomed to extinction
► Justified to be colonized for the sake of
civilization
► Lessens the sense of guilt in the way settlers treat
Them
“As a result of their belief in the incapacity of indigenous societies to change, most
North American archaeologists continued to stress the changeless quality of the
archaeological record and tried hard to attribute changes to processes other than
creativity in indigenous cultures.” Trigger 2006
How were differences in race “scientifically proven”?
► Eugenics, cranial measurements, rankings (kind
and degree)
► Archaeology:
Moundbuilders: 19th century American archaeologists thought that they
were built following European contact, or that in fact the moundbuilders were not very
advanced. Explanations outside of urban biased unilinear evolution were not
entertained.
Great Zimbabwe: Early European investigators saw these stone mounds as proof
of prehistoric “white” colonization of Africa, or at least biblical and therefore seen as
inheritable by Europeans: perhaps King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Phoenicians
Eugenics: The belief that some races possess superior genetic
traits and that these can be determined scientifically
Progress, Cultural Evolution: The idea that genetically
fit peoples are bearers of high culture that progress from lower levels
of civilization to higher levels more rapidly than less fit peoples.
Polygenesis: Held by scholars beginning in late 17th century
that different races were separately created species, ranked according
to primitiveness.
Enlightenment: 17th and 18th centuries movement in Europe
that emphasized logic, reason, and science.
Bureau of American Ethnology (1894):
Government office tasked with studying Native American
ethnography and linguistics in order to better administer native
affairs, and was a framework by which an alleged static past was
encouraged
Evolutionary Archaeology
Evolutionary Archaeology
John Lubbock
Insisted that:
► As a result of natural selection, human groups
were not only culturally different but also
differed biologically in their capabilities to
utilize culture
► Criminals, lower classes, and women were
biologically inferior
► Evolution was unilinear and linked to progress
► Cultural evolution further expanded human
consciousness and led to growing material
prosperity
Institutionalization of colonial tendencies (institutional legacy)
In Australia, the first archaeology department studied at University of Sydney only
studied Europe and the Middle East, not aborigines
Permanent Exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History
Hall of African Peoples
Hall of Eastern Woodland Indians
Hall of Mexico and Central America
Hall of Plains Indians
Hall of Northwest Coast Indians
Hall of South American Peoples
Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples
Stout Hall of Asian Peoples
Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Asian Art
Egyptian Art
European Paintings
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Greek and Roman Art
Islamic Art
Medieval Art
Evolutionary Archaeology
Antiquarians
antiquarianism encouraged a connection with
the Classical Graeco-Roman past while
emphasizing a distancing with the cultures
currently in possession of Classical lands,
thereby justifying colonization
Egyptians help a Victorian climb a pyramid
The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London
The Egyptian Room at the British Museum
The Victorian tourist, “in an Egyptian street,” devout with Scriptures in hand in Cairo’s bazaar
Cleopatra’s Needle in London today
Placing of the Needle
“It would be hardly respectable, on one’s return from Egypt, to present oneself in
Europe without a mummy in one hand and a crocodile in the other” Father Géramb
to Muhammad Ali, 1833
Mummy parts were packaged and sold as medicine in Europe since the 16th century
AD.
Mummy of Pharaoh Seqenenre
Tao
Mummy of a crocodile
Some personal thoughts, then the “big history”…
“The Arabs of the eighteenth century suffered from the legacy of their glorious past
which had coincided with Europe’s darkest age. That legacy made the isolated Arab of
the eighteenth century feel a certain smugness toward all Europeans whom he judged as
barbarians or, at best, somewhat dull and backward boors. His anachronistic attitude,
based on an image formed earlier and transmitted from one generation to the next
without benefit of new information, was that European society had nothing of worth to
offer.” Abu-Lughod 1963
Shidyaq 1866
Fromentin 1859
“They’ve kept their…stubborn way of life anchored in a religion of the past.”
“There they are, as they have appeared from all time…”
“They are refractory to all progress, even indifferent to the fate that is being decided for
them.”
“If there were only one Arab left, you would still be able to retrieve the physical and
spiritual character of the people; and if there were only street left in the city (in its own
right quite special for the Orient), you would with some effort be able to reconstitute
the Algiers of Omar and Hussein Dey.”
Egypt
Obelisk from Luxor in the Place cle la Concorde, Paris, given to
King Lous XVIII by Mohammad Ali'
Egypt: Napoleon
Scientific and Artistic Commission: artists, agronomists, botanists,
chemists, engineers, musicians, and a master printer
Egypt: Napoleon
French savants measure the Sphinx of Giza. Over a 20 month period, they brought a
library of about 500 books (essentially all books ever published about the Nile), crates of
scientific apparatuses and measuring instruments, and printing presses with Arabic, Greek,
and other fonts. The Rosetta Stone is remembered as their greatest find, actually
uncovered by a soldier
Egypt
Egypt: Napoleon
For Napoleon, Egypt had it all: the symbols of power through its
history, the strategic value of disturbing British trade, and the potential
to win him
personal glory.
Watteau’s Battle of
the Pyramids, 1799
Egypt: Napoleon
Treaty of Alexandria, 1801: Napoleon’s expedition ended
in military defeat to the British under Lord Nelson who trapped the
French fleet. Scientists were mostly given safe passage back with their
specimens, meaning the expedition was one of the most successful
scientific forays ever.
1805: Mohammed Ali takes over the governance of Egypt as an
Ottoman Pasha, and sees the European interest in the Egyptian past as a
way to leverage diplomatic goodwill. Ransacking continues, while Ali
attempts to industrialize the country.
Algeria
Algerian Dey Husayn strikes French consul Pierre Deval in the face with a fly-swatter
1827
Algeria
French bombarding Algiers 1830 (Morel-Fatio, 1835)
Algeria
Pêcherie Mosque, 1890
Algeria
Treaty of Tafna, 1837
Between French General Bugeaud and Amir ‘Abdul-Qadir: peace
treaty that redefined boundaries and continued to recognize both
sides’ sovereignty
Allowed ‘Abdul-Qadir to consolidate rule and attack other groups
such as the Tijaniyya order, who in turn sough alliances with the
French and called on Muslims to accept French rule.
Franco-Moroccan Treaty of Tangier, 1844
Following defeat of Moroccan army at Isly near Wujda in 1844, and
bombardment of Tangier and al-Sawira (Mogador), resulted in a
temporary treaty that included establishing ‘Abdul-Qadir as an
outlaw.
Algeria
Amir ‘Abdul-Qadir, Algerian leader
known for fair treatment of captives ,
resistance against French and
eventual alliance building
Bertrand Clauzel, French marshal
dedicated to colonization of Algeria
Algeria
Bugeaud period (1841-1847)
French conquest of Algeria. Two major trends crystallized:
1) Conflict of land between settlers and Muslims
2) Demand of French settlers for country to be absorbed into political
and administrative structures of France
Governor-General Thomas
Robert Bugeaud
Algeria
Ghazya
A North African tribal military tactic that was systematically
adopted and amplified by the French army that includes
destruction of villages and encampments, cattle taken, harvests
burnt, trees hewn down. The French added to it the burning of
already surrendered groups.
1841 (arrival of Bugeaud) – 1857 (subjugation of Kabylia)
Algeria
Bureau Arabe (remember Bureau of
American Ethnology, and Napoleon’s
Scientific and Artistic Commission?)
A group of colonial officials who strove to provide information
about the locals to the government, as well as govern the
Muslims. They saw themselves as superior to Muslims, but also
as tutors. They tried to teach them modern hygiene and
agriculture to prepare them for assimilation, but also tried to
hinder the appropriation of their lands by French settlers. The
settlers continued to regard the military administration with
contempt as a monarchical, non-liberal force. Bugeaud wanted
to settle the land with veterans, as in the Roman latifundia.
Algeria
Domaine: French land department
Habus: lands held in pious trusts
1843 – habus were placed under control of Domaine.
1844 – Inalienable character of habus removed, meaning settlers
could take possession of them
Settlers used pseudo-legal justification of land seizure, saying that
according to Islamic law, land taken by conquest is subject to kharaj
tax. Therefore all Algerian land was under French taxation.
1846 – 200,000 hectates of land acquired by Domaine, 32,000 of
which went to Muslims. Land not in use is vacant and acquirable;
grazing lands are considered vacant.
1848 – Algeria declared a French territory in the constitution of
the Second Republic. Algerian Muslim tribes begin rebellions.
1853-1863 – 51 concessionaries claim 50,000 hectares for
European settlers, most actually farmed by non-owning locals
1871: Rebellion led by Muhammad al-Muqrani crushed
Algeria
Muslims were tried by all French courts. War indemnities levied ten
times the amount of previous annual tribute, 70% of total capital
seized from Algerian Muslims. Instruments of imperial policy that
was fostered by the new European settler group referred to as
“franco-algérien”:
► Expansion of civil territories through settling new French
emigrants
► Levying higher direct taxes on Muslims and using revenue to
invest in further colonization
► A special penal system for Muslims
► Weakening Islamic school system without granting access to
French schools
► Replacing Islamic justice system with French justice system
► Administrative obstacles for the hajj to Mecca
► Habus confiscated
► Code de l’indigénat: Muslims could be detained without trial, be
surveilled, given collective penalties, and sequestration of property
Algeria
Pre-WWII French school in Tunisian Berber town of Dwiret (Tataouine),
now a youth center
“For the French on the one hand emphasized the superiority of their culture to that of
the Algerian Muslims and justified their exercise of power in terms of their cultural
superiority. At the same time they seemed to be determined, on the one hand to keep
Islamic cultural life in its obsolete form and, on the other hand, not to give the
Muslims any real opportunity of opting for French culture.” Abun-Nasr 1987
Algeria
173,000 Algerian Muslims served for the French in WWI, 87,000 saw combat,
about 25,000 were killed.
Hoping that this would earn them a privileged place in French society, some groups
sought to achieve equality with the French such as the Young Algerians
(“évolués”). Others, derogatorily called the “Old Turbans,” rejected colonialism
and cooperation with the French as a threat to the Islamic way of life.
Many North African workers began to migrate to France in the 1920s and 1930s,
and their treatment prompted them to unionize under Massali el-Hajj in the NorthAfrican Star movement.
Massali el-Hajj, leader of Algerian
separatist nationalists
Algeria
The centenary of the French landing in
Algeria in 1930 was marked by colonial
triumph such as stopping malaria, improving
water resources, rural settlement, etc.
Meanwhile, Algerian groups sent delegation
to Paris to ask for rights equal to those of the
French settlers, including representation in
the French National Assembly, and having
Arabic adopted as an official language. The
Blum-Viollette Bill of 1936 proposed French
acceptance of some of these freedoms, but it
was not ratified.
Even Abbas, who had pushed hard for an
agreement with the French along with other
Young Algerians, began to seek full
independence.
Ferhat Abbas, leader of Algerian
internationalist nationalists
Algeria
The 1950s and 1960s were
witness to increased guerilla
warfare against the French, with
atrocities from both sides. The
French settlers in Algeria as well
targeted civilians, and some
high-ranking officers in the
French army even mutinied
against Charles de Gaulle who
sought greater independence for
Algeria. Algeria went from
being a colonial outpost to the
center of national attention and
French national awareness. Mass
European exodus from Algeria
occurred alongside
independence in 1962
Ahmad Ben Bella, leader of
armed resistance, first
President of independent
Algeria
Tunisia
1818 Franco-British squadron forces Husaynid bey to
agree to stop arming corsair ships
Capitulation Treaty signed by the Husaynid bey with
France in 1830 enabled European consuls to act as
judges for all cases involving Europeans.
1846 Ahmad Bey makes slavery illegal
By the 1850s, the Tunisian ruling elite under Ahmad
Bey had taken out so many loans from European
merchants that the country was in financial peril due to
the extravagances of the ruler.
1857 Samuel Sfez affair, a Jew executed by Muhammad
Bey who did this chiefly to defy the French consul
under whom Jews were protected.
The same year the British and French consuls exploited
the Sfez affair by saying they would summon the
British fleet unless the bey signed the ‘Ahd al-Aman
(Pledge of Security) for Muslims and non-Muslims, and
significantly allowed foreigners the right to acquire
property in Tunisia.
Mohammed Bey
Tunisia
1860 Constitution ratified making Tunisia a limited
monarchy.
Mustafa Khaznadar was the beylical prime minister
and used his position to extort tens of millions of francs,
helping drive the country financial ruin.
1860s and 1870s in any case saw the European powers
invest trust in Tunisia authority by letting Europeans be
tried in Tunisian courts.
1868 International Financial Commission established to
hold Tunisian government responsible for debts,
meaning the country lost its economic independence.
1873 Khayr al-Din made Prime Minister, advocated
cultural borrowing from France and is remembered as a
highly influential politician and historian. Founded the
Sadiqiyya College which continued to be a major
institution where lower and higher class pupils could
seek social mobility through much of the 20th century.
Mustafa Khaznadar
Tunisia
1881 In wake of Enfida affair wherein one of
Khayr al-Din’s estates was appropriated by the
state, upsetting French business circles, a casus
belli was made after a raid by an Algerian tribe,
and the French sent an expedition to Tunisia. The
Treaty of Bardo established a de facto French
protectorate in Tunisia.
Only personal matters such as marriage, divorce,
custody of children, and inheritance did Islamic
law continue to hold sway.
Unlike Algeria, France did not subsidize
European settlers to buy land, rather persons
with capital or ex-officials who wanted to stay in
the country remained.
The Young Tunisians were a group inspired by
Khayr al-Din who advocated for more egalitarian
principles such as the education of women.
1911-1912 There was some Muslim resistance to
protectorate authorities tried to quarry next to a
cemetery in Tunis, as well as a labor dispute over
unequal rights between European and Tunisian
workers, causing a wave of violence and deaths.
Khayr al-Din al-Tunsi
Tunisia
63,000 Tunisian Muslims served for the French in
WWI, about 10,500 were killed or missing in
action.
Anti-colonialist sentiment in the 1920s led to the
Destour Party (Constitution Party), which
advocated modernization of judiciary system while
maintaing shari’a, making Arabic language of
instruction, developing health and social services,
and redirecting economy to the entire population
and not just European settlers.
Habib Bourguiba founded Neo-Destour Party that
emphasized not only independence like the Destour
Party, but also the creation of a new, modernized
society.
Bourguiba was in and out of jail, exile, and
weathered WWII while speaking against the Axis.
In 1952 the Tunisia fallaga or guerilla fighters
fought against European settlers called Red Hand.
Tunisia granted independence in 1956.
On 13 August 1956, issued the Personal Status
Code, which included revolutionary laws such as
prohibition of polygamy, 17 as a minimum age for
marriage and expanding women's access to divorce.
Habib Bourguiba
Tunisia
November 7, 1987 coup
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumed the presidency in November
1987 in a bloodless coup where he announced that President
Bourguiba is unable to assume the presidency. Was re-elected by
an overwhelming majority in every presidential election, the most
recent was in October 25, 2009.
Classified by international human rights groups and Western
newspapers as a non-democratic system. Accusations have been
made against this regime, accusing it of becoming a kleptocracy
with corrupt members .
Tunisia
In the era of Ben Ali the
economy was controlled
by 3 families: Trabelsi,
Mabrouk, and Ben Yeder;
all relatives having a
private militia of spying
citizens.
Stores, universities, the
telecommunications
companies, Internet,
tourism and agricultural
areas were largely
owned by the President’s
family .
Tunisia
Revolution Tunisia (also known as a Dignity Revolution or Jasmine Revolution,
14 January), 2011, was a popular revolt that broke out on December 18, 2010 in
solidarity with the youth Muhammad Bouazizi who self-immolated on
December 17, 2010 to expressTunisian
his anger Revolution
on his unemployment and the
confiscation of his merchandize by the police agent Fadia Hamdi. This led to the
outbreak of demonstrations on December 18, 2010 and exit of thousands of
Tunisians who reject what they consider the situation of unemployment and the
lack of social justice and the worsening corruption within the ruling regime.
.
Tunisia
As a result of these demonstrations, which occurred in many
cities in Tunisia , numerous deaths and injuries of protesters
resulting from actions of the security forces, and forced
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to remove a number of
ministers, and he also announced his intention not to run for
president in 2014. He also said he would open blocked
websites such as youtube and dailymotion in Tunisia after 5
years of blocking, in addition to reducing the prices of some
food products But the protests expanded and increased
intensity forcing President Ben Ali to step down from power
and flee to Saudi Arabia on Friday, January 14, 2011. The
army refused to intervene on his behalf.
Tunisia
Tunisian Revolution in
pictures
Tunisia