XIXᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
North Africa and the Sahara
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
North African and Saharan anti-colonial resistance comprised initiatives and local reactions directed against European conquest between 1880 and 1935. The excerpt distinguishes organized states, Sufi brotherhoods, and local djema'as as different levels of political action. Morocco, Tunisia, the western Sahara, the Rif, and Ottoman Libya each experienced distinct confrontations with France, Spain, or Italy, while religious institutions often became central to mobilization when state authority weakened.
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Le récit
Resistance in the Maghrib and Sahara did not arise from a single social structure. The excerpt distinguishes the organized state, represented principally by Morocco and the Ottoman authority in eastern North Africa; Sufi brotherhoods, which were religious in inspiration but political in function; and the djema'a, local assemblies that became prominent when the other levels had been suppressed by armed force.
Sufi brotherhoods are presented as defensive organizations against external threats. When the state was strong, they could form part of its mechanism; when state power weakened, they could act independently. The Sanusi brotherhood became the core of resistance to the Italians in Cyrenaica after Ottoman sovereignty receded, while the Kettani brotherhood rallied anti-French forces at Shinkit and in the Shawiya when the Moroccan state could no longer intervene effectively.
The regional pattern included Morocco’s prolonged struggle against Spanish and French expansion, Tunisia’s resistance after the imposition of the French protectorate, French operations in Tuat and the western Sahara, Spanish conquest efforts in the Rif, and Italian attacks on Ottoman Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. These cases combined state diplomacy, religious leadership, local assemblies, and armed action rather than representing merely sporadic reactions by isolated ethnic groups.
XIXᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
North Africa and the Sahara
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
North African and Saharan anti-colonial resistance comprised initiatives and local reactions directed against European conquest between 1880 and 1935. The excerpt distinguishes organized states, Sufi brotherhoods, and local djema'as as different levels of political action. Morocco, Tunisia, the western Sahara, the Rif, and Ottoman Libya each experienced distinct confrontations with France, Spain, or Italy, while religious institutions often became central to mobilization when state authority weakened.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Resistance in the Maghrib and Sahara did not arise from a single social structure. The excerpt distinguishes the organized state, represented principally by Morocco and the Ottoman authority in eastern North Africa; Sufi brotherhoods, which were religious in inspiration but political in function; and the djema'a, local assemblies that became prominent when the other levels had been suppressed by armed force.
Sufi brotherhoods are presented as defensive organizations against external threats. When the state was strong, they could form part of its mechanism; when state power weakened, they could act independently. The Sanusi brotherhood became the core of resistance to the Italians in Cyrenaica after Ottoman sovereignty receded, while the Kettani brotherhood rallied anti-French forces at Shinkit and in the Shawiya when the Moroccan state could no longer intervene effectively.
The regional pattern included Morocco’s prolonged struggle against Spanish and French expansion, Tunisia’s resistance after the imposition of the French protectorate, French operations in Tuat and the western Sahara, Spanish conquest efforts in the Rif, and Italian attacks on Ottoman Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. These cases combined state diplomacy, religious leadership, local assemblies, and armed action rather than representing merely sporadic reactions by isolated ethnic groups.