Features of the French Colonial Trajectory in Algeria: Land Policy as a Case Study

Abstract

The acquisition of Algerian lands constituted one of the foremost objectives of French colonial policy in Algeria. The colonial authorities did not confine themselves to employing various forms of coercion and violence to establish control over both the land and its inhabitants; they also resorted to expropriation and confiscation in order to deprive Algerians of their principal means of livelihood, namely land, through the implementation of an inequitable land policy.

In order to provide a legal framework for these practices of dispossession and confiscation, the colonial authorities enacted a series of land laws and regulations that granted them the legal authority to appropriate large areas of Algerian land. This policy gave rise to a succession of legislative measures, the most significant of which are examined in this study.