French colonial strategy to occupy Laghouat 1852

Abstract

In 1844, the French Parliament issued a decision allowing the expansion of colonial activity towards the Algerian Sahara, and since Laghouat was the gateway to the south, the French strategy considered it necessary to occupy it, and the French administration exploited a number of contradictions in the social, tribal and religious structure of the region, to facilitate the incursion process. And it relied on local forces that did not hide their loyalty to the French, and in 1852 it was decided to occupy Laghouat, and the region experienced violent resistance on the part of Bin Nasser Bin Shohra and his ally Sherif Ouargla Muhammad Bin Abdullah. The French occupation of Laghouat is a decisive historical station in the history of Algeria in general and the history of the Sahara in particular, which requires study and the analysis because of its links with the social and religious reality of Algeria