A Reading of the Memoirs of Ahmed Effendi Al-Jazairi: How did the French enter Algeria?
Abstract
This study examines the memoirs of Ahmad Affendi al-Jazāʾirī as a primary, relatively unexplored source for understanding the diplomatic rupture between Ottoman Algeria and France, which culminated in the Fly-Whisk Incident of 29 April 1827 and ultimately led to the French occupation of Algeria in 1830. The research seeks to reassess the dominant historiographical interpretation of this event, which has generally relied on French diplomatic archives and the writings of elite Algerian authors such as Hamdan Khodja and Sheikh al-Sharif al-Zahhar, while marginalising the testimony of Ahmad Affendi, who occupied a mid-ranking administrative and religious position within the Ottoman regency of Algiers. The central problem addressed in this study concerns the extent to which Affendi’s memoirs provide a distinct and credible interpretation of the diplomatic crisis between Hussein Dey and the French consul Pierre Duval, and how this testimony modifies or complements the conventional colonial narrative surrounding the origins of the occupation.
The study adopts a qualitative historical methodology based on comparative textual analysis, source criticism, and contextual interpretation. The corpus of the research consists primarily of the memoirs of Ahmad Affendi al-Jazāʾirī, as well as French diplomatic correspondence, the memoirs of Hamdan Khodja and al-Sharif al-Zahhar, and selected studies on late Ottoman Algeria and Franco-Algerian relations. Through a comparative examination of these materials, the study identifies several original elements in Affendi’s narrative, notably his assertion that Consul Duval attempted to draw his sword during the confrontation with Hussein Dey, his account of Ibrahim’s intervention based on Islamic legal principles protecting the mustaʾmin foreign resident, and his critical depiction of the administrative and political atmosphere preceding the French invasion.
The results of the study demonstrate that Affendi’s memoirs constitute an important indigenous testimony that can enrich the historiography of modern Algeria by offering a perspective distinct from official colonial narratives and elite reformist writings. The memoirs reveal that the diplomatic rupture of 1827 cannot be reduced to a simple personal altercation symbolised by the fly-whisk incident, but must instead be understood within a broader political, legal, and diplomatic context, marked by growing French expansionist ambitions and rising tensions in Ottoman Algeria. The study further concludes that Ahmad Affendi’s account is a valuable historical source that warrants critical yet serious consideration in future research on the origins of the French occupation of Algeria.
Keywords: memoirs, Ahmed Effendi, Algeria, Ottoman, French, occupation.
