The French Occupation of the City of In Salah and Its Role in Subjugating the Hoggar Region in Southern Algeria during the 20th Century

Abstract

This article examines one of the methods employed by French colonial expansionist policy in Algeria, namely, the control of supply centers and commercial markets in order to subjugate the populations that depended primarily on them for their supplies. In this study, we examine the French control of the city of In Salah and its impact on the Hoggar region, for which In Salah was the only market capable of ensuring its food security. France employed a policy of economic blockade against the Hoggar region, forcing it to surrender in 1904, following its successful occupation of In Salah and the Tidikelt region in general in 1900.

In its interventions in the affairs of the Hoggar, France repeatedly threatened to cut off supplies to the inhabitants of the region by preventing them from accessing the markets of In Salah. This study concludes that the exploratory expeditions that preceded the occupation succeeded in identifying the principal trade routes, markets, and supply centers, as well as their role in subjugating the local populations. These expeditions therefore constituted a genuine cornerstone of the French colonial occupation strategy.