A critical look at the relationship between Emir Abd al-Qadir and King Louis Philippe
Kilali Miki
The relations between Emir Abd al-Qadir (1808–1883) and the French King Louis-Philippe I of Orléans (1773–1850) during the July Monarchy were not always conflictual, contrary to what official history has supposed. Thus, the direct epistolary relations and those through the intermediary of the others, the epistolary exchanges between the two protagonists who were sometimes cordial and abundantly revealed in archives and French historiography, even if the failure to respect the aman has been the subject of many controversies. The Emir is therefore confronted with a king and his son, the Duke of Aumale (1822–1897), who are in favor of his release under certain conditions and with an assembly of French parliamentarians who are very hostile. At the same time all the modalities allow Louis-Philippe to authorize the Emir and his smala to be transferred to the East – to Saint-Jean d’Acre, in Siria, or to Mecca in Arabia. This article examines the relations between Abd al-Qadir and Louis-Philippe from the beginning of the French conquest in 1832 to the imprisonment of Emir Abd al-Qadir in 1848 at Fort Lamalgue in Toulon. The author analyzed the various relationships between the two protagonists, which shed new light on the conquest of Algeria in the 19th century.
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