The Birth of European Population in Algeria: Migrations and Marriage Behavior in the Colonial Context of the 19th Century

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, on the territory of contemporary Algeria, there emerged and expanded the population of European origin. Migrants came from various European countries, such as (metropolitan) France, Spain, Italy and Malta. Subsequently, there were born the new generations which would perceive the colonial soil as their own. We have conducted research on the marriage behavior of Europeans, focusing on thirteen major cities and towns of Algeria, in order to understand the ways in which marriages were made first among the migrants, and later among the descendants of the first wave of migration and the European newcomers. We offer an analysis of why and how groups of people of varying geographic origins mixed or remained isolated. We argue that if marriages between Europeans coming from different countries were common, the borderlines between religious groups (Christians, Israelites, and Muslims) remained largely impenetrable.