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Life of Emir Abdelkader — Timeline 1808–1883

Chapter I

His life, from the plain of Ghriss to the gardens of Damascus

Scroll to move through the trajectory. Hover a milestone to open its detail.

6 September 1808

Abdelkader is born in the Ghriss plain near Mascara, into a learned family connected to the Qadiriyya.

Documentary pathway

From childhood to Damascus

A single pathway brings together the dossiers that extend the biography: formation, legitimacy, the organisation of the state and the Smala, diplomacy, captivity and Damascus.

  1. 01Youth · education · Algerian sourcesBefore the EmirRecover Abdelkader’s childhood and education from El Guettana and Mascara through family memory and Algerian academic research.Read dossier
  2. 02Moubayaa · legitimacy · stateThe two MoubayaasRead the two moments of 1832 and 1833, from the first recognition at Ghriss to the general Moubayaa in Mascara, and their role in constructing authority.Read dossier
  3. 03Mobile state · territory · 1843The SmalaUnderstand the Smala beyond its military image through contemporary documents and the contexts in which they were produced.Read dossier
  4. 04Diplomacy · sovereignty · 1837Treaty of TafnaRead the Treaty of Tafna as a diplomatic source, a milestone of sovereignty and a document shaped by the balance of power in 1837.Read dossier
  5. 05Captivity · memory · 1848 to 1852AmboiseDocument the Amboise years, conditions of captivity, human losses and the release of 16 October 1852.Read dossier
  6. 06Protection · responsibility · 1860Damascus in 1860Return to contemporary documents to understand Emir Abdelkader’s intervention during the violence in Damascus in 1860.Read dossier