Mohamed ben Zamoum

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Mohamed ben Zamoum
Birth nameMohamed ben Zamoum
Born1795
Laazib Nzamoum, Kabylie
Died1843
Naciria, Kabylie
Branch Sanhaja
Rank Marabout
Battles / wars French conquest of Algeria
Children

Mohamed ben Zamoum (born in Naciria (Laazib Nzamoum) in 1795 and died in the same city in 1843) was a Kabyle marabout and tribal chief who participated in the Algerian resistance against the French conquest of Algeria. [1] [2]

Contents

Family

Mohamed ben Zamoum was born in 1795 in Naciria region into the Kabyle Iflissen Umellil confederacy. [3]

He was part of the noble family of Ben Zamoum who reigned over the confederation of Iflissen Umellil. [4]

Mohamed had several children, the best known of which are Hocine ben Zamoum and Omar ben Zamoum who succeeded him in 1848 in command of the Iflissen Umellil confederation. [5]

His grandson Ali ben Zamoum also played a major role in the Kabyle resistance against French troupes coloniales, from 1844 to 1848. [6]

French conquest of Algeria

Bordj Tamentfoust Bordj Tamenfoust.JPG
Bordj Tamentfoust
Chrea mountains. Atlas Mountain Blida Algeria.jpg
Chréa mountains.

Just after the surrender of Dey Hussein on 5 July 1830 and the capitulation of the Casbah of Algiers, Sheikh Mohamed ben Zamoum, leader of the Iflissen Umellil confederation, organized with the tribal chiefs of Kabylia and Mitidja (Especially the Ait Masra and the Ait Salah) a meeting in the Bordj Tamentfoust. [7] As a result of this meeting, which began on 23 July and ended on 26 July, the leaders decided to resist the French presence and joined their forces and mobilized to join the popular response after the fall of Algiers. [8]

This meeting occurred when General Victor de Bourmont did not follow the advice of Mohamed ben Zamoum in the letter he had addressed to him to dissuade him from initiating a military expedition of the First Battle of Blida. [9]

Nevertheless, de Bourmont began his campaign against Blida on 23 July after having contracted a connivance with the bey of Titteri in Médéa, the named Mustapha Boumezrag. [10]

The defeat of the 1,200 infantry, 100 cavalry, and artillery pieces on which General de Bourmont had based in his expedition against Blida and its surroundings, had convinced Sheikh ben Zamoum that resistance against the French was possible and that the combat would settle the positions of the belligerents. [11]

Allegiance to Ben Zamoum

The tribes of Mitidja and Kabylia then signed a treaty of allegiance to Sheikh ben Zamoum dated 26 July 1830, where he was proclaimed leader of the popular resistance against the forces of the French Army. [12]

Thus, from 2 September 1830, the Sheikh stepped up his raids against the French forces commanded by the new arriving General Bertrand Clauzel, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition army to replace de Bourmont.

Second Battle of Blida

When on 18 November 1830, a second column of 7,000 French soldiers invaded the town of Blida, they found it almost deserted because most of the population had fled to the mountain of Chréa on the injunction of Sheikh ben Zamoum. [13]

But while the column of Colonel Rulhière was marching on Médéa after taking possession of Blida, the Sheikh sent a contingent of Kabyles from the Flissas tribe under the leadership of his son Hocine ben Zamoum to hook the French in Mitidja.

Having learned of the occupation of Blida by the French soldiers, Hocine ben Zamoum called on Kabyle reinforcements from the Khachna, the Col des Beni Aïcha, the Beni Moussa and the Beni Misra to march against the city of Blida in order to liberate it. [14]

Death

Mohamed ben Zamoum in 1843 in the Naciria region, specifically in Kabylia at the age of 48 after thirteen years of resistance against the French conquest of Algeria. [15] [16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ algérienne, Société historique (25 February 1875). "Revue africaine". La Société – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ "Revue africaine0: journal des travaux de la Société Historique Algérienne". 25 February 1875 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ "Revue africaine". La Société. 25 February 1885 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Revue africaine0". 25 February 1876 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Rinn, Louis (1891). "Histoire de l'insurrection de 1871 en Algérie" – via books.google.dz.
  6. ↑ algérienne, Société historique (25 February 1881). "Revue africaine". La Société – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Grand, Chantal (19 February 2016). Le douloureux passé de la Méditerranée: Histoire. BoD - Books on Demand. ISBN   9782810628544 – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Trumelet, Corneille (1887). "Une page de l'histoire de la colonisation algerienne" – via books.google.dz.
  9. ↑ Trumelet, Corneille (1890). "Le général Yusuf" – via books.google.dz.
  10. ↑ "Revue africaine0". 25 February 1876 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ l'Enregistrement.), Victor BERARD (Receveur de (25 February 1848). "Indicateur général d'Algérie, renfermant la description géographique, historique et statistique de chacune des localités, etc" – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ d' Harmonville, A. -L (1842). "Dictionnaire des dates, des faits, des lieux et des hommes historiques ou les tables de l'histoire" – via books.google.dz.
  13. ↑ Buloz, François; Buloz, Charles; Brunetière, Ferdinand; Charmes, Francis; Doumic, René; Chaumeix, André (25 February 1885). "Revue des deux mondes". Au Bureau de la Revue des deux mondes – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ Reynaud, E. Pellissier de (25 February 1854). "Annales algériennes". Alger – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ "Revue africaine0". 1876 – via books.google.dz.
  16. ↑ Orléans, Ferdinand-Philippe d' (1870). "Campagnes de l'arme'e d'Afrique 1835-1839 par le Duc d'Orle'ans, publie' par ses fils, avec un portrait de l'auteur et une carte de l'Alge'rie" – via books.google.dz.

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