conquest of Algeria 1830-1870

[Arthur]

Looks to me like a member of the volunteer Koulouglis battalion raised in 1836 to defend Tlemcen. The Koulouglis were a local community of mixed decent (half Amazigh and half Turkish, allegedly descended from the Janissaries).     

[traveller]

Excellent! thanks

[Arthur]

You're welcome. That's about all the information I have and I don't know what became of the battalion after the evacuation of Tlemcen in 1837 : the unit was probably disbanded, although it may have continued to exist in some form. Paco may know more about the Koulouglis than I do, though, so maybe he'll come along with additional info.

[traveller]

Where could you find info on such a unit? French literature?

[Arthur]

Definitely.

There's not a huge amount of English-language material on the conquest of Algeria by the French, and obscure units such as the Koulouglis will only be mentioned in long out-of-print French books and periodicals. Since these publications are mostly copyright free now, they may occasionally appear in scanned form on the net and it's sometimes amazing what a Google search can turn up.     

If you can read French, here's where I found most of what I know about the Koulouglis

http://aj.garcia.free.fr/Livret4/L4p94-95.htm

http://aj.garcia.free.fr/Livret4/PageGardeLivret4.htm

[traveller]

No French, but google translate is my friend 

[Patrice]

Patrice, would love to hear your list of book recommendations for Western Soudan (Mali)

If you can read French, the main source is Gallica (the French National Library online) http://gallica.bnf.fr/

Free downloads. Lots of photos too.

Begin with "Voyage au Soudan Français" (cdt Gallieni).
Or "Les Francais au Niger" (Pietri) for an overall view 1855-1883 and many ethnic details.
Find other books with "Soudan" research.
Have a look at "La Marine au Niger" (lt de vaisseau Caron), on the last page there is the plan of a funny very small gunboat.

Back to topic : there are also lots of pics and books about Algeria on this website.

[traveller]

Patrice, thanks!

[pacofeanor]

Hello, and thank you for your interest.
Concerning the koulouglis (sons of turcs soldiers and arabs  women), i didn't found other text about them! Just that they were engaged in the new zouaves regiments and more after, "tirailleur indigènes".

regards
paco

[Patrice]

I just researched "Koulouglis" on the Gallica website, they seem to be mentioned in many books (in French).