North African History and Anti Colonial Resistance: Carte de Visite of Abd el-Kader, Founder of an Algerian State and Military Leader Against French Rule, Circa 1900

Abd el-Kader Colonial Arabia Algeria

Photograph

Original vintage carte de visite photograph of Abd el-Kader (1808–1883), the Algerian Islamic scholar, Sufi religious leader, and military commander who organized resistance to the French conquest of Algeria from 1832 to 1847. Elected emir by western Algerian tribal leaders in 1832, Abd el-Kader united tribal forces against French colonial expansion and established an Algerian state with its own military, administrative, and judicial institutions. His campaigns sustained armed resistance against one of Europe's most powerful armies for fifteen years, making him a central figure in nineteenth-century North African history and the development of Algerian national consciousness.
Sepia-toned photographic carte de visite depicting Abd el-Kader, circa 1900. Measures 2.5 x 4 inches. The photograph preserves a portrait of the Algerian leader whose military campaigns and subsequent international recognition made his likeness familiar beyond North Africa. The circa 1900 dating places this photographic example after his death in 1883; the date of the original portrait image and the photographer are unidentified.
Following his surrender to French forces in 1847, Abd el-Kader was imprisoned in France until 1852 and subsequently settled in Damascus, where he continued his religious and scholarly activities. In 1860, during anti-Christian violence in Damascus, he intervened to protect thousands of Christians, receiving international recognition and the French Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. His career encompassed organized resistance to European colonial expansion, Islamic scholarship, and humanitarian intervention within the Ottoman Empire. In very good condition. A photographic portrait of one of the principal leaders of nineteenth-century Algerian resistance to French colonial rule.

Item #14593

Price: $350.00