Ceylal
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History and Identity: Did the Arabs conquer Algeria?
The debate shaking Algerian society on the crucial question of the Arab or Berber identity of Algeria requires a return to the source of this cleavage. The origin is, of course, the Arab expansion in North Africa.
Some argue that the Arabs have never conquered Algeria, others claim an Arab origin justifying the Arab identity of Algeria. What is it really? In order to answer this question, two periods, marked by two major expansion movements, must be taken into consideration: The period of the first expansion and that of the second, that of the Beni-hillals
First wave: Period 700-973
The Arabs, having imposed their domination on Tripolitania (Libya) and Ifrikiya (Tunisia) will prevail against the Berbers (698) led by Tarik Ibn-Ziad, integrate them into their army and continue their expansion to the West following the axis Biskra-Tlemcen and Tangier to finally conquer Andalusia (711). In the Algerian context, only the Constantinois will be the object of a military-type presence, characterized, moreover, by a strong mistrust vis-à-vis the local populations. Indeed, the region sees the installation, on its soil, of fortresses in the Hodna and the Mzab which stood guard against the Aurès and others in the region of Annaba against Kabylie, thereby reinforcing the rooting of Berber populations in the mountains.
The Arabs will establish distant relations with the Berbers, marked above all by the desire to subject the inhabitants to the payment of taxes (cities) or tribute (campaigns). This policy will trigger many insurrections by the Berber communities that will spread throughout the 8th century and create a context appropriate to the birth of a non-Arab opposition movement: it is kharidjism (700-799). ), which is the first movement to question the ethno-Arab presence in North Africa. The Berber rebels indeed adhere to this movement, of Islamic type, and use it as an ideology of protest and mobilization against the Arab power. It will be located in the Mzab, and will lead, under the direction of Ibn Rustum, Emir of Tahart, the war against the Arab troops but it will not succeed to extend outside the Saharan regions. The Arab troops, led by the governor of the Mzab, Aghlab will defeat the Kharidjites, and force them to commit to living in their Mzab cities.
The Aghlab benefit for this victory of power in the Maghreb. Indeed in 800, the first Aghlab obtains the title Emir and will leave it to his heirs. The Aghlabid dynasty will reign over the Maghreb throughout the 9th century (800-900). It concentrated its actions on Tunisia and Morocco, rich and prosperous regions and sources of taxes and tribute. The Aghalabids were not interested in the Algerian territory because it offered no economic interest. Even the Constantine, near the center of power (Kairouan) is ignored, because it shines, compared to Tunisia, by its poverty. Poor, the region is abandoned to itself, so that the Aghlabids did not undertake any campaign that could lead to the installation of an Arab population in this country. Moreover, they established with the populations a report based on force and distance, a ratio symbolized by the fortresses, as mentioned above. This marginalization, of which the Berbers were victims, will make it a fertile ground for the enemies of the Aghlabids, namely, the Fatimids. Allies of the Abbasid movement, the Aghlabids will indeed be the target of a second movement of questioning their presence in North Africa, between 900 and 976. This is Shiism. Adepts of Imam Ali, the Shiites or Fatimids, posed as opponents of the ruling Abbassids in the East and the Maghreb. The counterpoint was the succession of the prophet of Islam. will make it a fertile ground for the enemies of the Aghlabids, namely, The Fatimids. Allies of the Abbasid movement, the Aghlabids will indeed be the target of a second movement of questioning their presence in North Africa, between 900 and 976. This is Shiism. Adepts of Imam Ali, the Shiites or Fatimids, posed as opponents of the ruling Abbassids in the East and the Maghreb. The counterpoint was the succession of the prophet of Islam. will make it a fertile ground for the enemies of the Aghlabids, namely, The Fatimids. Allies of the Abbasid movement, the Aghlabids will indeed be the target of a second movement of questioning their presence in North Africa, between 900 and 976. This is Shiism. Adepts of Imam Ali, the Shiites or Fatimids, posed as opponents of the ruling Abbassids in the East and the Maghreb. The counterpoint was the succession of the prophet of Islam.
A war between the two camps followed and the conflict was transposed to the Maghreb. The Arab leaders of the movement managed to convince certain Berber tribes of South-Constantinois to join their struggle. These Berbers will constitute the strike force of the Fatimid army and participate in the assaults against the Arab power in North Africa. The war between the two tendencies (Abbasids and Fatimids) spread from 902 to 946 to finally conclude with the victory of the Fatimids. This movement, led by Arabs with Berber groups, as supports, which had as its field of action the axis Tunisia-Sahara-Morocco but not Algeria-North (Constantinois, Kabylie, Algérois, Oranie), n had virtually no impact on the ethno-Berber composition of the Algerian population. Even more, his victory over the Aghlabids gave rise to a major event that would bring down the Arab presence in Algeria at zero point. This is the decision of the Fatimid caliph Al-Mu'izz, last Arab overlord in the Maghreb (Tunisia), to conquer Egypt.
This action, with the help of an army of 100,000 Berber riders (Kotamas, Sanhadjas), mostly from South-Constantinois, saw the departure of Arab populations from North Africa and the transfer of power to Islamized Berbers (Zirids). This evolution leads to a complete disappearance of the Arab element in Algeria so that it can be said that the first Arab wave having established its domination over North Africa, was not, in the Algerian space, a colonization of stand. The Arab presence was located in Tunisia, Morocco and Andalusia, because of their potential in agriculture and agriculture. Algeria was essentially a transit zone along the South-Constantine-Biskra-Tahert-Tlemcen axis. What will happen with the second wave, that of the Beni-hillal (1051)? Will it be a settlement colonization, or a transient movement with no effect on the Berber character of Algeria?
Second Wave: The Beni-hillals (1051-1163)
These Arab tribes, migrated to North Africa in 1051. Their movements were registered in relation to three axes.
First Tunisia. The Arab tribes overthrow the central power of the Zirids and impose their domination. Each tribal chief monopolizes a principality, imposes his authority, submits the inhabitants of the cities to pay a royalty and the farmers and arborists to give part of their harvests of wheat, dates, and olive (a tribute), takes charge trade or control.
Second, Morocco. Their advance, initially towards the West is stopped clean by Berber tribes (Zenetes), faithful to the Moroccan power, so that they will not conquer the Morocco. They will turn back to Tunisia, or engage in raids, towns bordering the highlands, thus causing the ruin of Tahert, or against commercial caravans from east to west, thus causing a shift of traditional trade routes into the interior of the Sahara.
Third, the Sahara: Part of the tribes find themselves integrated over time in the trans-Saharan trade crisscrossing the Saharan regions. A trade especially around Sidjilmassa, zone where the nomads would exchange the gold powder against the salt, to then pass by twenty four oases-stopovers, place of loading of the dates and finally to go towards the East, Andalusia or Morocco or Tunisia, a region that has also received the largest number of Arab nomads. What about Algeria on this point? In other words, did the Arab nomads settle in the area that today forms Algeria? Four areas that can answer this question are to be distinguished: Constantine, Kabylie / Aures, Algiers and Oran. With regard to Constantine, exposed to Tunisia, it is marked by a relative peace between Arabs and Berbers during the first fifty years. Nevertheless, later the Arabs pushed their incursions and raids towards this region remained under the authority of the Hammadids, dynasty Berber. The Emir An-nasir, head of this dynasty, shaken by Arab attacks, evacuated the region and fled westward, beyond the mountains of Little Kabylia. He founded An-nasiriya (bedjaia), a place chosen because the mountains, inaccessible to camels, means of displacement of the nomads, offered a certain protection against Arab attacks. The evacuation by the emir of Constantinois created a free field for the Arab troops. Will they occupy it as in the case of Tunisia? The Constantinois who overlooked Tunisia consisted, schematically, of three regions:
a) - the plain of Annaba which did not offer an anchor, that is to say an agricultural economy, in other words a peasantry which could, as in the case of Tunisia, provide a tribute or a tax. It is a region traveled by sheep farmers, living on the verge of survival, refusing to pay taxes or a tribute. The surrounding mountains were a safe haven for them in the face of Arab incursions. In fact, the plain of Annaba did not constitute a strong attraction for the Arab nomads. The latter did not settle in this region.
b) - Plain axis of Annaba-South Constantinois. This area, which ran from the plain of Annaba to the south-Constantinois, was a forested region also traversed by Berber herders, relatively poor, and who, in case of nomadic attacks, took refuge in the mountains. They did so, fleeing Arab raids, giving birth to villages still present today. As in the preceding case, the Arabs, powerless to oblige the Berbers of this region to provide them with means of subsistence, did not establish themselves there.
c) - The third region is the south of Constantine, a region marked by two elements that aroused the greed of the Arab tribes (Athbej): an agricultural activity around the production of cereals which subjected the peasants to harassment and raids as well as a road taken by caravans from the Sahara and heading towards the port of Bedjaia or Tunisia. This region, which was under the control of the Hammadites, became the scene of frequent battles between the Arab nomads who controlled much of Tunisia and the Berbers.
The nomads sought to impose their domination on the peasants and their control over this new caravan route from the Sahara to Bedjaia, which became an export port. The outcome of the conflict between the two groups seemed uncertain when an element outside the region was going to precipitate the events: The rise of the Mouahidines (Almohades) in Morocco. Abdelmoumem, the emir of this dynasty, decided, in fact, to organize a military expedition in order to impose his authority on Ifrikiya where the Hillalians had power.
A battle which lasted four days was held in 1151 at Setif. The Almohad army faced the Hillalians, crushed them and led them to flee the region towards the Tunisian and Libyan desert. The Almohade troops continued their deployment towards Tunisia, in order to definitively put an end to the power of the Beni-hillals: At the beginning of 1159, Tunis was conquered, Mahdiya taken, as well as Sfax, Sousse, Gabes and Tripoli. Defeated and finally overwhelmed, the Arabs will disappear totally as power of the whole of North Africa. They will disperse to the point where perhaps many of them will return to the East.
On n’entendra parler d’eux par la suite, dans les écrits de Ibn-khaldoun, que comme individus enrôlés comme soldats-mercenaires dans les armées marocaines. En ce qui a trait à l’Algérie, la plus grande des conséquences de cette victoire fût la disparition de l’ethnie arabe du Constantinois. Une disparition qui évita à cette région la même évolution que la Tunisie. Une situation que la Kabylie et les Aurès ont pu aussi éviter en raison de la topographie. Les montagnes furent en effet, une forteresse à laquelle les Arabes évitèrent de s’attaquer. En effet, ils n’y mirent jamais les pieds. Et pour cause, les nomades, ne sont à l’aise que dans le désert ou bien dans les plaines. Des régions qui ne les attirent que dans un cas: la présence d’une paysannerie qu’ils peuvent soumettre et exploiter à outrance. Une situation qui n’existe, par ailleurs, ni dans l’Algérois, ni dans l’Oranie et qui explique que ces deux régions n’aient pas été investi par les nomades arabes, n’aient pas connu de présence ou de conquête arabe. L’Algérois, région boisée, ne fut pas aussi une zone attractive.
The plains of Algiers were, in fact, wooded, uncultivated, relatively deserted. In this region, as in the case of Tunisia, there was no peasantry that could arouse the envy of the Arabs. Oranie offered the same face as the Algerian. Moreover, it was not only forested but also covered with swamps. That said, if for Kabylie and Aures, the lack of interest of the Arabs for these regions is obvious because of their inaccessibility to camels, their main means of transport, which they never separate, with regard to the Algiers and Oran, the nomads could, one would say, occupy the soil and work the land or become livestock breeders. The answer is no because such a situation is unimaginable and impossible and it can be explained by the sociology of the nomads.
Indeed nomads are only seen in the nomadism he practices in the desert through the conveyance of caravans, the transport of goods, raids and breeding camels. Noble activity par excellence. Below, comes the category raising sheep, a degrading situation. Below the latter, the cattle or buffalo farmer belongs to the last category, that of the dreadful sedentary. The work of the land is foreign to the life of the nomad, a contemptuous and degrading activity, because the nomad rejects sedentarization. He is always moving.
The only compromise for him to stabilize in a specific environment is the possibility, as in the case of Tunisia, to subject to serfdom a peasant population, population it exploits funds, pushing, unconsciously, the peasants to ruin and to escape. A situation, bringing him back to the breeder life and again at the start to other skies. A cycle reported by Abdellah Laroui, in his book, History of the Maghreb. Such a situation could not be achieved in Algiers and Oran, given the absence of an agricultural and arboreal economy (fruit trees). A case in point which explains why the Arab tribes did not impose their domination on Algeria. The Arab presence has been restricted in the Algerian space, the Sahara (Mzab) and it will eventually disappear. Indeed,
All these facts explain why the phenomenon of migration of Arab tribes in North Africa did not lead to their installation in the Algerian space. The analysis of this aspect from the aspect of the sociology of nomads and their philosophy of life (nomadism and disregard for sedentarization), the Algerian topography (mountains-fortresses), the economy practiced (livestock farmers in the constantinois, absence of peasants), geography (swampy plains and woodlands), the attraction of Morocco and Tunisia, regions very prosperous economically and led by powers, especially Morocco, great recruiters, after 1151 (battle of Setif) of Hilalians, as mercenaries, helps to understand why Algeria has not been conquered
The debate shaking Algerian society on the crucial question of the Arab or Berber identity of Algeria requires a return to the source of this cleavage. The origin is, of course, the Arab expansion in North Africa.
Some argue that the Arabs have never conquered Algeria, others claim an Arab origin justifying the Arab identity of Algeria. What is it really? In order to answer this question, two periods, marked by two major expansion movements, must be taken into consideration: The period of the first expansion and that of the second, that of the Beni-hillals
First wave: Period 700-973
The Arabs, having imposed their domination on Tripolitania (Libya) and Ifrikiya (Tunisia) will prevail against the Berbers (698) led by Tarik Ibn-Ziad, integrate them into their army and continue their expansion to the West following the axis Biskra-Tlemcen and Tangier to finally conquer Andalusia (711). In the Algerian context, only the Constantinois will be the object of a military-type presence, characterized, moreover, by a strong mistrust vis-à-vis the local populations. Indeed, the region sees the installation, on its soil, of fortresses in the Hodna and the Mzab which stood guard against the Aurès and others in the region of Annaba against Kabylie, thereby reinforcing the rooting of Berber populations in the mountains.
The Arabs will establish distant relations with the Berbers, marked above all by the desire to subject the inhabitants to the payment of taxes (cities) or tribute (campaigns). This policy will trigger many insurrections by the Berber communities that will spread throughout the 8th century and create a context appropriate to the birth of a non-Arab opposition movement: it is kharidjism (700-799). ), which is the first movement to question the ethno-Arab presence in North Africa. The Berber rebels indeed adhere to this movement, of Islamic type, and use it as an ideology of protest and mobilization against the Arab power. It will be located in the Mzab, and will lead, under the direction of Ibn Rustum, Emir of Tahart, the war against the Arab troops but it will not succeed to extend outside the Saharan regions. The Arab troops, led by the governor of the Mzab, Aghlab will defeat the Kharidjites, and force them to commit to living in their Mzab cities.
The Aghlab benefit for this victory of power in the Maghreb. Indeed in 800, the first Aghlab obtains the title Emir and will leave it to his heirs. The Aghlabid dynasty will reign over the Maghreb throughout the 9th century (800-900). It concentrated its actions on Tunisia and Morocco, rich and prosperous regions and sources of taxes and tribute. The Aghalabids were not interested in the Algerian territory because it offered no economic interest. Even the Constantine, near the center of power (Kairouan) is ignored, because it shines, compared to Tunisia, by its poverty. Poor, the region is abandoned to itself, so that the Aghlabids did not undertake any campaign that could lead to the installation of an Arab population in this country. Moreover, they established with the populations a report based on force and distance, a ratio symbolized by the fortresses, as mentioned above. This marginalization, of which the Berbers were victims, will make it a fertile ground for the enemies of the Aghlabids, namely, the Fatimids. Allies of the Abbasid movement, the Aghlabids will indeed be the target of a second movement of questioning their presence in North Africa, between 900 and 976. This is Shiism. Adepts of Imam Ali, the Shiites or Fatimids, posed as opponents of the ruling Abbassids in the East and the Maghreb. The counterpoint was the succession of the prophet of Islam. will make it a fertile ground for the enemies of the Aghlabids, namely, The Fatimids. Allies of the Abbasid movement, the Aghlabids will indeed be the target of a second movement of questioning their presence in North Africa, between 900 and 976. This is Shiism. Adepts of Imam Ali, the Shiites or Fatimids, posed as opponents of the ruling Abbassids in the East and the Maghreb. The counterpoint was the succession of the prophet of Islam. will make it a fertile ground for the enemies of the Aghlabids, namely, The Fatimids. Allies of the Abbasid movement, the Aghlabids will indeed be the target of a second movement of questioning their presence in North Africa, between 900 and 976. This is Shiism. Adepts of Imam Ali, the Shiites or Fatimids, posed as opponents of the ruling Abbassids in the East and the Maghreb. The counterpoint was the succession of the prophet of Islam.
A war between the two camps followed and the conflict was transposed to the Maghreb. The Arab leaders of the movement managed to convince certain Berber tribes of South-Constantinois to join their struggle. These Berbers will constitute the strike force of the Fatimid army and participate in the assaults against the Arab power in North Africa. The war between the two tendencies (Abbasids and Fatimids) spread from 902 to 946 to finally conclude with the victory of the Fatimids. This movement, led by Arabs with Berber groups, as supports, which had as its field of action the axis Tunisia-Sahara-Morocco but not Algeria-North (Constantinois, Kabylie, Algérois, Oranie), n had virtually no impact on the ethno-Berber composition of the Algerian population. Even more, his victory over the Aghlabids gave rise to a major event that would bring down the Arab presence in Algeria at zero point. This is the decision of the Fatimid caliph Al-Mu'izz, last Arab overlord in the Maghreb (Tunisia), to conquer Egypt.
This action, with the help of an army of 100,000 Berber riders (Kotamas, Sanhadjas), mostly from South-Constantinois, saw the departure of Arab populations from North Africa and the transfer of power to Islamized Berbers (Zirids). This evolution leads to a complete disappearance of the Arab element in Algeria so that it can be said that the first Arab wave having established its domination over North Africa, was not, in the Algerian space, a colonization of stand. The Arab presence was located in Tunisia, Morocco and Andalusia, because of their potential in agriculture and agriculture. Algeria was essentially a transit zone along the South-Constantine-Biskra-Tahert-Tlemcen axis. What will happen with the second wave, that of the Beni-hillal (1051)? Will it be a settlement colonization, or a transient movement with no effect on the Berber character of Algeria?
Second Wave: The Beni-hillals (1051-1163)
These Arab tribes, migrated to North Africa in 1051. Their movements were registered in relation to three axes.
First Tunisia. The Arab tribes overthrow the central power of the Zirids and impose their domination. Each tribal chief monopolizes a principality, imposes his authority, submits the inhabitants of the cities to pay a royalty and the farmers and arborists to give part of their harvests of wheat, dates, and olive (a tribute), takes charge trade or control.
Second, Morocco. Their advance, initially towards the West is stopped clean by Berber tribes (Zenetes), faithful to the Moroccan power, so that they will not conquer the Morocco. They will turn back to Tunisia, or engage in raids, towns bordering the highlands, thus causing the ruin of Tahert, or against commercial caravans from east to west, thus causing a shift of traditional trade routes into the interior of the Sahara.
Third, the Sahara: Part of the tribes find themselves integrated over time in the trans-Saharan trade crisscrossing the Saharan regions. A trade especially around Sidjilmassa, zone where the nomads would exchange the gold powder against the salt, to then pass by twenty four oases-stopovers, place of loading of the dates and finally to go towards the East, Andalusia or Morocco or Tunisia, a region that has also received the largest number of Arab nomads. What about Algeria on this point? In other words, did the Arab nomads settle in the area that today forms Algeria? Four areas that can answer this question are to be distinguished: Constantine, Kabylie / Aures, Algiers and Oran. With regard to Constantine, exposed to Tunisia, it is marked by a relative peace between Arabs and Berbers during the first fifty years. Nevertheless, later the Arabs pushed their incursions and raids towards this region remained under the authority of the Hammadids, dynasty Berber. The Emir An-nasir, head of this dynasty, shaken by Arab attacks, evacuated the region and fled westward, beyond the mountains of Little Kabylia. He founded An-nasiriya (bedjaia), a place chosen because the mountains, inaccessible to camels, means of displacement of the nomads, offered a certain protection against Arab attacks. The evacuation by the emir of Constantinois created a free field for the Arab troops. Will they occupy it as in the case of Tunisia? The Constantinois who overlooked Tunisia consisted, schematically, of three regions:
a) - the plain of Annaba which did not offer an anchor, that is to say an agricultural economy, in other words a peasantry which could, as in the case of Tunisia, provide a tribute or a tax. It is a region traveled by sheep farmers, living on the verge of survival, refusing to pay taxes or a tribute. The surrounding mountains were a safe haven for them in the face of Arab incursions. In fact, the plain of Annaba did not constitute a strong attraction for the Arab nomads. The latter did not settle in this region.
b) - Plain axis of Annaba-South Constantinois. This area, which ran from the plain of Annaba to the south-Constantinois, was a forested region also traversed by Berber herders, relatively poor, and who, in case of nomadic attacks, took refuge in the mountains. They did so, fleeing Arab raids, giving birth to villages still present today. As in the preceding case, the Arabs, powerless to oblige the Berbers of this region to provide them with means of subsistence, did not establish themselves there.
c) - The third region is the south of Constantine, a region marked by two elements that aroused the greed of the Arab tribes (Athbej): an agricultural activity around the production of cereals which subjected the peasants to harassment and raids as well as a road taken by caravans from the Sahara and heading towards the port of Bedjaia or Tunisia. This region, which was under the control of the Hammadites, became the scene of frequent battles between the Arab nomads who controlled much of Tunisia and the Berbers.
The nomads sought to impose their domination on the peasants and their control over this new caravan route from the Sahara to Bedjaia, which became an export port. The outcome of the conflict between the two groups seemed uncertain when an element outside the region was going to precipitate the events: The rise of the Mouahidines (Almohades) in Morocco. Abdelmoumem, the emir of this dynasty, decided, in fact, to organize a military expedition in order to impose his authority on Ifrikiya where the Hillalians had power.
A battle which lasted four days was held in 1151 at Setif. The Almohad army faced the Hillalians, crushed them and led them to flee the region towards the Tunisian and Libyan desert. The Almohade troops continued their deployment towards Tunisia, in order to definitively put an end to the power of the Beni-hillals: At the beginning of 1159, Tunis was conquered, Mahdiya taken, as well as Sfax, Sousse, Gabes and Tripoli. Defeated and finally overwhelmed, the Arabs will disappear totally as power of the whole of North Africa. They will disperse to the point where perhaps many of them will return to the East.
On n’entendra parler d’eux par la suite, dans les écrits de Ibn-khaldoun, que comme individus enrôlés comme soldats-mercenaires dans les armées marocaines. En ce qui a trait à l’Algérie, la plus grande des conséquences de cette victoire fût la disparition de l’ethnie arabe du Constantinois. Une disparition qui évita à cette région la même évolution que la Tunisie. Une situation que la Kabylie et les Aurès ont pu aussi éviter en raison de la topographie. Les montagnes furent en effet, une forteresse à laquelle les Arabes évitèrent de s’attaquer. En effet, ils n’y mirent jamais les pieds. Et pour cause, les nomades, ne sont à l’aise que dans le désert ou bien dans les plaines. Des régions qui ne les attirent que dans un cas: la présence d’une paysannerie qu’ils peuvent soumettre et exploiter à outrance. Une situation qui n’existe, par ailleurs, ni dans l’Algérois, ni dans l’Oranie et qui explique que ces deux régions n’aient pas été investi par les nomades arabes, n’aient pas connu de présence ou de conquête arabe. L’Algérois, région boisée, ne fut pas aussi une zone attractive.
The plains of Algiers were, in fact, wooded, uncultivated, relatively deserted. In this region, as in the case of Tunisia, there was no peasantry that could arouse the envy of the Arabs. Oranie offered the same face as the Algerian. Moreover, it was not only forested but also covered with swamps. That said, if for Kabylie and Aures, the lack of interest of the Arabs for these regions is obvious because of their inaccessibility to camels, their main means of transport, which they never separate, with regard to the Algiers and Oran, the nomads could, one would say, occupy the soil and work the land or become livestock breeders. The answer is no because such a situation is unimaginable and impossible and it can be explained by the sociology of the nomads.
Indeed nomads are only seen in the nomadism he practices in the desert through the conveyance of caravans, the transport of goods, raids and breeding camels. Noble activity par excellence. Below, comes the category raising sheep, a degrading situation. Below the latter, the cattle or buffalo farmer belongs to the last category, that of the dreadful sedentary. The work of the land is foreign to the life of the nomad, a contemptuous and degrading activity, because the nomad rejects sedentarization. He is always moving.
The only compromise for him to stabilize in a specific environment is the possibility, as in the case of Tunisia, to subject to serfdom a peasant population, population it exploits funds, pushing, unconsciously, the peasants to ruin and to escape. A situation, bringing him back to the breeder life and again at the start to other skies. A cycle reported by Abdellah Laroui, in his book, History of the Maghreb. Such a situation could not be achieved in Algiers and Oran, given the absence of an agricultural and arboreal economy (fruit trees). A case in point which explains why the Arab tribes did not impose their domination on Algeria. The Arab presence has been restricted in the Algerian space, the Sahara (Mzab) and it will eventually disappear. Indeed,
All these facts explain why the phenomenon of migration of Arab tribes in North Africa did not lead to their installation in the Algerian space. The analysis of this aspect from the aspect of the sociology of nomads and their philosophy of life (nomadism and disregard for sedentarization), the Algerian topography (mountains-fortresses), the economy practiced (livestock farmers in the constantinois, absence of peasants), geography (swampy plains and woodlands), the attraction of Morocco and Tunisia, regions very prosperous economically and led by powers, especially Morocco, great recruiters, after 1151 (battle of Setif) of Hilalians, as mercenaries, helps to understand why Algeria has not been conquered
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