High Relief In Pear Wood Representing A Scene From The Conquest Of Algeria, Signed Miarles, 1856.

High relief in carved pear wood representing an orientalist scene of the conquest of Algeria in 1830, Arab horseman attacked by a French chasseur, signed and dated Miarles 1856.

The conquest of Algeria by France was carried out in several distinct stages. It began with the landing of the Army of Africa at Sidi-Ferruch (Algiers) on June 14, 1830 commanded by General de Bourmont. It ended in part with the formal surrender of Emir Abdelkader to the Duke of Aumale on 23 December 1847. This initial phase of the conquest ended with the submission of the populations of Algeria to the Royalty and later with the creation of the French departments of Algeria in December 1848. Campaigns to pacificate the territory continued to take place during the decades that followed, however, and the conquest of the Sahara was not completed until 1902.
From 1830, the conquest of Algeria was accompanied by a forced colonization of settlements by the need to supply the growing military forces with food: the French soldiers became colonists by settling and developing the conquered territory. The pioneers were later joined by poor peasants from the South of France and Corsica, Alsatians-Lorrainers fleeing their region annexed by Germany in 1871, foreign immigrants arriving in successive waves from the border Mediterranean countries (Spain, Italy but also Malta, a British possession since 1814), but also by a few political outlaws exiled by the French government. Nationals of Germany and Switzerland were also encouraged to take part in the colonization in a dynamic of population replacement.