Lalla Fatma N'Soumer
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Lalla Fatma N'Soumer | |
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Faḍma N'Sumer | |
Born | c. 1830 |
Died | c. 1863 (aged 32–33) |
Known for | Maraboutic resistance fighter against the French conquest of Algeria |
Lalla Fatma N'Soumer (c. 1830 – 1863) (
Name
Lalla, the female equivalent of the Berber word mass, is an honorific reserved for women of high social rank or for holy women.[2] "N'Soumer" means "of Soumer", where Soumer was the village nearest the zawiya of her lineage, the Sidahmed. She also sometimes bore the name "Lalla N'Ouerdja". Her birth name seems to have been "Fadhma Si Ahmed Ou Méziane", but she went by Fatma N'Soumer and eventually Lalla Fatma N'Soumer with time.[3]
Biography
Fadhma Si Ahmed Ou Méziane was born in 1830 to her parents Sid Ahmed Mohamed and Terkia n'ath Ykhoulaf
The territory of her birth and life is loosely called
Another force led by Marshal Jacques Louis Randon arrived in the summer. The French were able to inflict significant damage along their line of march, but were counterattacked by N'Soumer and her allied militia in skirmishes.[8] The two sides fought a more decisive battle at the Battle of Tachekkirt, where Boubaghla and N'Soumer's forces emerged victorious.[9][1] After the battle, the French and Kabyle came to terms and agreed to a ceasefire that would last for some years. Sherif Boubaghla died shortly afterward in late 1854, however, which raised Fatma N'Soumer and her brother in station as the leaders remaining.
The ceasefire eventually fell apart. Another French expedition was launched in 1857, led by General Patrice de MacMahon and Marshal Randon. In June 1857, Marshall Randon broke off and defeated a Kabyle village, occupying Aït Iraten following the Battle of Icheriden.[10] Meanwhile, N'Soumer's forces fought a French detachment at the Battle of Chellata Pass; outnumbered and outgunned, they were defeated, and the area around modern Illoula Oumalou was secured.[11] The remnants of Fatma's forces formed up in the hamlet Takhlijt Aït Aatsou, near the Tirourda Pass . However, it was over; while there may have been some fighting, the Kabyle surrendered to the French.
History of Algeria |
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On July 11, 1857, Fatma was arrested by General Joseph Vantini ("Yusuf"), as were several of her brothers as well as other prominent Kabyle leaders. She was taken to Marshal Randon's camp and was imprisoned in the zawiya of El-Aissaouia, at Tablat.[1] She was then placed under house arrest under the guard of Si Tahar ben Mahieddine. She died there in 1863, at the age of 33, afflicted by her incarceration and likely discouraged by news of the death of her brother from disease in 1861.[12] The other Kabyle leaders were eventually forced to surrender, and the French strengthened their control over the region.
Legacy
Various legends spread about N'Soumer. Her disciples said she was gifted powers by God, including the abilities to see the future and cure illness.[13]
The French explorer and writer Émile Carrey met with N'Soumer after her capture in 1857, and is one of the most important literary sources on N'Soumer. He wrote that she was beautiful, but overweight, and her size was the butt of jokes by the soldiers. He remarked that her capture was still remarkably effective; he wrote that "once she was in our hands, all resistance ceased, and our success was assured."[14] The French also called her "La Jeanne d'Arc du Djurdjura" as a reference to Joan of Arc's role as a female religious and military leader; according to tradition General Yusuf gave her the title.[15]
Lalla Fatma's grave remained a place of pilgrimage for the inhabitants of the region for some time. Her ashes were transferred in 29 October 1994 from the cemetery of Sidi Abdellah, near the zawiya Boumâali in Tourtatine, to Martyrs Square at the El Alia Cemetery in Algiers for notable national figures.[1]
Lalla Fatma's life has been documented in the movie In Algeria, a few statues of Lalla Fatma are in display, and a few schools and streets bear her name, notably a mixed-gender high school in Tablat, the city she died in.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
- ISSN 1111-2050.
- )
- ^ a b Oussedik 1986, p. 7–8
- ^ Oussedik 1986, p.10–11
- ^ a b Oussedik 1986, p. 33–34
- ^ Oussedik, Tahar. Bou-Beghla : L'homme à la mule, ENAG édition, Reghaïa, 2006, p. 50.
- ^ Oussedik 1986, p. 35–40
- ^ Illuminating the Darkness: Blacks and North Africans in Islam - By Habeeb Akande
- ISBN 2-7332-0145-X.
- ^ Kamel, Kaci. Illoula Oumalou : la bataille du col de Chellata commémorée
- ^ Oussedik 1986, p. 75–77
- ^ "Imperialism in North Africa". Women in World History: Module 9. Center for History and New Media. Archived from the original on 2015-09-18. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
- ^ "Voici la fin de la campagne contre la Kabylie : Extrait d'une correspondance – Alger 21 juillet 1857". Journal des débats politiques et littéraires. Paris. 27 July 1857. p. 2.
Le lendemain on lui rendit la liberté mais du moment où elle est entre nos mains, toute résistance cessa, et notre succèss fut assuré.
. - ^ Oussedik 1986, p. 3, 66
- ^ Carnet de bord du film "Lalla Fadhma N’Soumer", de Belkacem Hadjadj
- ^ Lesme, Anthony (3 January 2018). "Laëtitia Eïdo, actrice à la lisière de plusieurs mondes et bâtisseuse de paix" (in French). TV5Monde. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
Sources
- Carrey, Émile. Récits de Kabylie. Campagne de 1857, Paris 1858
- Hanoteau, Adolphe. Poésies populaires de la Kabylie du Jurjura, Paris 1867
- Oussedik, Tahar. Lla Fat'ma N'Soumeur, Entreprise nationale du livre, 1986
- Bitam, Boukhalfa. Fadhma n'Soumer. Une autre lecture du combat de l'illustre fille de Werja, Draa Ben Khedda, Aurassi, 2000
External links
- (in French) An online biography on Algiers parliament site - (often incorrect and a bit emphatic)[citation needed]
- (in French) An article confronting information on Lalla Fadhma coming from oral and written sources
- (in French) Emile Carrey, Récits de Kabylie. Campagne de 1857, page 280.