Africa

Abstract

Algeria, the largest and most important of the colonial possessions of France, was entirely under military rule till the year 1871, when, after the extinction of a widespread rebellion among the natives, various reforms, tending to organised civil administration, were introduced by the French Government. In place of the former military governor, a civil Governor-General at present administers the government of the colony, directing the action of both the civil and military authorities. But the new civil government extends only over the settled districts, and the territory of the Sahara and adjoining districts, inhabited chiefly by nomad tribes, remain under exclusively military rule. The country under civil government is divided into three provinces, Algiers, Constantine, and Oran, which are subdivided into twelve departments.