# Slavery in Algeria

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**Slavery in Algeria** formed part of overlapping Mediterranean and trans-Saharan systems. Before the French conquest, the Regency of Algiers received captives through corsair warfare and coastal raiding; some Christian captives were ransomed, while others were sold or put to labor. Muslim captives were also enslaved on the Christian side of the Mediterranean, so the sea was a shared zone of capture rather than a boundary between a slave and a free society. Algiers was also connected to Saharan routes that brought enslaved people from sub-Saharan Africa for household, agricultural, military, and sexual labor.

French conquest began in 1830 but did not create a single immediate transition from slavery to freedom. France's [decree of 27 April 1848](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_of_27_April_1848) abolished slavery throughout its colonies and possessions, including French-ruled Algeria. Military conquest, uneven territorial control, and local practice complicated implementation. Legal abolition should also be distinguished from coercive labor imposed under colonial rule.

## Further reading

- [Benjamin Claude Brower, “Rethinking Abolition in Algeria: Slavery and the ‘Indigenous Question’”](https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.15654)

- [Laurent Dubois, “The Road to 1848: Interpreting French Anti-Slavery”](https://doi.org/10.1080/714005202)