French North Africa

Template:Short description French North Africa (Template:Langx, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is a term that is often applied to the three territories that were controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In contrast to French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa, which existed as federations of French colonies and administrative entities in their own right, French North Africa was never more than a term of convenience to refer to the three separately-governed territories, which had different forms of colonial regime.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

History

In the 19th century, the decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire, which had loosely controlled the area since the 16th century, left the region vulnerable to other forces. In 1830, French troops captured Algiers, and from 1848 to 1962, when Algerian independence occurred, France treated Algeria as an integral part of France, the métropole, or Metropolitan France.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In subsequent decades, a substantial European settler population emerged in Algeria and was known as the pieds-noirs. Seeking to expand their influence beyond Algeria, the French established protectorates to the east and the west of it. The French protectorate of Tunisia was established in 1881, following a swift military invasion,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the French protectorate in Morocco in 1912, following a prolonged military campaign. Both protectorates lasted until 1956, when they gained full independence, Tunisia on 20 March and Morocco on 7 April.

French rule in North Africa finally ended as a result of the Algerian War (1954–1962) and the March 1962 Évian Accords, which enabled the July 1962 Algerian independence referendum.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Algeria formally became independent the same month.