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 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’”

Laurent Dubois, “The Road to 1848: Interpreting French Anti-Slavery”