Resurrecting the Granary of Rome: Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa

320 Pages·2007·4.841 MB·English

by  Diana K. Davis

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Resurrecting the Granary of Rome
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Ohio University Press
Series in Ecology and History
James L. A.Webb, Jr., Series Editor
Conrad Totman
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Resurrecting the Granary ofRome:Environmental History and French
Colonial Expansion in North Africa
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Resurrecting the
Granary of Rome
Environmental History and
French Colonial Expansion in North Africa
Diana K. Davis
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
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Ohio University Press,Athens,Ohio 45701
www.ohio.edu/oupress
© 2007by Ohio University Press
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper Ī
1413121110090807 54321
Publication ofthis book was made possible in part by a University Cooperative
Society Subvention Grant awarded by the University ofTexas at Austin.
Part ofchapter 5appeared in slightly different form as “Potential Forests:Degradation Narra-
tives,Science,and Environmental Policy in Protectorate Morocco,1912–1956,”Environmental
History10,no.2(2005):211–38.Reprinted by courtesy ofthe Forest History Society.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis,Diana K.
Resurrecting the granary ofRome :environmental history and French colonial expansion in
North Africa / Diana K.Davis.
p.cm.— (Ohio University Press series in ecology and history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8214-1751-5(cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8214-1751-7(cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8214-1752-2(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8214-1752-5 (pbk.:alk.paper)
1. Human ecology—Africa,North—History.2. Desertification—Africa,North.3. Deforesta-
tion—Africa,North.4. Africa,North—Environmental conditions.5. Africa,North—His-
tory—1517‒1882. 6. Africa,North—History—1882– 7. France—Colonies—Africa—History.
8. France—Colonies—Africa—Economic policy. I.Title.
GF702.D38 2007
304.20961—dc22
2007007032
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For J. E. H.
Always and Forever
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This land, once the object of intensive cultivation, was neither deforested
nor depopulated as today . . . . [I]t was the abundant granary of Rome.
J.-A.-N.Périer,De l’hygiène en Algérie,1847
When the Arabs, the Muslim hordes, invaded
North Africa . . . this land was laid to waste.
Henri Verne,La France en Algérie,1869
If . . . we decide to fight until our climate is transformed [by reforesta-
tion], it will be wealth, it will be life, it will be Algeria returned to its
original fertility: it will be Algeria becoming the granary of France!
Bulletin de la Ligue du Reboisement de l’Algérie,1882
Desertification . . . is uniquely the act of humans . . . . [T]he nomad
has created what we call the pseudo-desert zone.
Louis Lavauden,“Les Forêts du Sahara,”1927
The Roman Empire’s bread-basket in North Africa, which
once contained 600 cities, is now a desert.
UN Chronicle,1997
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Contents
List ofIllustrations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Chapter 1. Imperial Stories and Empirical Evidence 1
Chapter 2. Nature,Empire,and Narrative Origins,1830–48 16
Chapter 3. Idealism,Capitalism,and the Development
ofthe Narrative,1848–70 45
Chapter 4. The Triumph ofthe Narrative,1871–1918 89
Chapter 5. Narrative,Science,Policy,and Practice,
1919to Independence 131
Chapter 6. Decolonization,the Colonial Narrative,
and Environmental Policy Today 165
Appendix A Note on the Geography and Ecology
ofthe Maghreb 177
Notes 187
Bibliography 263
Index 289
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Illustrations
Figures
1.1. Roman ruins ofCuicul at Djemila,Algeria 6
1.2. The High Plateaus near Constantine,Algeria 7
1.3. Diagram ofpollen core data,Morocco 11
2.1. Map ofRoman Algeria 18
2.2. The Grottoes ofDahara,by Johannot 35
3.1. Plan for a nomad village,Algeria 53
3.2. The “Arab invasion” 55
3.3. The garden ofthe National Forestry School at Nancy 74
4.1. Eucalyptus trees lining a street in Algiers 103
4.2. Louis Trabut,Jules Battandier,René Maire,and Émile
Jahandiez 125
5.1. Sea ofolive trees,Sfax,Tunisia 137
5.2. Paul Boudy 141
5.3. Charles Flahault 145
5.4. Sacred grove at the tomb ofthe sultan,Tlemcen,Algeria 148
5.5. Louis Emberger 152
5.6. The stages ofvegetation in Morocco,after Emberger 153
5.7. Imilchil,Morocco 154
5.8. Migration permits for nomads,Tunisia 158
5.9. The High Plateaus,Algeria 162
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x| Illustrations
App.1. Quintaux ofwheat per hectare,Algeria,1872–90 181
App.2. Rainfall at Algiers,1838–1938 182
Maps
1. The Maghreb 14
2. Stages ofoccupation ofAlgeria 31
3. Physical features ofthe Maghreb 179
Color Plates
Following page 88
1. The Remains ofa Roman Aqueduct in the Region ofCherchell,by
Huguet
2. Illustrated map of“Algeria,French Colony,”1847
3. Kabyle Herders,by Fromentin
4. Threshing Wheat in Algeria,by Leleux
5. Pilgrims Going to Mecca,by Belly
6. Le Sahara,by Guillaumet
7. The Land ofThirst,by Fromentin
8. Entrance to the Algerian Palace,1889Universal Exposition,
Paris