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From the insurrection of 1871 to the emergence of nationalist groups between the wars, Algeria entered a period of triumphant colonialism. The administration was strengthened, land was massively transferred to European settlers, and order seemed to prevail in this colonised territory. However, on closer inspection, rural life was still marked by lively social conflict. The use of forest lands was the subject of bitter confrontations. Confiscated lands often remained occupied. Above all, the emergence of rural banditry was an endless concern for the colonial administration. In the 1890s, the authorities saw banditry as a potential breeding ground for insurrection. This perceived resistance prompted a repressive response that was met with silent hostility from rural society, which regularly thwarted attempts to dismantle the gangs. Rewards for denunciation or capture, internment of bandits' families, military campaigns, sentencing to prison or capital punishment are just some of the measures that were taken to overcome resistance to authority. What does this phenomenon say about the society from which it emerges? Who are these rural bandits? This book seeks to follow these rural bandits step by step, from taking up arms or their flight from the colonial administration to their final moments, from their anchoring in a rural territory vulnerable to dispossession to their transport to the penal colony. These conflicting trajectories are examined through various sources, from repression archives to popular poetry, the press and private correspondence.

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