Italian Archives Enrich Algerian History with Vital Documents
BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The archival documents related to the history of Algeria found in Italy contain written data and testimonies that delve into Algeria’s history during the Ottoman era. These documents cover social, political, military, and health conditions, as well as diplomatic relations of Algeria from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Professor of Modern History at the University of Algeria 2, Ibrahim Saioud, highlighted in a lecture titled “Documents of Algeria’s History Preserved in Italian Archives” at the Public Maritime Museum that the Italian archives play a significant role in preserving valuable collections related to Algeria. These archives provide insights into social, political, economic, health, and diplomatic aspects, showcasing the history of diplomatic relations between Algeria and Italian states from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Saioud, based on his field research spanning five important archival centers in Italy, including the Vatican Library and the Vatican Vicariate Archive in Rome, explained that these centers house significant archives related to Algeria. They can be utilized to understand the social, political, economic, and health conditions, as well as the diplomatic history between Algeria and Italian states from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
The Italian archives contain several secondary collections categorized based on geographical regions mentioned in the reports. The North Africa region, for instance, includes 22 volumes covering the period from 1638 to 1892.
Among these secondary collections is a set of 460 pages of documents spanning from 1783 to 1791, focusing on Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli. These are mainly reports sent by European consuls, merchants, and others, addressing various topics, including the health situation in Algeria during the spread of the plague in 1691 and diplomatic relations between Algeria and several countries.
This collection also includes letters sent by Muslim prisoners, notably Algerians, held in areas under the Vatican, including a letter from an Algerian prisoner named “Ahmed” held in Naples to the Pope at that time. These letters provide examples highlighting that the authors had a “cultural and educational level.”
The Vatican Library archives are considered “very important” for researchers as they offer insights into the political and historical relations between Algeria and Italy. Notable contents include a detailed archive on the Spanish campaign against the city of Algiers and a text on the treaty concluded between Algeria and Venice in 1763.
As for the Vatican Vicariate Archive in Rome, it reveals “documents related to the issue of forced conversion or baptism operations imposed on Muslim prisoners during the 17th and 18th centuries, surpassing a thousand prisoners, mostly Algerians.”
Moreover, the Livorno archive features special pages on the relationship between the Tuscany region in Italy and Algeria during the late 16th century. These pages contain correspondences spanning from 1577 to 1590, considered today as “important documents about the relations between Algeria and Italy.”
Saioud concluded that these documents are “abundant in the Mediterranean region, starting from Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal,” and emphasized the need to open up to these stations to diversify historical sources and enrich the pages of ancient Algerian history.
In this context, he called for “activating cooperation between various national archive centers and their counterparts in Italy to create dynamism in archival work through research teams and materialize cultural cooperation between Algeria and these countries.”
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