We Need A New Word
Colony — or former colony — is entirely too benign
“Algeria was French, right?”
We were listening to some completely awesome Algerian music when that question came up (you’re welcome).
I tossed the answer off without a pause or a thought.
“Yeah, Algeria was a French colony”
Let’s rewind and reconsider that off-the-cuff answer, shall we?
Beginning in 1830, France began laying the groundwork for what became the occupation of Algeria first by the military and then by a series of administrators and their wives, all their buddies, the wives of their buddies, and several generations of little French kids who grew up thinking that Algeria was theirs.
France may have been a bit late to the game of Colonizing, but they took to it like naturals. It was as if they had an innate talent for theft and occupation. Kind of like the rest of humanity, when you pause to think of it.
However, WTF was up with Europe in the second half of the second millennium anyway?
A professor of Roman history back at Cleveland State University theorized that after centuries of first pushing back against the Romans and then the Moors who themselves set up…
