The Kingdom of Beni Abbas or Sultanate of Beni Abbas () was a state in North Africa, then a fief and a principality, controlling Lesser Kabylie in Kabylia and its surroundings from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. It is referred to in the Spanish historiography as "reino de Labes". Sometimes more commonly referred to by its ruling family, the Mokrani dynasty (). Its capital was the Kalâa of Ait Abbas, an impregnable citadel in the Biban mountain range.
The kingdom was for a long time a bastion of resistance to the Spanish Empire, then to the Regency of Algiers. Strategically located on the road from Algiers to Constantine and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sahara, the Kalâa of Ait Abbas, attracted Andalusians, both Christians and Jews, in the sixteenth century, fleeing Spain or Algiers. Their know-how enriched a local industrial fabric whose legacy is the handicraft of the Ait Abbas tribe. The surrounding tribes were also home to intense intellectual activity and a literary tradition that rivalled those of other Maghreb cities.
At its peak, the influence of the kingdom of Ait Abbas extended from the valley of the Soummam to the Sahara and its capital the Kalâa rivalled the biggest cities. In the seventeenth century, its chiefs took the title of sheikh of the Medjana, but were still described as sultans or kings of the Beni Abbés. At the end of the eighteenth century, the kingdom led by the Mokrani family (Amokrane) broke up into several clans, some of which became vassals of the Regency of Algiers. However, the Sheikh of the Medjana maintained himself at the head of his principality as a tributary of the bey of Constantine, managing his affairs independently.
With the arrival of the French, some Mokrani took the side of the colonisers, while others sided with the resistance. The French relied on local lords to strengthen their hold in the region, maintaining an appearance of autonomy in the region under its traditional leaders until 1871. Its sovereigns assumed various titles, successively sultan, amokrane"Amokrane" means "chief" or "big" in kabyle. and sheikh of the Medjana. Temporarily integrated into the French military administration before the revolt of 1871, they were known as khalifa and bachagha. The defeat of 1871 marked the end of the political role of the Mokrani with the surrender of the Kalâa to the French.
History 1510-1830
Early 16th-century: Founding
The Mokrani rulers of the Kingdom of Beni Abbas originated from Little Kabylia. In the second half of the 15th century the emir or prince Abderrahmane left Djebel Ayad and eventually settled in the Kalaa of Ait Abbes.Le Correspondant: religion-- philosophie-- politique-- histoire-- sciences-- économie sociale-- voyages-- littérature-- beaux-arts, Volume 216. Bureaux du Correspondant. His son took the title of Sultan, and fortified the Kalaa and made it the capital of a principality that extended from the Sahel River to Hodna.La Kalaa des Béni Abbès au XVIe siècle. Youssef Benoudjit. Dahlab.Etudes et documents berbères, Issues 1-3. La Boîte à documents.
In 1510, as part of the Reconquista, the Spanish Empire seized Bejaïa, which was in the hands of dissident Hafsid emirs, and organized raids in the hinterland from this position. The Berbers of the region sought protection in the interior and took as their new capital the Kalâa of the Beni Abbas, in the heart of the Bibans mountains. This city was an ancient fortified place of the Hammadid era and a staging point on the , the commercial route going from Hautes Plaines (High Plains) to Béjaïa. Abderahmane chose the site for security reasons. His son Ahmed became famous for his religious status with the Kabylian and Arab tribes in the region who settled in the Kalâa, fleeing the relative chaos in the country. Benefiting from growing support among the surrounding tribes, he proclaimed himself "Sultan of the Kalâa". He was buried in , a village in the vicinity of the Kalâa.
The reign of his grandson Abdelaziz El Abbes brought the name of the Kalâa to wider attention: at its peak, the city had 80,000 inhabitants. The Kalâa was equipped with weapons factories with the help of Christian renegades as well as some of the inhabitants of Bejaïa driven out by the Spanish occupation, including Andalusians and Muslims, as well as a Jewish community welcomed for its know-how.
Alliance with Algiers Following successive annexations of territory, the Kingdom of Ait Abbas under Abdelaziz extended to the south and the surrounding mountains. The Spaniards, who had fallen back into Bejaïa, offered him an alliance, and he temporarily ignored the establishment of the Regency of Algiers led by the Barbarossa brothers because his kingdom was not oriented towards the sea. The Barbarossa brothers, wishing to isolate the Spaniards, attacked Abdelaziz and met him around Bejaïa in 1516. Faced with the technical superiority of their firearms, Abdelaziz submitted to them and preferred to break the alliance with the Spaniards, rather than confront the Turks immediately with inadequate resources. In 1542, the Regency of Algiers made the lord of the Kalâa, his khalifa (representative) in the Medjana.
Abdelaziz used his reign and periods of peace with the Regency to fortify the Kalâa and to extend his influence further to the south. His infantry became a regular corps of 10,000 men, and he bought two regular cavalry corps. He built two borjs around the Kalâa, each with a khalifa (representative), who was in charge of patrolling through his territory.
This increasing power of the Sultan of the Kalâa worried the Turks of the Regency of Algiers, who in 1550 twice sent troops that Abdelaziz repulsed. Hassan Pasha therefore concluded a treaty with him and obtained his aid in his expedition against Tlemcen (1551), then occupied by Sherif Saadi. According to the contemporary Spanish writer Luis del Mármol Carvajal, Abdelaziz commanded an infantry corps of 6,000 men for the Tlemcen expedition. According to historian Hugh Roberts, the Kabyle contingent amounted to 2,000 men.
The arrival of Salah Raïs at the head of the Regency of Algiers confirmed the alliance with Abdelaziz, and they jointly led the Touggourt Expedition (1552). Abdelaziz sent 180 arquebusiers and 1,600 horsemen, in addition to the 3,000 arquebusiers of Salah Raïs. The Berbers of Abdelaziz dragged cannons, hoping to learn how to maneuver them and know how to hoist them up to the fortress of the Kalâa.
War with Algiers Two hypotheses explain the eventual rupture with Algiers, according to Spanish historiography. The first is that Salah Raïs tried to arrest Abdelaziz during his time in Algiers, suspecting him of wanting to raise the country against the Regency of Algiers. The second is that Abdelaziz was suspicious of the Turks and their ability to attack distant cities like Touggourt. He feared that their ambition to control the country would end up making his kingdom a target and considered it a political mistake to have favored them through the two expeditions. The narratives of the Aït Abbas report that the rupture was linked to an attempt by the Regency of Algiers to have Abdelaziz assassinated by Zouaouas auxiliaries. They refused to murder a chief of the same region and warned him instead. Allied with the Zouaoua, the troop of Sultan Abdelaziz defeated the janissaries, who had to retreat to Algiers.
Salah Raïs, for fear the reputation of Sultan Abdelaziz would increase, launched an expedition in late 1552 and reached the Boni Mountains near the Kalâa by winter. Abdelaziz's brother, Sidi Fadel, died in battle, but the snow prevented the Turks from advancing further and exploiting their victory.
In 1553, the son of Salah Rais, Mohamed-bey led an offensive on the Kalâa of the Beni Abbes which resulted in defeat and many losses among the Turks. Their reputation was tarnished by this battle because they avoided a disaster only with to the support of the Arab tribes. Abdelaziz also repelled an expedition commanded by Sinan Reis and Ramdan Pasha near Wadi el Hammam, towards M'sila. The capture of Béjaïa by Salah Rais in 1555 confirmed Abdelaziz's fears about the power of the Regency of Algiers and he continued to strengthen his positions in the mountains. However, Salah Raïs died and the return of Hassan Pasha allowed a return to peace for a year. Hassan Pasha delivered the town of M'sila and its defenses, including three pieces of artillery to Abdelaziz, while maintaining control over tax contributions.
Abdelaziz was therefore in possession of the city of M'sila and raised an army of 6,000 men among the surrounding tribes in order to levy the tax normally intended for the Turks of the Regency. Hassan Pasha declared war on him in 1559, took M'sila without difficulty and fortified the bordj of Medjana and the Bordj Zemoura. These two forts and their garrisons were immediately destroyed by a counter-attack by Abdelaziz who also took the artillery pieces to improve the defense of the Kalâa. Hassan Pasha, married to the daughter of the King of Kuku, formed an alliance with the latter to put an end to the sultan of Kalâa. He brought him to battle in front of the Kalâa in 1559, without being able to take it and suffered many losses. However, his rival, Sultan Abdelaziz, died on the second day of the fighting and his brother Sultan , his chosen successor, drove back the Turkish and Kuku forces. This decisive victory of the Kalâa made Hasan abandon his ambitions for a time; he consoled himself by carrying the head of Abdelaziz to Algiers as a trophy.
The kingdom at its peak In 1559, Sultan Ahmed Amokrane organised his army and welcomed renegades from Algiers as well as Christians, authorising them to follow their faith. With these revived forces of 8000 infantry and 3000 horses he launched a campaign in the south. He subjugated Tolga and Biskra, Laghouat and reached Touggourt where he named a member of a loyal tribe, the Hachem, El Hadj Khichan el Merbaï, as Sheikh. One of his close relatives was made sheikh of the Tolga and Biskra oases, and Abd el-Kader Ben Dia, made khalifa in the Sahara, and devoted great energy to defending his sultan's interests in the region. Ahmed Mokrane established a network of signalling posts on high peaks, which sent messages by fire at night and by smoke during the day to relay messages from the southern domains to the Kalâa.
Ahmed Amokrane then turned his attention to the territory of the Ouled Naïl, which he took from Bou Saâda to Djelfa. The date of these expeditions is generally held to be around 1573. This period marks the high point of the kingdom in terms of its governance and the administration of its territories. Ahmed Amokrane was bold enough to send his own son to Algiers in 1580 to welcome the newly arrived Jaafar Pasha. By 1590, his influence was such that whole tribes paid tribute to him rather than to Algiers. went back to war with him and laid siege to the Kalâa for two months, but was unable to take it. Instead, he pillaged the surrounding countryside, razing its villages. Hostilities were eventually ended following mediation by a marabout, which involved Ahmed Amokrane paying a tribute of 30,000 douros to secure Khizr Pasha's withdrawal and recognition of his independence.
In 1598, Ahmed Amokrane laid siege to Algiers: with the help of the townspeople. He managed to force the gate at Bab Azoun and break into the city, though he could not maintain his hold there. The siege lasted eleven days.
17th and 18th centuries In 1600, Ahmed Amokrane marched against the forces of , Pasha of Algiers, which were trying to enter Kabylie. He defeated them and destroyed , built in 1595 at Bouira, but he was killed in the fighting. He left as his legacy to his descendants the family name "Amokrane" (meaning "great" or "leader" in kabyle) which was later Arabised as "Mokrani".