Translation and Critical Presentation of Foreign Works and Documentary Sources on the History of Algeria (16th–19th Century)

The subject of this project is new ; however, it bears continuity with the previous one insofar as it fundamentally concerns the History and Memory of Algeria, approached through foreign works and documentary sources, particularly Spanish and German.

On this occasion, the focus will be on translation accompanied by a critical presentation of foreign works and sources that deal directly with our History and Memory. The selected works are authored by historians and chroniclers with a profound knowledge of Algeria and its past, offering both original and previously unexplored insights—either through their own testimony or through their rigorous presentation and analysis of documentary sources from their respective countries.

The choice has naturally fallen upon Spanish historians and researchers recognised for their scholarly contributions to Algerian studies. They possess an indisputable command of Spanish archival holdings relating to the history of Algeria and to Algerian–Spanish relations.

The importance of translating and critically presenting works and documentary sources on the History and Memory of Algeria during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries has generated significant interest, particularly when it involves a careful and rigorous examination of contemporary or early modern works related to our country.

The primary aim is to translate these materials and accompany them with a critical presentation in order to make them accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as to researchers and historians. Undertaking this project enables them to draw upon new, diverse, and previously unpublished historical information, which in turn contributes to the advancement of historical research and knowledge. These documentary sources are essential for a more comprehensive historical approach, especially since foreign archives constitute a rich and abundant source, notably for our modern history.

Indeed, the perspectives of other nations form an integral part of national history, particularly as they help compensate for the scarcity or absence of local documentary sources and archives for the period in question : the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth centuries.