Abstract

My argument is based on three points. First, Ipresent the content of a collection of archives and explain how historians have used them. For example, historians of the Ottoman period have paid attention to it, while colonization experts have not. This despite the fact that the data in the Ottoman archives, although mainly in Arabic, dates back to the first beginning of the French conquest. They were established in the 1830s in order to define the scope of the State property for the new conquering. Second, Iexamine the same documentation from the angle of the taxonomy used in the archives and, moreover, from the point of view of the weight (and limits) of the dominant administrative categories which were used to redefine space. After questioning the point of view of Ottoman history scholars on these archives, Iobserve that of the studies of colonial history. Thirdly, Ianalyze the same documentation in the light of the conflicts caused by property issues. Being neither a shaping of colonized voices, nor a falsification of their scope, this source seems to be shaped by a set of claims and struggles initiated to defend some rights.