Ismael Urbain
Encyclopedia
Ismael Urbain was a French
journalist and interpreter.
Born in Cayenne
, French Guiana
Urbain was the illegitimate son
of a merchant from Marseille
named Urbain Brue and a free colored
woman from French Guiana named Appoline. Ismael who bore his fathers first name as his surname, was brought by him to Marseille when he was eight, and there he received an education. In 1830, his father returned him to French Guiana where he hoped that he would turn to business. However, with the pitiful state of his father's affairs, Urbain wasn't allowed back, and the following year he again returned to Marseille.
After having discovered Saint-Simonianism
, Urbain took the road to Paris
where he became the secretary of Gustave d'Eichthal
. He was with the Saint-Simonists before embarking with them to the Orient
. He took up residence in Damietta
in Egypt
and taught French there until 1836. The year before he left he converted to Islam
and took the name Ismael.
Back in Paris he worked for a time at Édouard Charton
's Le Magasin pittoresque, Le Temps
, la Charte de 1839 and la Revue du XIXe siècle.
After learning Arabic
in Egypt he obtained the post of military interpreter
in Algeria
for which he had applied. He served as interpreter to several generals: Bugeaud, Rumilly and Changarnier
. In 1840 he married a young Algerian woman with whom he had a daughter in 1843. His vast knowledge and experience of Islam led him to participate in the Algerian administration at a high level. Having become a member of the Governor General's advisory board he took part in most major decisions in Algeria.
In 1845, Urbain was summoned to the Ministry of War and he returned to France where his wife was to follow. Unable to conjoin the Muslim family with the French family he resolved to marry his wife before civil status on May 20, 1857, and the next day his daughter who was constantly being teased by her schoolmates at the private school run by Sœurs de la Doctrine Chrétienne in Constantine
, was baptized. This act, however, was not enough to appease the Roman Catholic community, made up of Spaniards, Maltese and people from the South of France who composed the new society of colonists in Algeria, who accused him of failing to obtain the blessing of the church for his marriage and the lack of a baptism for his wife.
Urbain has been largely attributed as the source of the arabophilia of Napoleon III to whom he was a personal adviser. He corresponded with many key political, military and cultural people in the Algeria of his time. In an 1857 article in Revue de Paris
Urbain denounced the term "Kabylie
" as an invention due to the French spirit of systematization used neither by the Arabs nor by the Berbers
of Algeria. In 1861 he published under the pen name
Georges Voisin l’Algérie pour les Algériens (Algeria for the Algerians) where he defends the ideas of an Arab Kingdom that Napoleon III, influenced by the ideas of the Saint-Simonists, had wanted to implement at the instigation of Urbain, but which was fiercely opposed by the colonists and economic interests in Algeria. The renewed attacks by Urbain in 1870 in l’Algérie française: indigènes et immigrants (French Algeria: natives and immigrants) provoked very violent agitation in the colony. The writings of Urbain aroused such passionate reactions that they almost completely overshadowed the ideas which were developed in the ensuing polemics.
Urbain died in Algeria. On his death Émile Masqueray rejoined the fight for the rights of the Algerians against the repressive behavior of the colonists.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
journalist and interpreter.
Born in Cayenne
Cayenne
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...
, French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
Urbain was the illegitimate son
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
of a merchant from Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
named Urbain Brue and a free colored
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
woman from French Guiana named Appoline. Ismael who bore his fathers first name as his surname, was brought by him to Marseille when he was eight, and there he received an education. In 1830, his father returned him to French Guiana where he hoped that he would turn to business. However, with the pitiful state of his father's affairs, Urbain wasn't allowed back, and the following year he again returned to Marseille.
After having discovered Saint-Simonianism
Saint-Simonianism
Saint-Simonianism was a French political and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon ....
, Urbain took the road to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he became the secretary of Gustave d'Eichthal
Gustave d'Eichthal
Gustave Séligmann d'Eichthal was a French writer, publicist, and Hellenist.-Life:...
. He was with the Saint-Simonists before embarking with them to the Orient
Orient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
. He took up residence in Damietta
Damietta
Damietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and taught French there until 1836. The year before he left he converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and took the name Ismael.
Back in Paris he worked for a time at Édouard Charton
Edouard Charton
Édouard Charton was an eminent French literary figure who was the founder and, for fifty-five years , editor-in-chief of the publication Magasin pittoresque, in addition to serving for thirty years as director of publication for Hachette.A native of Sens in the Bourgogne région, Édouard Charton...
's Le Magasin pittoresque, Le Temps
Le Temps
Founded in 1998, Le Temps is a Swiss newspaper edited in French. Le Temps consists of a daily newspaper , several supplements , thematic special editions, a performing website and digital applications.Le Temps is the...
, la Charte de 1839 and la Revue du XIXe siècle.
After learning Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
in Egypt he obtained the post of military interpreter
Military interpreter (France)
Military interpreters in the French Army translate into and out of foreign languages for the French military. A sous-officier or interpreter officer serves in uniform, accompanying the French armed forces on all its foreign expeditions for 200 years...
in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
for which he had applied. He served as interpreter to several generals: Bugeaud, Rumilly and Changarnier
Nicolas Anne Théodule Changarnier
Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier , French general, was born at Autun, Saône-et-Loire.Educated at St Cyr, he served for a short time in the bodyguard of Louis XVIII, and entered the line as a lieutenant in January 1815. He achieved distinction in the Spanish campaign of 1823, and became captain in...
. In 1840 he married a young Algerian woman with whom he had a daughter in 1843. His vast knowledge and experience of Islam led him to participate in the Algerian administration at a high level. Having become a member of the Governor General's advisory board he took part in most major decisions in Algeria.
In 1845, Urbain was summoned to the Ministry of War and he returned to France where his wife was to follow. Unable to conjoin the Muslim family with the French family he resolved to marry his wife before civil status on May 20, 1857, and the next day his daughter who was constantly being teased by her schoolmates at the private school run by Sœurs de la Doctrine Chrétienne in Constantine
Constantine, Algeria
Constantine is the capital of Constantine Province in north-eastern Algeria. It was the capital of the same-named French département until 1962. Slightly inland, it is about 80 kilometres from the Mediterranean coast, on the banks of Rhumel river...
, was baptized. This act, however, was not enough to appease the Roman Catholic community, made up of Spaniards, Maltese and people from the South of France who composed the new society of colonists in Algeria, who accused him of failing to obtain the blessing of the church for his marriage and the lack of a baptism for his wife.
Urbain has been largely attributed as the source of the arabophilia of Napoleon III to whom he was a personal adviser. He corresponded with many key political, military and cultural people in the Algeria of his time. In an 1857 article in Revue de Paris
Revue de Paris
Revue de Paris was a French literary magazine founded in 1829 by Louis Desiré Veron....
Urbain denounced the term "Kabylie
Kabylie
Kabylie or Kabylia , is a region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Kabylia covers several provinces of Algeria: the whole of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia , most of Bouira and parts of the wilayas of Bordj Bou Arreridj, Jijel,...
" as an invention due to the French spirit of systematization used neither by the Arabs nor by the Berbers
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
of Algeria. In 1861 he published under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Georges Voisin l’Algérie pour les Algériens (Algeria for the Algerians) where he defends the ideas of an Arab Kingdom that Napoleon III, influenced by the ideas of the Saint-Simonists, had wanted to implement at the instigation of Urbain, but which was fiercely opposed by the colonists and economic interests in Algeria. The renewed attacks by Urbain in 1870 in l’Algérie française: indigènes et immigrants (French Algeria: natives and immigrants) provoked very violent agitation in the colony. The writings of Urbain aroused such passionate reactions that they almost completely overshadowed the ideas which were developed in the ensuing polemics.
Urbain died in Algeria. On his death Émile Masqueray rejoined the fight for the rights of the Algerians against the repressive behavior of the colonists.
Publications
- Lettres sur la race noire et la race blanche, with Gustave d'EichthalGustave d'EichthalGustave Séligmann d'Eichthal was a French writer, publicist, and Hellenist.-Life:...
, Paris, Paulin, 1839 - Algérie. Du gouvernement des tribus. Chrétiens et musulmans, Français et Algériens, Paris, J. Rouvier, 1848
- De la Tolérance dans l’islamisme, Paris, Pillet fils aîné, 1856
- L’Algérie pour les Algériens, Paris, Michel Lévy frères, 1861
- L’Algérie française. Indigènes et immigrants, Paris, Challamel aîné, 1862