Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0298Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of people walking in a cobblestone paved street. Above the image "T468 (Star)" is printed, below the image "W20729T An Arab Woman in Street Costume, Algiers, Algeria." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, H. C. White Co. Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
W20729
AN ARAB WOMAN IN STREET COSTUME, ALGIERS, ALGERIA
Algiers, often called the "white city," is an important French port of northern Africa. For hundreds of years and until a century ago it was the stronghold of Mediterranean pirates, as cruel and bloodthristy as any the world has ever seen, who exacted heavy tribute form European and even American shipping. Its ruling tyrant or Dey always claimed a share of the booty brought back, whether plunder, women, or slaves, and practically every inhabitant of the Moorish city had a persaonal interst in the buccaneering of the sea-wolf fleets.
Today the old and the new are strangely blended. A modern city is built around the old Arab quarters where winding, narrow steets are lined by houses, whose upper stories project outward on wooden stilts until they almost touch. Many of the streets, rising up the steep hillside, become a series of long sloping steps on which no vehicle traffic is possible. Some are narrow that a pedestrian must often flatten himslef against a wall or retire to a dooway to let a loaded donkey pass. This part is but little changed from the pirate days which ended in 1830 when the French subdued and took possession fo the city. Not until 1871, however, did the Fench set about the complete conquest of Algeria, a task accomplished at a great cost of life and treasure. Along the streets passes a colorful procession of Algerian life - veiled women in whtie robes and bronzed men in flowing burnooses - Moors, Arabs, Berbers, and negroes, a few Turks, a great many jews, and a considerable European element. Markets usually occupy the wider streets where meats, vegetables, frutis, bread, and many varities of edibles are spread on the ground or on rough stalls. The dealers shout their wares and prices in Arabic or French. A good Arab will not eat on the street for fear of offending some hungry prson.
Copyrigh Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection