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France imperial expansion
France becomes a colonizer of many territories with large Muslim populations. These territories included: Egypt (1798), Algeria (1830), West Africa (1880), Tunisia )1881), Morocco (1912) and Syria and Lebanon (1920). -
France Recruits Muslims
During this time, France recruited many Muslims from its colonies to fight in World War 1. -
War comes to an end
At the end of the war, the Muslims who served were given the option to return either return home or to France in order to help rebuild the country. It is during this time that we see a large wave of Islam immigration into France. Many male Muslims immigrated into France in order to work. -
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More Immigration
Between 1954 and 1962, there is another large wave of immigration into France. This was caused by the colonial wars of independence. During this time, some Muslims were recruited for labor while others just immigrated spontaneously. Many opened up restaurants or started their own businesses. -
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Oil Crisis
The oil crisis led to an economic downturn in France. Because of this, the French government ended the labor migration from North Africa. -
New Legislation
During this time, the French government passed a law allowing the families of immigrant workers to settle in France, bringing more Muslim immigrants into the country. Unfortunately because of the economic crisis, many Muslims found themselves living in poverty. -
The Iranian Revolution
This is an important event even though it did not take place in France. After the Iranian Revolution, the view of Muslims in France changed. Muslims during this time faced a large amount of discrimination and unfair treatment from society and police officers. This was a constant battle for Muslims over the next couple of decades -
March for Equality and Against Racism
This event came about after much violence towards Muslims and other ethnic groups. This was a significant event because it gave an idenity to France. Also, from this event we see the beginning of the group, SOS racism, which played a large role in the discrimination against Muslims. -
Islamic Expression
During this time we see a large conversion and expression to the Islamic Faith. This leads to the affair of the viel, an event dealing with many girls across France being punished for wearing head viels to school. This was a debate involving the government and Islam followers that went on for nearly a decade and a half. -
Islamic Movements
Because of the headdress incidents we see a large Islamic movement during this time, along with several attacks by Algerian terriorists. The term "Islamisation" emerged during this time, regarding the religious senitments about Muslims. The "Islamisation phenomenon" was a time when Muslims felt more and more alienated from French society. -
9/11
Although this event did not occur in France, it had a large impact on the treatment of Muslims afterwards. We begin to see a large ban on many Islamic practices and racist treatment towards Muslims. -
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Islamisation phenomenon
Muslims during this time were dealing with a lot of Islamophobiac, fear of Muslims, from French society. This led to an alienated feeling among Muslims. During this time period, Muslims faced hundreds of hate crimes from threats all the way to murder. -
Bill on Secularism in School
This law dealt with the priniciple of secularism in France. From this bill, children were no longer allowed to wear signs or clothing manifesting a religious affiliation in public schools. -
Riots of 2005
These riots were a reaction to the hundreds of Islamophobiac hate crimes that Muslims had been facing the past couple years. After the deaths of two French Muslim youths, there was a period of 3 week rioting throughout the Paris region. The rioters were mostly unemployed teenages, but they caused almost 200 million euros of damage. -
Another Ban
Banned veils covering the faces of women in public locations such as hospitals and schools. Also in 2011, Muslims were banned street prayers. -
Modern France
The Muslim population of France has reached an estimated 6.5 million people. However, there is still not peace among and towards Muslims. There are still attacks in France to this day and bad publicity towards Muslims, creating growing racism. Many Muslims still feel alienated in their own country.
