Lalla Fatma N'Soumer

Lalla Fadhma n'Soumer
Bella Fadhma on an old postcard.
Native name	Kabyle: Faḍma n Sumer Arabic: لالا فاطمة نسومر‎‎
Born	Fadhma Nat Sid Hmed c. 1830 Werja, Abi Youcef
Died	c. 1863 (aged 32–33) Beni Slimane
Nationality	Algerian
Known for	Kabyle resistance fighter against the French conquest of Algeria

Lalla Fadhma n'Soumer or Lalla Fatma n'Soumer, Lalla Faḍma n Sumer in Kabyle (Amazigh ⵍⴰⵍⵍⴰ ⴼⴰⴹⵎⴰ ⵏ ⵙⵓⵎⵎⵔ; born Fadhma Nat Sid Hmed; c.1830 – c. 1863) was an important figure of the Algerian resistance movement during the first years of the French colonial conquest of Algeria. She was seen as the embodiment of the struggle. Lalla, the female equivalent of sidi, is an honorific reserved for women of high rank, or who are venerated as saints. Fadhma is the Berber/French spelling of the Arabic name Fatima, which is colloquially pronounced Fatma in most Arabic dialects as well as Berber.

Her ashes were transferred in 1994 from the cemetery of Sidi Abdellah, 100 meters from the zawiya Boumâali in Tourtatine towards the Square of the Martyrs of El Alia Cemetery.

Bibliography

• Emile Carrey, Récits de Kabylie. Campagne de 1857, Paris 1858
• Adolphe Hanoteau, Poésies populaires de la Kabylie du Jurjura, Paris 1867
• Tahar Oussedik, Lalla Fadhma n'Summer, Algeri, Laphomic, 1983
• Boukhalfa Bitam, Fadhma n'Soumer. Une autre lecture du combat de l'illustre fille de Werja, Draa Ben Khedda, Aurassi, 2000

External links

• (French) An online biography (often incorrect and a bit emphatic), on Algiers parliament site
• (French) An article confronting informations on Lalla Fadhma coming from oral and written sources
• (French) Emile Carrey, Récits de Kabylie. Campagne de 1857, page 280.