author
E. (Eugène) Daumas
1803–1871
A French general and writer, he spent years in Algeria and turned that experience into vivid books on North Africa, desert life, and Arab horse culture. His work is still remembered for bringing 19th-century readers close to the Sahara and to figures such as Abd el-Kader.
1 Audiobook
The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert
by E. (Eugène) Daumas
About the author
Born in Delémont on October 4, 1803, Eugène Daumas became a French army officer and later rose to the rank of general. He is closely associated with French Algeria, where he served in the 1830s and 1840s and developed a reputation as a careful observer of local society.
Alongside his military career, he wrote widely about North Africa. His best-known books include Le Grand Désert, La Grande Kabylie, and Les Chevaux du Sahara, works that drew on his experience in Algeria and helped introduce French readers to Saharan travel, tribal life, and the region's horse traditions.
Daumas died in 1871 in Camblanes. Today he is remembered less as a politician or soldier than as a soldier-writer whose books offer a window into how 19th-century France described Algeria and the Sahara.