Agricultural Missionaries: The Trappists and French Colonial Policy under the July Monarchy

In the 1840s, the July Monarchy enlisted the Trappists to develop model farms in Algeria and Martinique. The July Monarchy wanted to remedy lackluster agricultural development in Algeria and to support the Martinique economy after emancipation. In contrast, the Trappists viewed their colonial involvement as a moral mission to regenerate an ancient center of Christianity in Algeria and to assist enslaved Martinicans succeed as free people after emancipation. This paper provides a textured picture of Catholic involvement in French colonialism by exploring the commonalities and distinctions between the goals of the Trappist missions and those of the July Monarchy, a picture that brings to light the underexplored prominence of Trappists in mid nineteenth-century France.