As her last name suggests, she descended from the lineage of a respected marabout, Ahmed Ou Méziane, which gave her more influence than most women of Algerian society of the era.

In 1849, a young Fatma entered the resistance and rallied to the cause of Si Mohammed El-Hachemi, a marabout who had waged an insurrection in the Dahra Range since 1847.

There, she met Sherif Boubaghla, another Algerian rebel from the western region of Saida who would be another leader and ally in the following years.

In mid-1854, a French incursion led by Charles Joseph François Wolff [fr] came to near N'Soumer's villages.

Boubaghla was said to be quite taken with N'Soumer and to have obtained permission from her brother to court her, but her husband continued to refuse to grant a divorce, so the two stayed merely friends.

The French were able to inflict significant damage along their line of march but were counterattacked by N'Soumer and her allied militia in skirmishes.

Sherif Boubaghla died shortly afterward in late 1854, however, which raised Fatma N'Soumer and her brother in station as the leaders remaining.

In June 1857, Marshall Randon broke off and defeated a Kabyle village, occupying Aït Iraten following the Battle of Icheriden.

[10] Meanwhile, N'Soumer's forces fought a French detachment at the Battle of Chellata Pass; outnumbered and outgunned, they were defeated, and the area around modern Illoula Oumalou was secured.

[11] The remnants of Fatma's forces formed up in the hamlet Takhlijt Aït Aatsou, near the Tirourda Pass [fr].

French Algeria (19th–20th centuries) Algerian War (1954–1962) 1990s–2000s 2010s to present On 11 July 1857, Fatma was arrested by General Joseph Vantini [fr] ("Yusuf"), as were several of her brothers as well as other prominent Kabyle leaders.

"[14] The French also called her "La Jeanne d'Arc du Djurdjura" as a reference to Joan of Arc's role as a female religious and military leader; according to tradition General Yusuf gave her the title.