Kouloughli (from Ottoman Turkish) means "children of subjects". It is equivalent to kuloğlu, the contraction of kul ("subject"), ("soldier") and oğul ("son") in modern Turkish. It is a word used to designate the mixed descendants of Ottomans (mostly Janissaries) and indigenous Algerians, Tunisians and Libyans from the period of Ottoman dominance of North Africa between the 16th and early 20th centuries. The phrase comes from the fact that the rulers of the Ottoman provinces of North Africa were sent from the Ottoman Empire and were subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Their children, the society’s “elite” were therefore children of subjects.