France occupied much of the northern coastal areas of Algeria in the period 1830-47 and Tunisia in 1881, both of which had hitherto been subject to the nominal control of the Ottoman Empire.[3][2] France gradually pushed inland, annexing the Saharan areas of Algeria in 1902.[2] The border from the coast south to Bir Ramane was established by various French decrees, notably those of 1888-89 and 1901-01.[2] The sections south of this down to the Libyan tripoint was somewhat vaguer, and appear to have been delimited during the period 1911-23.[2]