Algeria - ăljērˈēə, Arab. Al Djazair, Fr. Algérie, officially Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, republic (1995 est. pop. 28,539,000), 919,590 sq mi (2,381,741 sq km), NW Africa, bordering on Mauritania, Western Sahara, and Morocco in the west, on the Mediterranean Sea in the north, on Tunisia and Libya in the east, and on Niger and Mali in the south.
Algiers is the capital and largest city.
Land and People Algeria falls into two main geographical areas, the northern region and the much larger Saharan or southern region. The northern region, which is part of the
Maghreb, is made up of four parallel east-west zones: a narrow lowland strip (interspersed with mountains) along the country's 600-mi (970-km) Mediterranean coastline; the Tell Atlas Mts. (highest point: c.7,570 ft/2,310 m), which have a Mediterranean climate and abundant fertile soil; the sparsely populated, semiarid Plateau of the Chotts (average elevation c.3,500 ft/1,070 m), containing a number of shallow salt lakes (chotts) and supporting mainly sheep and goat herders; and the Saharan Atlas Mts., a broken series of mountain ranges and massifs (highest point: 7,638 ft/2,330 m), also a semiarid area and used chiefly for pasturing livestock. The Chéliff River, which flows into the Mediterranean, is the largest of the country's few permanent streams. N Algeria is subject to earthquakes, which, as in 1954, 1980, and 2003, may be devastating, killing and injuring thousands. The arid and very sparsely populated Saharan region has an average elevation of c.1,500 ft (460 m), but reaches greater heights in the Ahaggar Mts. in the south, where Algeria's loftiest point, Mt. Tahat (9,850 ft/3,002 m), is located. Most of the region is covered with gravel or rocks, with little vegetation; there are also large areas of sand dunes in the north (the Great Western Erg) and east (the Great Eastern Erg). Important oases include Touggourt,
Biskra, Chenachane, In Zize, and Tin Rerhoh. Algeria is divided into 48 wilayas, or provinces. In addition to the capital, major cities include
Annaba,
Blida,
Constantine,
Mostaganem,
Oran,
Sétif,
Sidi-bel-Abbès,
Skikda, and
Tlemcen. The great majority of Algeria's inhabitants are of Arab-Berber descent; the Berbers, beginning in the late 7th cent. a.d., adopted the Arabic language and Islam from the small number of Arabs who settled in the country. Today Arabic is the main language. About 15% of the population still speaks a Berber language; these inhabitants live mostly in the mountainous regions of the north, but also include the nomadic
Tuareg of the Sahara. Relations between Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Algerians have been marked by tension since Arabic was made the sole national language (1980); that policy was reversed in 2002, when Tamazight, a Berber tongue, was also recognized as a national language. French is widely spoken, and about 1% of the Algerian population is of European descent (before independence Europeans accounted for some 10%). Almost all Algerians are adherents of the Sunni Muslim faith, the state religion. Economy About one fourth of Algeria's workers are engaged in farming, but agriculture contributes less to the country's GDP than either mining or manufacturing. The state plays a leading role in planning the economy and owns many important industrial concerns, including the mining and financial sectors. In the late 1990s, there was some privatization and openness to foreign investment. Farming is concentrated in the fertile valleys and basins of the north and in the oases of the Sahara. The principal crops are wheat, barley, oats, citrus fruit, wine grapes, olives, tobacco, figs, and dates. Algeria is also an important producer of cork. Large numbers of sheep, poultry, goats, and cattle are raised and there is a small fishing industry. Petroleum and natural gas, found principally in the E Sahara, are Algeria's most important mineral resources and its leading exports. Production was decreased in the 1980s in order to delay the depletion of resources but rose again in the late 1990s. There are oil pipelines to the seaports of Arzew and
Bejaïa in Algeria and As Sukhayrah in Tunisia. In 1993, a gas pipeline was laid between Hassi R'Mel (Algeria's main gas producing field) and Seville, Spain. Other minerals extracted in significant quantities include iron ore, lead, phosphates, uranium, zinc, salt, and coal. The country's leading manufactures are processed food (notably olive oil), beverages (especially wine), tobacco products, construction materials, chemicals, metals, textiles, and clothing. Algeria's limited rail and road networks serve mainly the northern region. In recent years the annual earnings from Algeria's exports have been somewhat higher than the cost of its imports. The chief imports are food and beverages, machinery, iron and steel, and transport equipment. The principal exports besides petroleum and natural gas are wine and agricultural goods (especially fruit). Algeria's main trade partners are France, Italy, the United States, Germany, and Spain. The country has a very high unemployment rate, and about a million Algerians have emigrated to France since independence; their remittances constitute an important supplement to the economy. Algeria is a member of the Arab League. Government Algeria is governed under the constitution of 1976, which has been revised numerous times. The executive branch is headed by a president, who is popularly elected for a five-year term. The prime minister is appointed by the president. The bicameral parliament consists of the 380-seat national people's assembly and the 144-seat council of nations. Algeria's legal system is based on French and Islamic law. History To the Early Nineteenth Century The earliest recorded inhabitants of Algeria were Berber-speaking peoples who by the 2d millennium b.c. were living in small village-based political units. In the 9th cent. b.c.,
Carthage was founded in modern-day Tunisia, and Carthaginians eventually established trading posts at Annaba, Skikda, and Algiers. Coastal Algeria was known as
Numidia and was usually divided into two kingdoms, both of which were strongly influenced by Carthage. The kingdoms of Numidia were united by King
Masinissa (c.238–149 b.c.). In 146 b.c., Rome destroyed Carthage, and by 106 b.c., after defeating King
Jugurtha of Numidia, it held coastal Algeria. The Romans also gained control of the Tell Atlas region and part of the Plateau of the Chotts; the rest of present-day Algeria remained under Berber rulers and was outside Roman rule. Under Rome, the cities were built up and impressive public works (including roads and aqueducts) were constructed. Much grain was shipped from Algeria to Rome. By the Christian era, Algeria (divided into Numidia and Mauritania Caesariensis) was an integral, albeit relatively unimportant, part of the Roman Empire. One of its most famous citizens was St.
Augustine (354–430), who was bishop of Hippo (now Annaba) and a leading opponent of
Donatism (which was in part a Berber protest against Roman rule). By the 5th cent. Roman civilization in Algeria had been eroded by incursions of Berbers, and the destruction wreaked by the
Vandals (who passed through Algeria on their way to Tunisia) in 430–431 marked the end of effective Roman control. Algeria again came under the control of numerous small indigenous political units. In the early 6th cent. a temporary veneer of unity and order was forged by the Byzantine Empire, which conquered parts of the North African coast including the region E of Algiers. In the late 7th and early 8th cent. Muslim Arabs conquered Algeria and ousted the Byzantines. Although few Arabs settled in the region, they had a profound influence as most of the Berbers quickly became Muslims and gradually absorbed the Arabic language and culture. In addition, the Arabs intermarried with the Berbers. A number of small Muslim states rose and fell in Algeria, but generally the eastern part of the country came under the influence of dynasties centered in Tunisia (notably the Aghlabid of Kairouan) and the western part was controlled by states centered in Morocco (notably the
Almoravids and
Almohads). Also, in the 8th and 9th cent. Tlemcen was the center of the Muslim Kharajite sect, and in the early 10th cent. the
Fatimid dynasty began its major rise from a base in NE Algeria. In the late 15th cent. Spain expelled the Muslims from its soil and soon thereafter captured the coastal cities of Algeria. Algerians appealed to Turkish pirates (especially the
Barbarossa brothers) for help, and, with the aid of the Ottoman Empire, they ended Spanish control by the mid-16th cent. Algeria then came under Ottoman rule. The country was at first governed by officials sent from Constantinople, but in 1671 the dey (ruler) of Algiers, chosen by local civilian, military, and pirate leaders to govern for life and virtually independent of the Ottoman Empire, became head of Algeria. The country was divided into three provinces (Constantine, Titteri, and Mascara), each governed by a bey. The power of the Ottomans, and later of the deys, did not extend much beyond the Tell Atlas. The coast was a stronghold of pirates (see
Barbary States) who preyed on Mediterranean shipping. Privateering reached a high point in the 16th and 17th cent. and declined thereafter; there was a temporary increase during the Napoleonic Wars (early 19th cent.). A large percentage of the dey's revenues came from pirates. Considerable trade with Europe also was conducted from Algerian ports; the chief exports were wheat, fruit, and woven goods. The country was in addition a center of the slave trade, most of the slaves being persons captured by pirates. Algeria in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries In an effort to discourage privateering from Algerian ports, a British fleet bombarded Algiers in |
