Introduction to Algeria
Algeria is a nation in the Maghreb area of North Africa, formally known as the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. Tunisia borders it to the northeast; Libya borders it to the east; Niger borders it to the southeast; Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Sahara border it to the southwest; Morocco borders it to the west; and the Mediterranean Sea borders it to the north. Algiers, the capital and largest city, is situated on the Mediterranean coast in the far north.
Algeria has been inhabited by humans since the Pleistocene Epoch and has been the meeting point of many different cultures, such as the Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantine Greeks, and Turks. The Regency of Algiers was founded in 1516 as a fully autonomous subordinate state of the Ottoman Empire, succeeding a string of Islamic Arab and Berber kingdoms who ruled over the region between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries.
The nation was officially seized by France in 1848, having been a prominent Mediterranean power for over three centuries. However, complete conquest and pacification did not occur until 1903. The population of the area was decreased by up to one-third as a result of conflict, sickness, and famine, but was displaced by the vast European colonization brought about by French control.
Local resistance resulted in the Algerian War’s breakout in 1954, spurred on by the Sétif and Guelma massacre in 1945. 1962 saw the independence of Algeria. A brutal civil conflict erupted in the nation from 1991 until 2002.
With a land size of 2,381,741 square kilometers (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the biggest country in Africa and the tenth largest country in the world. With the exception of its rich and hilly north, where the majority of the population is situated, the majority of the country has a semi-arid climate, with the Sahara desert covering much of its area.
Algeria is the 32nd most populated country in the world and the tenth most populous country in Africa with 44 million people. Arabic and Tamazight are the official languages of Algeria; French is used in the media, in the classroom, and in some governmental contexts. Ninety-nine percent of the population practices Sunni Islam, which is the official religion.
Algeria is a semi-presidential republic with 1,541 communes and 58 provinces, or wilayas. It is a middling power in international affairs and a regional force in North Africa. The nation possesses one of the greatest economies in Africa and the second-highest Human Development Index among continental African nations, mostly because of its substantial natural gas and petroleum reserves, which rank sixteenth and ninth in the world, respectively.
The largest corporation in Africa and a significant provider of natural gas to Europe is Sonatrach, the national oil company. With the largest defense budget in Africa and one of the highest in the world (ranking 22nd internationally), Algeria has one of the biggest armed forces on the continent.
In addition to being a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union, Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, the OIC, OPEC, and the United Nations.
Identify
The name also exists in Arabic (الجزائر), Arabic (al-Jazāʍir in romanized version), and Algerian French: Algérie; Arabic: الدزاير; romanized: al-dzāyīr. Officially known as the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria (Arabic: الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, romanized: al-Jumhūriyah al-Jazāʍiriyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyah ash‑Shaʿbiyah; French: République algérienne démocratique et populaire, abbreviated as RADP). ⵜⴰⴳⴷⵓⴷⴰ ⵜⴰⵣⵣⴰⵢⵔⵉⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⴳⴷⴰⵢⵜ ⵜⴰⵖⴻⵔⴼⴰⵏⵜ Tagduda tazzayrit tamagdayt taɣerfant.
Meaning and Origin
The Arabic al-Jazāʍir (الجزائر, “the islands”), referring to four tiny islands off its coast, is where Algeria gets its name. This is a shortened variant of the older Jazāʍir Banī Mazghanna (جزائر بني مزغنة, “islands of Bani Mazghanna”). Buluggin ibn Ziri gave the city its name when he founded it in 950 on the site of the Phoenician city of Icosium. Medieval geographers like Yaqut al-Hamawi and Muhammad al-Idrisi used it.
The Regency of Algeria, also known as the Regency of Algiers, was the name given to Algeria at the beginning of the 16th century when the Ottoman administration was established in the central Maghreb. During this time, a political and administrative structure was established, and it helped define the borders between Algeria and its surrounding countries to the east and west.
This country is known as Watan El Djazâïr or the Country of Algiers. The people who lived in Algeria were called “Algerians” by the Ottoman Turks who landed there. The Ottoman Turks, who served as the regency’s principal military and political force, helped to define Algeria’s current political identity as a nation with all the characteristics of a sovereign state, even while it was still formally under the control of the Ottoman sultan.
The regency was viewed as the “first Algerian state” and the “Algerian Ottoman republic” by Algerian nationalist, historian, and statesman Ahmed Tewfik El Madani.
Past Events
The Prehistoric Era and Ancient History
Stone artifacts from Ain Hanech, Algeria, that date back around 1.8 million years are thought to be the earliest archeological finds in North Africa. Excavated from two neighboring layers at Ain Boucherit, stone artifacts, and cut-marked bones have been estimated to be around 1.9 million years old, and even older stone artifacts may be as ancient as 2.4 million years.
As a result, the Ain Boucherit data demonstrates that hominins were not as early as previously believed to have lived on the Mediterranean margin of northern Africa. The data clearly suggests that stone technology originated in both East and North Africa, or at least that it spread early from that continent for both the production and usage of stone tools.
Similar to those found in the Levant, Neanderthal toolmakers created hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles (43,000 BC). The highest level of development for Middle Paleolithic flake tool skills was found in Algeria. Beginning around 30,000 BC, these tools are referred to as Aterian, named for the ancient Bir el Ater site, which is located south of Tebessa.
Iberomaurusian blade industries originated in North Africa and were mostly centered in the Oran area. It seems that this industry migrated over the Maghreb’s coastal areas somewhere between 15,000 and 10,000 BC.
The Saharan and Mediterranean Maghreb saw the development of Neolithic civilization, which included animal domestication and agriculture, as early as 11,000 BC or as late as 6000–2000 BC.
This way of life ruled Algeria until the classical era, and it is abundantly portrayed in the Tassili n’Ajjer paintings. The many populations of North Africa finally joined together to form a unique native population known as the Berbers, who are the region’s original people.
The Carthaginians spread out from their main center of power at Carthage and founded tiny towns along the coast of North Africa; by 600 BC, there were Phoenician cities at Tipasa, east of Cherchell, Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba), and Rusicade (present-day Skikda). These communities functioned as anchorages and market towns.
The influence of Carthaginian authority on the native people rose significantly as it expanded. By now, Berber civilization had advanced to a point where several nations were sustained by commerce, industry, agriculture, and political organization. Interior trade relations between Carthage and the Berbers expanded, but territorial expansion also led to the recruitment of certain Berbers into the military or their captivity, and the collection of tribute from other Berbers.
The Carthaginian army’s greatest component during the beginning of the fourth century BC was made up of Berbers. After Carthage’s loss in the First Punic War, Berber troops went on the rampage from 241 to 238 BC, calling for their own pay.
This uprising was known as the Revolt of the Mercenaries. They were successful in seizing control of a large portion of Carthage’s territory in North Africa, and they struck coins with the term Libyan, which the Greeks used to refer to people who were local to the region. The Punic Wars saw many Roman setbacks, which contributed to the fall of the Carthaginian state.
The city of Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC. Berber chiefs gained prominence in the hinterland as Carthaginian control declined. A number of sizable but poorly run Berber kingdoms had formed by the second century BC.
Two of them were founded in Numidia, behind the Carthaginian-controlled coastal regions. Mauretania located to the west of Numidia and stretched to the Atlantic Ocean over the Moulouya River in present-day Morocco.
The Berber civilization reached its pinnacle during the reign of Masinissa in the second century BC, and it remained unsurpassed until the arrival of the Almohads and Almoravids over a millennium later.
The Berber kingdoms were split up and then back together many times following Masinissa’s demise in 148 BC. Up until 24 AD, when the Roman Empire conquered the remaining Berber land, Masinissa’s family persisted.
The Romans dominated Algeria for several centuries and established numerous colonies there. After Italy, Algeria has the second-highest concentration of Roman ruins. A century and a half after defeating its formidable adversary Carthage in 146 BC, Rome chose to expand its rule over North Africa to encompass Numidia.
Over 500 towns were established by them. Algeria, along with the rest of North Africa, served as the empire’s breadbasket by exporting grains and other agricultural goods. In the Roman province of Africa, Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba, Algeria) had Saint Augustine as its bishop. In 429, the Germanic Vandals of Geiseric invaded North Africa, and by 435, they ruled the coast of Numidia.
They were persecuted by the Indigenous tribes, thus they did not establish any kind of permanent colony on the territory. In actuality, the native Laguatan people had already taken over the Msellata region and were actively promoting an Amazigh political, military, and cultural renaissance when the Byzantines came, leaving Leptis Magna abandoned.
Furthermore, the Berber people were the only or one of the few in North Africa to maintain their independence during the periods of Roman, Byzantine, Vandal, Carthaginian, and Ottoman authority. Because of their fierce resistance, the Berbers were able to maintain sovereignty over their highlands long after the Muslims conquered North Africa.
The Mauro-Roman Kingdom, named for its home Altava (present-day Algeria), was established following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Altava, another kingdom with its capital at Altava, replaced it. Its domain spanned from the area around present-day Fez in the west to the western Aurès, and subsequently Kairaouan and the interior of Ifriqiya in the east, all under Kusaila’s reign.
Medieval Times
Algeria was taken over by Muslim Arabs from the Umayyad Caliphate in the early eighth century, with very little resistance from the native population.
A sizable portion of the native Berber population became Muslims. Up to the end of the ninth century, Christians, Berbers, and Latin speakers made up the majority in Tunisia; Muslims did not become the majority until sometime in the tenth century.
Numerous regional dynasties, such as the Rustamids, Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads, and Zayyanids, arose following the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Three waves of Christians departed: following the first conquest, in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The few that remained perished in the fourteenth century, as the Normans deported the last to Sicily.
The Fatimids dispatched the Arabs Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym against them as a form of punishment. The epic Tāghribāt tells the story of the ensuing conflict. The Amazigh Zirid Hero Khālīfā Al-Zānatī requests daily fights at Al-Tāghrībāt in an attempt to defeat Ābu Zayd al-Hilalī, the Hilalan hero, and several other Arab knights in a run of triumphs.
But in the end, the Zirids were routed, and Arab traditions and practices were accepted. Nonetheless, the native Amazigh tribes continued to be mainly autonomous, ruling different regions of the Maghreb according to tribe, time, and place, and occasionally uniting it (as under the Fatimids).
An Islamic empire including North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the African coast of the Red Sea, Tihamah, Hejaz, and Yemen was established by the Fatimid Islamic Empire, also called the Fatimid Caliphate.
During the Islamic Era, Caliphates from Northern Africa participated in a confederated support and commerce network with other Islamic nations in addition to trading with other empires of the era.
Historically, the Berber people were divided into many tribes. The two main branches were the tribes of Botr and Barnès, which were further subdivided into smaller groups within their own tribes. There were several tribes in every region of the Maghreb, including the Sanhadja, Houara, Zenata, Masmouda, Kutama, Awarba, and Berghwata. These tribes all decided on their own territories.
In the Maghreb and other surrounding regions, a number of Amazigh dynasties arose during the Middle Ages. The Amazigh dynasties of the Maghreb area, including the Zirid, Ifranid, Maghrawa, Almoravid, Hammadid, Almohad, Merinid, Abdalwadid, Wattasid, Meknassa, and Hafsid dynasties, are summarized in a table by Ibn Khaldun.
All of the Maghreb nations came under the control of the Fatimids, the Zirids, and the Hammadids. What are today Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Spain, Malta, and Italy were under Zirid dominion.
The Hammadids established their dominance over every nation in the Maghreb by capturing and controlling significant areas including Ouargla, Constantine, Sfax, Susa, Algiers, Tripoli, and Fez.
The Kutama Berbers gave rise to the Fatimids, who ruled over all of North Africa, Sicily, and a portion of the Middle East.
In the wake of the Berber uprising, the Maghreb saw the emergence of multiple sovereign republics. The Rustamid Kingdom was founded in Algeria. The Rustamid realm encompassed territory in all of the modern Maghreb countries, extending from Tafilalt, Morocco, to the Nafusa mountains in Libya, as well as south, central, and western Tunisia. In the south, the Rustamid realm expanded to the present-day borders of Mali and included territory in Mauritania.
After briefly ruling Sicily, which was derived from present-day Algeria, and the whole Maghreb, which is now a part of Spain, the Zirids only ruled modern-day Ifriqiya by the eleventh century. The Zirids acknowledged the Fatimid caliphs of Cairo as having nominal suzerainty.
The Zirid king El Mu’izz made the decision to renounce this acknowledgment and proclaimed his own independence. The Zirids also fought against other Zenata Kingdoms. One such kingdom was the Maghrawa, a Berber dynasty that originated in Algeria and was once a powerful force in the Maghreb, controlling most of the Sous and Draa, Fez, Sijilmasa, Aghmat, Oujda, and even M’sila and the Zab in Algeria.
The Fatimid state discovered a different way to exact retribution because they were too weak to try a frontal invasion at the time. Bedouin nomad tribes that were driven out of Arabia due to their instability and disturbance lived between the Red Sea and the Nile.
For instance, the nomads known as the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym frequently disturbed the farmers in the Nile Valley by pillaging their crops. The Fatimid vizier of that era breached an agreement with the heads of these Bedouin tribes in order to destroy what he could not control. They were even given money by the Fatimids to escape.
Entire tribes left with women, kids, old people, pets, and camping gear. While some paused en route, particularly in Cyrenaica, where they remain a vital component of the community, the majority reached Ifriqiya near the Gabes area in 1051.
The Zirid monarch made an effort to stem this swelling tide, but the Arabs continued to control the battlefield and his men were always routed in their encounters, the last of which took place within Kairouan’s walls. Typically, the Arabs plundered and destroyed the towns rather than assuming possession of them.
The Arab invasion persisted, and in 1057 the Arabs extended across Constantine’s high plains, encircling the capital of the Hammadid Emirate, Qalaa of Banu Hammad, much as they had done in Kairouan some decades before. From there, they progressively captured the plains of Oran and upper Algiers.
In the latter part of the 12th century, the Almohads forcibly reclaimed some of these lands. The arrival of Bedouin tribes had a significant role in the Arabicization of the Maghreb’s language and culture as well as the expansion of nomadism in regions where agriculture had previously predominated. Ibn Khaldun said that the Banu Hilal tribes had left their devastated territory entirely barren of vegetation.
The Almohads, who originated in modern-day Morocco, would eventually conquer the Maghreb despite being founded by a man named Abd al-Mu’min who originated in modern-day Algeria. The Koumïa, the tribe of Abd al-Mu’min, were the imperial body and the chief defenders of the crown during the Almohad Dynasty.
After driving out the faltering Almoravid Empire and seizing control of Morocco in 1147, they advanced into Algeria in 1152 and overthrew the Hammadids, who ruled Eastern Algeria, as well as capturing control of Tlemcen, Oran, and Algiers.
The Almohads started to crumble after their crushing loss at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. In 1235, Yaghmurasen Ibn Zyan, the ruler of what is now Western Algeria, declared his independence and founded the Kingdom of Tlemcen, which later became the Zayyanid dynasty. After 13 years of fighting the Almohad army in an attempt to retake Algeria, they finally vanquished them in 1248, taking the Caliph’s life in a well-planned ambush close to Oujda.
For three centuries, the Zayyanids ruled over Algeria. The Hafsid dynasty ruled over a large portion of eastern Algeria, while the Emirate of Bejaia, which included the Hafsid-held regions of Algeria, would sometimes break away from central Tunisian rule. At its height, the Zayyanid kingdom ruled over all of Morocco as a tributary state to the west and extended as far east as Tunis, which they took under Abu Tashfin’s rule.
Following many battles with indigenous Barbary pirates backed by the Zayyanid sultans, Spain made the decision to attack Algeria and overthrow the native Kingdom of Tlemcen. They overran Mers el Kébir in 1505, took it, and then, following a lengthy siege, took control of Oran in 1509.
The Spanish decided to become more daring and attacked additional Algerian cities after they decisively defeated the Algerians in the western coastal regions of Algeria. They oversaw a number of sieges and assaults in 1510, capturing Bejaia under a protracted siege and directing a partially successful siege against Algiers. Tlemcen was also under siege.
They seized power over Cherchell and Jijel in 1511 and launched an assault on Mostaganem, forcing a tribute even though they were unable to take the city.
The early modern period
Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa, two Turkish privateers who prospered under the Hafsids, relocated their headquarters to Algiers in 1516. With the aid of the people, who viewed them as liberators from the Christians, they were able to take Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards.
However, the brothers finally killed Salim al-Tumi, a local lord, and gained control of the city and its environs. The Regency of Algiers is the name given to their state. Following Aruj’s death in 1518, while leading his assault on Tlemcen, Hayreddin became leadership of Algiers’ armed forces. He received a group of about 2,000 janissaries along with the title of beylerbey from the Ottoman sultan.
Hayreddin captured the whole region between Constantine and Oran with the help of this army and native Algerians (though Oran itself stayed under Spanish rule until 1792).
Hasan, the son of Hayreddin, succeeded his father as Beylerbey in 1544. Given that his mother was an Algerian Mooresse, he was a Kouloughli or someone of mixed descent. Beylerbeys, who had undefined tenure, ruled Beylerbeylik of Algiers up to 1587.
Following the establishment of a regular government, governors holding the title of pasha held office for three-year periods. An independent group of janissaries commanded by an agha in Algeria was called the Ojaq, and they provided support to the pasha.
Because they were not paid on a regular basis, the ojaq became dissatisfied in the middle of the 1600s and frequently rose up in rebellion against the pasha. Consequently, the agha accused the pasha of being corrupt and inept, leading to their takeover of power in 1659.
North African cities had been repeatedly hit by plague. Between 30,000 and 50,000 people died in Algiers from the plague in 1620–1621; the city also saw high death rates in 1654–57, 1665, 1691, and 1740–1722.
In the western Mediterranean Sea, Christian and other non-Islamic commerce was the victim of the Barbary pirates. The crew and passengers aboard the ships were frequently taken by the pirates, who either sold them or exploited them as slaves.
They also made good money by holding some of the prisoners hostage. Robert Davis estimates that during the 16th and 19th centuries, pirates took between one million and 1.25 million Europeans as slaves.
In order to seize Christian captives for sale in slave markets in North Africa and other regions of the Ottoman Empire, they frequently launched attacks on coastal cities in Europe. For instance, Hayreddin Barbarossa seized the island of Ischia in 1544, seizing 4,000 captives, and sold nearly all 9,000 of the people living in Lipari into slavery.
The people of the Maltese island of Gozo were all sold into slavery in 1551 by Turgut Reis, the Ottoman ruler of Algiers. The Balearic Islands were repeatedly assaulted by Barbary pirates. The inhabitants of the island of Formentera left because of the seriousness of the threat. They were able to venture into the Atlantic with the advent of broad-sail ships at the start of the 17th century.
Under the leadership of Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon, two Algerian pirate ships made landfall in Iceland in July 1627 and proceeded to plunder and seize captives. Another pirate ship from Salé, Morocco, had also invaded Iceland two weeks prior. While some slaves who were taken to Algeria eventually paid a ransom to return to Iceland, others chose to remain in Algeria. Algerian pirate ships attacked the Faroe Islands in 1629.
When the Janissaries, also called the Odjak of Algiers, arrived in the city in 1659, the Reis, or group of corsair captains, rose up and overthrew the Ottoman viceroy, installing one of their own in his stead.
Titles of “Agha” and “Dey” were bestowed to the new leader in 1671, and the divan, a council consisting of around sixty senior military men, gained the authority to make decisions. Algiers became a free military republic as a result. Initially, the odjak had a dominant position; but, by the 18th century, it had evolved into the tool of the dey.
Algiers functioned independently of the rest of the Ottoman Empire, although being formally a part of it. They frequently fought conflicts with other Ottoman subjects and areas, such as the Beylik of Tunis.
The dey was effectively an autocrat under the constitution. Although the dey was chosen for a life tenure, fourteen of the twenty-nine deys were slain during the 159 years (1671–1830) that the system was in effect.
In spite of usurpations, military takeovers, and sometimes mob control, the Deylikal government’s daily functioning was highly organized. While the regency supported the chieftains of the tribes, it never had the support of the rural populace, where high taxes sometimes led to insurrection.
While the regency’s power was rarely used in Kabylia and autonomous tribal governments were accepted, the regency was able to seize control of the Kingdom of Kuku in western Kabylia in 1730. Algiers or one of its Beys received taxes from many cities located in the northern regions of the Algerian desert.
Due to ongoing attacks on Spanish commerce ships by barbarian assaults in the Mediterranean, the Spanish Empire began an invasion in 1775, and in 1783 and 1784, the Spanish Navy besieged Algiers.
The Spanish fleet was to be reinforced for the 1784 invasion by vessels from the Knights of Malta, Portugal, and Naples, some of Algiers’ longtime foes. More than 20,000 cannonballs were fired, but these military expeditions were ultimately futile, forcing Spain to request peace and give the Dey one million pesos in 1786.
The two last Spanish strongholds in Algeria, Oran and Mers el Kébir, were retaken by Algiers in 1792. They took control of Oujda and the Moroccan Rif in the same year, but they gave it up in 1795.
Algerian pirates formed alliances with Caribbean nations throughout the 1800s, offering a “license tax” in return for safe haven for their ships.
The First and Second Barbary Wars broke out as a consequence of Algerian pirate attacks on American commerce ships, and the attacks on American ships ceased in 1815. To put an end to similar attacks on European fishermen, a joint Anglo-Dutch fleet led by Lord Exmouth assaulted Algiers a year later. Despite the fact that Algerian piracy would persist until the French victory in 1830, these attempts were effective.
French colonization (1830–1962)
In 1830 the French attacked and took Algiers under the pretense of a slight to their consul. A number of historians claim that the French employed genocidal tactics in their attempt to take control of Algeria.
Regarding the French conquest of Algeria, historian Ben Kiernan wrote: “The French conquest of Algeria was completed by 1875.” Since 1830, the conflict has claimed the lives of almost 825,000 native Algerians.”
Between 1831 and 1851, France suffered 92,329 hospital deaths and only 3,336 combat deaths. Algeria had a population of around 2.9 million people in 1872. The goal of the French strategy was to “civilize” the nation. After the French conquest, Algeria saw the end of both the slave trade and piracy.
The French took a while and suffered a great deal of casualties during their conquest of Algeria. In 1830–1872, there was an almost one-third decrease in the native Algerian population due to a mix of illness outbreaks and violence.
Napoleon III stated on September 17, 1860, “Our first duty is to take care of the happiness of the three million Arabs, whom the fate of arms has brought under our domination.” The Kabylians were not colonized until after the Mokrani Revolt in 1871; only Kabylia rebelled during this period.
In an unpublished essay that he never finished, Alexis de Tocqueville proposed a hybrid system of “total domination and total colonization” in which the French military would wage total war against civilian populations while a colonial government would grant property rights and the rule of law to settlers inside French-occupied cities. This was his idea for turning Algeria from an occupied tributary state to a colonial regime.
Algeria’s whole Mediterranean area was under French administration as a département and an essential component of the country from 1848 until independence. Algeria, one of the French Empire’s longest-held colonies abroad, attracted hundreds of thousands of European immigrants who were referred to as colons and then Pied-Noirs.
Fifty thousand French citizens came to Algeria between 1825 and 1847. The French government’s seizure of indigenous peoples’ communal land and the introduction of contemporary farming methods, which expanded the amount of arable land, were advantageous to these newcomers. Europeans made up the majority of the population in both Oran and Algiers at the beginning of the 20th century after settling there in large numbers.
Nearly a quarter of the population lived in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In order to integrate Algeria into France, the French government made significant investments in education, particularly after 1900.
Algeria maintained its individual talents and a relatively labor-intensive agriculture, in contrast to the course taken by other colonial countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus, despite strong opposition from the indigenous cultural and religious forces.
Algeria was occupied by the Vichy regime during World War II until the Allies freed it in Operation Torch, which marked the first significant American soldier commitment in the North African war.
The Muslim community, which was denied political and economic rights throughout the colonial era, gradually became dissatisfied and began to call for increased political autonomy and, ultimately, independence from France. The Sétif and Guelma massacre, as it is now known, was the means by which the revolt against the occupying French soldiers was put down in May 1945.
After the publishing of the Declaration of November 1, 1954, tensions between the two population groups reached a breaking point in 1954 and the beginning of the violent events that would eventually be known as the Algerian War. Between 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependents are said to have died in Algeria at the hands of lynch mobs or the National Liberation Front (FLL), according to historians.
As part of their battle, the FLN launched hit-and-run attacks in Algeria and France, and the French retaliated violently. In addition, more than 2 million Algerians were sent to detention camps by the French, who also razed almost 8,000 communities.
Thousands of Algerians lost their lives and hundreds of thousands more were injured as a result of the war. The true number of Muslim war dead in Algeria was, according to historians like Alistair Horne and Raymond Aron, significantly higher than the FLN’s initial figures and official French estimates, although it was still lower than the 1 million casualties declared by the Algerian government following independence. Horne calculated that over the course of eight years, Algeria would have suffered about 700,000 casualties. Over two million Algerians lost their lives in the conflict.
1962 saw the full independence of Algeria as a result of the Evian accords in March 1962 and the self-determination vote held in July 1962, marking the end of the fight against French domination.
1962–1991, the first three decades of independence
In sum, about 900,000 European Pied-Noirs left Algeria between 1962 and 1964. Following the Oran massacre of 1962, when hundreds of militants broke into European areas of the city and started assaulting residents, the migration to mainland France picked up speed.
Ahmed Ben Bella, the head of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), served as Algeria’s first president. The Sand War of 1963 resulted from Morocco’s claim to parts of western Algeria. Ben Bella’s erstwhile friend and minister of defense, Houari Boumédiène, toppled him in 1965.
The administration had grown more authoritarian and socialist under Ben Bella; Boumédienne carried on this tendency. Nonetheless, he diminished the only legitimate party to a symbolic position and depended even more on the army for support.
Along with launching a large industrialization campaign, he collectivizes agriculture. Facilities used for extracting oil were nationalized. This was especially helpful to the leadership during the global oil crisis of 1973.
Chadli Bendjedid, Boumédienne’s successor, brought in a few liberal economic changes. He supported the Arabization of Algerian public life and society. Arabic teachers who were imported from other Muslim nations propagated traditional Islamic ideas in classrooms and planted the seeds for a return to Orthodox Islam.
Algeria’s economy grew more and more reliant on oil, which made things difficult when the price crashed during the oil glut of the 1980s. The 1980s saw societal upheaval in Algeria due to the economic slump brought on by the collapse in global oil prices; by the end of the decade, Bendjedid had established a multi-party system. Political parties arose, including the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), an alliance of several Muslim organizations.
The 1991–2002 Civil War and Its Aftermath
The first of two rounds of parliamentary elections in December 1991 was controlled by the Islamic Salvation Front. The authorities interfered on January 11, 1992, to cancel the elections out of fear that an Islamist administration would be elected.
After Bendjedid resigned, the Presidency was replaced by a High Council of State. The Armed Islamic Group, the Front’s armed branch, and the state armed forces engaged in a civil war during which over 100,000 people are believed to have perished after the FIS was outlawed. The Islamist extremists carried out a bloody campaign of killings on civilians.
Throughout the conflict, Algeria’s condition came under international scrutiny on a few occasions, most notably in the aftermath of Air France Flight 8969, which was hijacked by the Armed Islamic Group. In October 1997, the Armed Islamic Group issued a cease-fire.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria won the 1999 elections, which were viewed as skewed by most opposition organizations and foreign observers. In an effort to bring political stability back to the nation, he announced the “Civil Concord” initiative, which was subsequently approved by a referendum.
As a result, thousands of members of armed groups received limited amnesty, which protected them from prosecution until January 13, 2000, and many political prisoners were pardoned.
The AIS was dissolved, and insurgent violence quickly decreased. An ongoing terrorist campaign against the government was carried out by the Armed Islamic Group’s breakaway group, the Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC).
In the presidential election held in April 2004, Bouteflika ran on a platform of national reconciliation and was re-elected. The program’s goals were to modernize the nation, improve living conditions, and address the root causes of alienation via institutional, political, social, and economic transformation.
It also contained the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a second effort for amnesty that was adopted in a September 2005 vote. The majority of insurgents and government security troops were granted amnesty.
After a vote in Parliament, the Algerian Constitution was changed in November 2008, eliminating the two-term restriction for sitting presidents. Due to this modification, Bouteflika was entitled to run for reelection in the 2009 presidential election, which took place in April of that year.
Bouteflika pledged to expand the national reconciliation program, build one million new homes, create three million new jobs, and continue public sector and infrastructure modernization projects as part of a $150 billion spending plan during his campaign and after winning reelection.
On December 28, 2010, a nationwide protest campaign began, sparked by previous demonstrations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The government of Algeria removed the 19-year-old state of emergency on February 24, 2011.
Legislation pertaining to political parties, the electoral law, and women’s representation in elected offices was passed by the administration. Bouteflika pledged more political and constitutional reform in April 2011. On the other hand, international human rights organizations claim that media restrictions and intimidation of political opponents persist, and opposition parties frequently denounce elections as unfair.
Bouteflika announced his resignation as president on April 2, 2019, following widespread demonstrations against his bid for a fifth term in office.
After winning the first round of the presidential election with the biggest percentage of voters abstaining from voting since Algeria’s democratic transition in 1989, Abdelmadjid Tebboune was sworn in as president of Algeria in December 2019.
Tebboune is charged with having ties to the military and supporting the ousted president. Tebboune disputes these charges, asserting that she is the target of a witch hunt. He also reminds his critics that the oligarchs incarcerated were the reason he was dismissed from the government in August 2017.
Geographical
Algeria has emerged as the biggest nation in both Africa and the Mediterranean region following the division of Sudan in 2011 and the establishment of South Sudan. Much of the Sahara is located in its southern region.
Large plains and hills are wedged between two parallel sets of reliefs that approach eastward and create the Tell Atlas and Saharan Atlas to the north and south, respectively. In eastern Algeria, both Atlas tend to converge. The boundary with Tunisia separates the huge mountain ranges of Aures and Nememcha, which cover the entirety of northeastern Algeria. Mount Tahat (3,003 meters, or 9,852 ft) is the highest peak.
Algeria is mostly located between longitudes 9°W and 12°E and latitudes 19° to 37°N (with a small portion to the north of 37°N and south of 19°N). The majority of the coastline region is hilly, occasionally even mountainous, with a few natural harbors. Fertile ground stretches from the seashore to the Tell Atlas. The Sahara desert is even further south of the Tell Atlas, which is followed by a steppe environment that ends in the Saharan Atlas.
Known by several other names, the Hoggar Mountains (Arabic: جبال هقار) are a highland area in southern Algeria’s central Sahara. They are situated immediately east of Tamanghasset and around 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) south of Algiers, the capital. Algeria’s principal cities are Annaba, Constantine, Oran, and Algiers.
Weather and water resources
Midday desert temperatures in this area can reach highs throughout the year. But after sunset, the nights are cold to chilly due to the clear, dry air that allows heat to escape quickly. Significant daily variations in temperature are noted.
Along the coastal portion of the Tell Atlas, there is a considerable amount of precipitation each year, with an increase in quantity from west to east, ranging from 400 to 670 mm (15.7 to 26.4 in). The northern portion of eastern Algeria experiences the most precipitation, with some years seeing up to 1,000 mm (39.4 in) of it.
There is less rainfall farther inland. of between the mountains of Algeria are sand dunes known as ergs. Among these, temperatures can reach 43.3 °C (110 °F) during the summer months when winds are strong and gusty.
The implications of climate change in Algeria are extensive. Although Algeria does not significantly contribute to climate change, it is anticipated that it would be among the nations most impacted, along with other nations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area.
Given that a sizable portion of the nation is located in already hot and dry regions, including a portion of the Sahara, difficulties obtaining water resources and the intense heat are predicted to worsen. Extreme heat waves in Algeria were being linked by experts to climate change as early as 2014. Algeria’s position in the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index was 46th out of all the nations.
Plants and animals
Algeria’s diverse environment encompasses areas that resemble green deserts, mountains, and the seaside, all of which are home to a variety of fauna. Numerous species that makeup Algeria’s fauna are found in close proximity to human settlements.
The creatures that are most frequently spotted include gazelles, jackals, and wild boars, however, fennecs (foxes) and jerboas are also frequently spotted. Although they are seldom spotted, Algeria is home to a tiny number of Saharan cheetahs and African leopards. The deep, humid forests in the northeast are home to a particular type of deer known as the Barbary stag. Algeria’s national animal is the fennec fox.
Bird watchers are drawn to the nation by its diversity of bird species. There are jackals and boars living in the woodlands. The only local monkey species is the barbary macaque. In Algeria’s semi-arid areas, residents include a variety of rodents and reptiles such as snakes and monitor lizards. Numerous creatures, including as crocodiles, Atlas bears, and Barbary lions, are now extinct.
Native trees such as olive trees, cedars, oaks, and Macchia scrub are found in the northern regions. Large evergreen forests, including Aleppo pine, juniper, and evergreen oak, as well as a few deciduous trees, may be found in the mountainous areas. In the warmer climates, agave, fig, eucalyptus, and several palm trees flourish.
Native to the coastal regions is the grapevine. There are oasis with palm palms in the Sahara area. In the rest of the Sahara, acacias and wild olives are the prominent plant species. Algeria was ranked 106th out of 172 nations in the world with a mean score of 5.22/10 on the 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index.
In addition to the widespread usage of camels, the desert is home to a wide variety of insects, scorpions, and both poisonous and nonvenomous snakes.
Finance
The dinar is the currency of Algeria (DZD). The socialist post-independence development model of the nation has left the state in charge of the economy. Algeria will undergo a sea change in June 2024 when it becomes a member of the exclusive group of upper-middle-income nations, according to the World Bank’s 2024 study.
Due to its aggressive growth approach, the country’s economy has grown, placing it in the same league as rising nations like China, Brazil, and Turkey. The Algerian government has placed limits on imports and foreign participation in the country’s economy, as well as stopped the privatization of state-owned companies in recent years. These limitations have just lately begun to be removed, although concerns about Algeria’s gradually diverse economy still exist.
Part of the reason Algeria has had difficulty developing sectors other than hydrocarbons is the high expenses associated with an inactive governmental bureaucracy. Reducing high rates of young unemployment and addressing the housing crisis have not been much aided by the government’s attempts to diversify the economy by luring both domestic and international investment beyond the oil industry. The nation must strengthen political, economic, and financial reforms, diversify the economy, enhance the business environment, and lessen regional disparities, among other short- and medium-term issues.
The Algerian government was forced to respond to a wave of economic demonstrations in February and March 2011 by providing more than $23 billion in public handouts along with retroactive raises in salaries and benefits. Over the previous five years, public spending has climbed by 27% yearly. Of the $286 billion allocated to public investments between 2010 and 2014, 40% will support human development.
Algeria has a sizable hydrocarbon stabilization fund and a cushion of $173 billion in foreign exchange reserves because of its robust hydrocarbon income. Furthermore, Algeria has very little external debt—roughly 2% of GDP.
The economy is still heavily reliant on petroleum riches, and even with substantial foreign exchange reserves (US$178 billion, or three years’ worth of imports), Algeria’s budget is more susceptible to the possibility of sustained declines in hydrocarbon earnings due to current spending increases.
Despite years of discussions, Algeria has not joined the WTO. However, it is a member of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, and it has an association agreement with the European Union.
The amount of Turkish direct investments in Algeria has increased and now stands at $5 billion. By 2022, there were 1,400 Turkish businesses operating in Algeria. Despite the epidemic, more than 130 Turkish businesses were established in Algeria in 2020.
Petroleum and organic materials
Algeria has been an OPEC member since 1969 and has a petroleum-based economy. Although it produces around 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day, it also exports and produces a significant amount of gas, and it has close ties to Europe.
For an extended period, hydrocarbons have served as the foundation of the economy, contributing over 60% of budgetary revenues, 30% of GDP, and 87.7% of export profits. Algeria is the world’s sixth-largest gas exporter and possesses the tenth-largest natural gas reserves.
Algeria had confirmed natural gas reserves of 4.5 trillion cubic meters (160×1012 cu ft) as of 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Its oil reserves come in at number sixteen.
2011 non-hydrocarbon growth was predicted to be 5%. In response to societal pressures, the government increased spending, particularly on basic food assistance, job development, small and medium-sized enterprise support, and wage increases. The situation of the current account and the already substantial overseas reserves have improved due to high hydrocarbon prices.
Despite the declining trend in production volume, 2011 saw a rise in income from oil and gas due to the persistence of high oil prices. Between 2007 and 2011, the oil and gas industry’s production fell from 43.2 million tonnes to 32 million tonnes, indicating a continued reduction in volume. However, the industry generated 70% of budgetary receipts, or US$71.4 billion, and 98% of the entire volume of exports in 2011, compared to 48% in 1962.
Sonatrach, the national oil corporation of Algeria, is a major player in the country’s natural gas and oil industries. In production-sharing agreements, Sonatrach typically holds a majority stake, and all foreign operators are required to collaborate with them.
Algeria has less access to biocapacity than the global average. Algeria’s biocapacity per person was 0.53 global hectares in 2016, a significant decrease from the global average of 1.6 global hectares per person. Algeria’s ecological footprint, or biocapacity, was 2.4 world hectares per person in 2016.
This indicates that they consume somewhat less than 4.5 times Algeria’s biocapacity. Algeria is experiencing a biocapacity shortage as a result. Diplomats from Italy and Spain met in April 2022 as Madrid became alarmed over Rome’s efforts to obtain a significant amount of Algerian gas.
Algeria will provide an additional 9 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy by the end of 2024, as per the agreement between Sonatrach, the Algerian gas company, and Eni, the Italian gas company.
Investigations and substitute energy sources
An estimated 100 billion dinars have been invested by Algeria in the construction of research facilities and the salary of researchers. The goal of this development initiative is to increase the production of alternative energy, particularly wind and solar energy. The government has invested in the establishment of a solar research park at Hassi R’Mel since Algeria is thought to have the greatest solar energy potential in the Mediterranean.
With plans to grow to 1,000 research laboratories and 20,000 research professors across several colleges, Algeria now leads the way in these areas. In addition to solar energy, nuclear power, space and satellite telecommunications, and medical research are also fields of research in Algeria.
Employment market
While the general unemployment rate in 2011 was 10%, the rate for young people remained higher, with individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 experiencing a rate of 21.5%. The job programs that were first implemented in 1988 were reinforced by the government in 2011, namely the structure of the Dispositif d’Aide à l’Insertion Professionnelle program, which assists job seekers.
Youth and female unemployment remains high even when the overall rate of unemployment has decreased.
Tourism
Lack of infrastructure has previously hindered the growth of Algeria’s tourist industry, but since 2004, a comprehensive plan for tourism development has been put into place, leading to the construction of several hotels of the highest contemporary standards.
Algeria is home to a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the Casbah of Algiers, an important citadel, Djémila and Timgad, both Roman ruins, Tipasa, a Phoenician and later Roman town, M’Zab Valley, a limestone valley with a sizable urbanized oasis, and Al Qal’a of Beni Hammad, the first capital of the Hammadid empire. The Tassili n’Ajjer mountain range is the sole natural World Heritage Site.
Transport
Algeria is a stop on two car routes that cross Africa:
- Cairo-Dakar Road
- Lagos-Algiers Highway
With more than 3,756 buildings, an estimated 180,000 km (110,000 mi) of roadways, and an 85% paving rate, Algeria has the densest road network in all of Africa. The massive infrastructure project known as the East-West Highway, which is presently being built, will supplement this network.
This 1,216-kilometer (756-mile) three-way roadway connects Annaba in the far east with the Tlemcen in the far west. The Trans-Sahara Highway, now fully paved, also passes through Algeria. The Algerian government is in favor of this route in order to boost commerce amongst the six nations it crosses Algeria, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Tunisia.
