Algeria (al-JEER-ee-uh), Arabic Al Djazair, French Algérie, republic (919,590 sq mi/2,381,741 sq km; 1990 estimated population 25,345,000; 2004 estimated population 32,129,324), NW Africa, bordering on Mauritania, Western Sahara, and Morocco in the W, on the Mediterranean Sea in the N, on Tunisia and Libya in the E, and on Niger and Mali in the S. Algiers is (cap.) and largest city of the country, which is divided into 48 wilaya, or provinces. Other major cities include Annaba, Blida, Constantine, Mostaganem, Oran, Sétif, Sidi Bel Abbès, Skikda, and Tlemcen.
Geography
Algeria falls into two main geographical areas, the N region and the much larger Saharan or S region. The N region, which is part of the Maghreb, is made up of four parallel E-W zones: a narrow lowland strip (interspersed with mountains) along the country’s 600-mi/970-km Mediterranean coastline; the Tell Atlas Mountains (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 Moutains, 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 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 Mountains in the S, where Algeria’s loftiest point, Mount 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 N (the Great Western Erg) and E (the Great Eastern Erg). Important oases include Touggourt, Biskra, Chenachane, In Zize, and Tin Rerhoh. The Chéliff River, which flows into the Mediterranean, is the largest of the country’s few permanent streams.
Population
The great majority of Algeria’s inhabitants are of Arab-Berber descent; the Berbers, beginning in the late 7th century A.D., adopted the Arabic language and Islam from the small number of Arabs who settled in the country. About 15% of the population still speaks a Berber language; these inhabitants live mostly in the mountainous regions of the N, but also include the nomadic Tuareg of the Sahara. About 1% of the population is of European descent. Almost all Algerians are Sunni Muslims; Arabic was established by the 1996 constitution as the country’s sole official language.
Economy
Since independence, there has been large-scale emigration to France by Algerian job seekers, who contribute substantial cash remittances to the country’s economy. About one quarter of Algeria’s workers are engaged in farming, but the contribution of agriculture to the country’s annual domestic product is much less than that of either mining or manufacturing, both of which began their main growth in the mid-1960s. Population growth, which has been explosive for decades, has slowed down to an estimated 1.28%; however, unemployment remains a serious problem, with as many as 25% of the working population without jobs. In 1993, the government introduced a policy of assistance to the neediest citizens, but it has not done much for the rest of the population. Per capita income has declined steadily since the late 1970s, though the economy as a whole has showed signs of growth (an estimated 7.4% increase in 2003). The state plays a leading role in planning the economy and owns many important industrial concerns, such as the mining and financial sectors. However, the government has implemented a policy of greater privatization of industries and an openness to foreign investment and joint ventures. Several 5-year development plans since the 1980s have stressed increases in manufacturing and irrigation. Farming is concentrated in the fertile valleys and basins of the N and in the oases of the Sahara. The principal crops are wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, citrus fruit, wine grapes, olives, tomatoes, tobacco, figs, and dates. Algeria is also an important producer of cork. Large numbers of sheep, poultry, goats, and cattle are raised. In the last few years, agricultural production has increased, which has helped reduce Algeria’s dependence on food imports. Petroleum, found principally in the E Sahara, is Algeria’s most important mineral resource and its leading export, although production was decreased in the 1980s in order to delay the depletion of resources. There are pipelines to the seaports of Arzew and Bejaïa in Algeria and As Sukhayrah in Tunisia. Much natural gas, another major export, is also produced, and in 1993 a 786-mi/1,265-km gas pipeline was laid between Hassi R’Mel (Algeria’s major gas producing field) and Seville, Spain, with the goal of increasing the country’s exports of gas to Europe. In 1996, Algeria earned about $12 billion in oil and gas exports, a 28% increase from the previous year; oil and gas production also rose by c.8%. In 2001 an estimated 1.52 million barrels a day of oil were produced. Other minerals extracted in significant quantities include iron, lead, and copper ores, phosphates, zinc, mercury, antimony, kaolin, salt, and coal. The country’s leading manufacturing includes processed food (notably olive oil), beverages (especially wine), tobacco products, construction materials, chemicals, metals (including steel), refined petroleum, liquefied natural gas, textiles, and clothing. There are small forest-products and fishing industries. France is the country’s major trade partner. Algeria’s limited railroad and road networks serve mainly the N region.
History to Late 15th Century
The earliest recorded inhabitants of Algeria were Berber-speaking people who by the second millennium B.C. were living in small village-based political units. In the 9th century B.C., Carthage was founded in modern-day Tunisia, and Carthaginians eventually established trading posts at what are now 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. In 146 B.C., Rome destroyed Carthage, and by 106 B.C., 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. By the 5th century A.D. 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 century a temporary veneer of unity and order was forged by the Byzantine Empire, which conquered parts of the N. African coast including the region E of Algiers. In the late 7th and early 8th centuries 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 Arab. 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 E part of the country came under the influence of dynasties centered in Tunisia and the W part was controlled by states centered in Morocco.
History - Late 15th Century to 1820
In the late 15th century Spain expelled the Muslims from its soil and soon thereafter captured the coastal cities of Algeria. Algerians appealed to Turkish pirates for help, and, with the aid of the Ottoman Empire, they ended Spanish control by the mid-16th century. Algeria then came under Ottoman rule. The country was 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 power of the Ottomans did not extend much beyond the Tell Atlas. The coast was a stronghold of pirates who preyed on Mediterranean shipping. Privateering reached a high point in the 16th and 17th centuries and declined thereafter; there was a temporary increase during the Napoleonic Wars (early 19th century). A large percentage of the dey’s revenues came from pirates. Considerable trade with Europe was also 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. In an effort to discourage privateering from Algerian ports, a British fleet bombarded Algiers in 1816. By this time the dey’s power was greatly circumscribed and he effectively controlled only a small part of the coastal region.
History - 1820 to 1900
In the 1820s a minor dispute with the French resulted in Charles X of France imposing a naval blockade of Algeria and then, in June 1830, invading the country. The dey capitulated in a month, but most of the country resisted. In 1834 the French renewed their drive to occupy Algeria, which was accomplished in 1847. Until 1910, France faced isolated (but occasionally fierce) resistance, mainly in Kabylia and the Sahara region. Colonization by Europeans (½ of whom were French and the rest mainly Spanish, Italian, and Maltese) began c.1840 and accelerated after 1848, when Algeria was declared to be French territory. By 1880 persons of European descent numbered about 375,000, and they controlled most of the better farmland.
History 1900 to World War II
In 1900 the country was given administrative and financial autonomy and placed under a governor general, who was advised by bodies whose membership was two-thirds European and one-third Muslim. By this time the colonists had started large-scale agricultural and industrial enterprises (introducing, among other things, wine and tobacco production) and had built roads, railroads, schools, and hospitals. The cities in particular were modernized. These improvements were intended for the Europeans’ own use, and the Muslims benefited little from them, being left with scant political or economic power and with few legal rights. Although the official French policy in Algeria was to encourage the Muslims to adapt to European ways as preparation for full citizenship, very little was done to implement this policy, and there was virtually no mixing between the European and Muslim populations. After World War I two types of protest groups were started by the Muslims. One movement called for a fully independent, Muslim-controlled Algeria; an early exponent was Messali Hadj, who in 1924 founded the Star of North Africa movement (later MTLD). The other faction sought assimilation with France and the equality of Muslims and Europeans in Algeria; its chief exponent was Ferhat Abbas, who, however, after several rebuffs by the French, was calling for Algerian autonomy by the mid-1940s and advocated complete independence by the early 1950s.
History - World War II to 1950
In World War II, Algeria came under the Vichy regime, but later became (1942) Allied headquarters in N. Africa; it also served for a time as the seat of Charles de Gaulle’s Free French government. In May 1945, a spontaneous nationalist uprising in Sétif resulted in the killing of about 90 Europeans; the French responded by a sweeping crackdown during which at least 1,500 Muslims (and perhaps as many as 10,000) were killed. In 1947 the French national assembly passed the Statute of Algeria, under which the Muslims were to be given some additional political power. However, most of the statute’s provisions were not implemented, and the colonists (in partnership with the French govternment) continued to control Algerian affairs.
History 1950 to 1962
Despairing of ever gaining meaningful concessions from the colonists or the French government, a radical group of Muslims in 1954 seceded from Messali’s MTLD, formed the National Liberation Front (FLN; its military arm was called the National Liberation Army or ALN), and on November 1 attacked police posts and other government offices in the Batna-Constantine region. In the following months the revolt gradually spread to other parts of the country. The FLN called for the establishment of an independent Algerian state controlled by the Muslim majority. On August 20, 1955, the FLN carried out more extensive attacks on the colonists (especially in the Skikda area), and the French responded with severe reprisals. By 1956 the FLN had the support of virtually all Algerian nationalists, controlled much of the countryside, and was organizing frequent attacks in the cities (especially Algiers). In 1957 the French successfully put down the resistance, and the FLN was forced to concentrate on guerrilla activities in the rural areas. By this time, about 500,000 French troops, including crack paratroopers, were stationed in Algeria. In May 1958, there were demonstrations in Algeria by colonists and elements of the French army who feared that the government in France might negotiate a settlement with the Muslims; an ensuing political crisis in France resulted in the return to power of de Gaulle and the establishment of the 5th French Republic. Fighting continued, and in 1959 the FLN established at Tunis the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), with Ferhat Abbas as prime minister. By 1960, de Gaulle had come to recognize the inevitability of some form of Algerian independence; the main problem concerned the future status of the almost 1,000,000 European colonists, many of whom had been born in Algeria. Sensing the direction of French policy, the colonists and army (both of whom aimed for the full integration of Algeria with France) staged major protests in January 1960, and April 1961, but both were put down by de Gaulle. In mid-1961, Ferhat Abbas resigned as prime minister of the GPRA and was replaced by Ben Yusuf Ben Khedda.
History - 1962 to 1965
Shortly thereafter, negotiations with the French government began and in March 1962, an agreement was signed. The accord provided for an end to the fighting and for the establishment of an independent Algerian state after a transition period. France approved the agreement in a referendum held in early April 1962. Members of the French army in Algeria, banded together in the Secret Army Organization (OAS), launched an armed campaign against Muslims in an attempt to prevent the implementation of the accord. However, in late April their leader, General Raoul Salan, was captured and by late June the army revolt had been ended. Already in April the colonists had begun to leave Algeria in large numbers; by October only about 250,000 remained and most of them soon left as well. On July 1, 1962, the people of Algeria voted almost unanimously for independence in a referendum, and on July 3 France recognized Algeria’s sovereignty. As a result of the fighting and of the exodus of colonists, the Algerian economy lay in ruins by mid-1962. A constituent assembly chosen in late 1962 established a strong presidential government, and in September 1963 Ahmed Ben Bella was elected president. Ben Bella, who increasingly concentrated power in his hands, followed a left-wing domestic policy that included the confiscation of European-held farms and the nationalization of various parts of the economy.
History - 1965 to 1980
On June 19, 1965, Ben Bella was deposed in a bloodless coup d’etat by Houari Boumedienne, his defense minister, who suspended the constitution and established a revolutionary council, of which he was president, to run the country. Algeria gave strong vocal support to the Arabs in the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973 and also contributed some soldiers and matériel (especially aircraft). After an initial slowdown Boumedienne increased the pace of state involvement in the economy. In 1971 he nationalized (with compensation) the French oil and natural gas companies active in Algeria; he planned thereby to increase production and thus to augment Algeria’s revenues. By 1972 output had reached record levels, and there was a growing emphasis on the export of liquefied natural gas. Price rises for petroleum and natural gas in 1973–1974 resulted in considerably higher export earnings. Boumedienne died in 1978 and was succeeded as head of the republic by FLN leader Colonel Chadli Bendjedid, who ruled with Prime Minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali.
History 1980 to Present
In 1980, there was Berber rioting when legislation was proposed that would make Arabic the only official language; the legislation was passed in 1990. A massive earthquake struck NW Algeria in 1980, killing an estimated 4,500 people. During the 1970s and 1980s, Algeria provided refuge and support to the Polisaro movement that was fighting Morocco with the goal of establishing an independent Western Sahara. This contributed to growing tensions between the two countries. President Bendjedid was reelected in 1984. In 1989 a series of constitutional reforms legalized opposition parties, made the prime minister responsible to the legislature (instead of the FLN), and guaranteed workers the right to strike. In the same year, however, an information law was passed establishing government control over the media. In 1992, the main Islamic party, Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), won a national election, but the result was nullified. The military then took power and banned the FIS. Years of extreme violence followed, and tens of thousands lost their lives. A succession of governments took place in an environment of instability, and calls for the restoration of the democratic process and the lifting of the ban on the FIS were ignored. The search for a political solution to this crisis remains a major preocupation.
Government
Since April 1999, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been president (reelected in April 2004).
