Algeria

Algeria (in Arabic, الجزائر‎, al-Yazā'ir; in French, Algérie; in Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is one of the fifty-four countries that make up the African continent. Its capital and most populous city is Algiers. It is located in the north of the continent, bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the east by Tunisia and Libya, to the south by Niger and Mali, to the southwest by Mauritania and to the west by the non-autonomous territory of Western Sahara and Morocco. With 2,381,740 km² it is the largest country on the continent since 2011, and with 43 million inhabitants in 2020, the ninth most populous, behind Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan.

Along with Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya, it is one of the countries that comprise the Maghreb. Constitutionally it is defined as an Arab, Amazig and Muslim country. It is a member of the African Union and the Arab League since practically its independence, and contributed to the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) in 1988. With an HDI of 0.745 In 2021, it is one of the most developed African countries, after Mauritius and Seychelles.

Etymology

Algeria takes its name in 1842, from the French form Algérie, from Algiers, its capital city (identical in Arabic), which literally means 'the islands' (al-Ŷaza'ir), short for original name, Ŷazā'ir Banī Māzġānna (جزائر بني مازغان‎, 'islands of the sons of Mazġannā& #39;), according to al-Idrisi.

In European languages it appears from the XIII century with different forms: Alghero, Algezira, Zizera, Aurger, Alger and Aljer; the latter is the Catalan form from which Spanish took it.

Hypotheses about what these islands are have been numerous. Diego de Haedo wrote that it was an ancient island located in front of the city; the archaeologist Adrien Berbrugger took up this interpretation, applying it to some islets that disappeared when the port was built.

Muslim medieval geographers held that island is a metaphor for Algeria's fertile coastline between the Sahara and the Mediterranean.

An alternative hypothesis holds that the place name originates from the Zirid Berber dynasty. Indeed, Buluggin ibn Ziri (from tiziri, "moonlight" in Berber) founded Algiers on the ruins of the Roman city of Icosium.

History

The African continent, the Mediterranean basin, as well as Europe and the East have been essential elements for the evolution and historical enrichment of Algeria. In addition, in the extreme south of the country you can visit the largest natural museum in the world, in which there is enough evidence to attest to the extraordinary richness of the country's history.

Prehistory

The cave paintings of Tassili n'Ajjer date from the 3000 a. C. and are a World Heritage Site.

There are archaeological sites in Algeria, where skeletal remains of hominids from 2 million years ago have been discovered, according to data obtained by archaeomagnetism. Researchers have found remains of Homo sapiens sapiens there. In the far southeast of the country, the Tassili National Park is home to the world's largest collection of rock paintings. The park has been classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco and has been a Man and Biosphere Reserve since 1986.

Antiquity

The real Mausoleum of Mauritania, of the century III a. C.

Roman Enrollment of Agueneb in the province of Laghouat

Algeria has been inhabited by Berbers for more than ten thousand years. The Berbers built the first monuments of Antiquity, of which many vestiges still remain. In the last millennium B.C. C., they built several important mausoleums, among which the one in Medghassen stands out, in the province of Batna, in the northwest of the country. Since the year 1000 B.C. C. there is evidence that they maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians (Carthaginians), who had established colonies on the coast, and with the Egyptians.

In the III century B.C. C., the Romans call this region Numidia, inhabited by Masilian Berbers and Maselinos. The latter allied with the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War, while the former, allies of the Romans and ruled by Masinisa, ended up receiving the entire kingdom from their conquerors.

On Masinissa's death in 148, Scipio Aemilius divided the powers of the kingdom among Masinissa's three sons, giving each control over the treasury, the army, and justice respectively. In 113, Jugurtha rose up against the Romans and was defeated, after which Numidia was ruled by a vassal king of Rome until, under Diocletian, it became a mere province of the empire and finally reverted to the Berbers until the invasion. from the Vandals in 430.

Roman Ruins of Thamugadi (Timgad) with the Trajan Arch.

The Romans left important cities in northern Algeria, including Iol Caesarea, Tipasa (Tipaza), where one of the oldest necropolises in the Mediterranean is located, Cuicul, Thubursicu-Numidarum (Khemissa), Madaure, Thamugadi (Timgad), Diana Veteranorum, Theveste (Tébéssa) and Lambaesis.

In the early VI century, troops of Justinian I drove out the Vandals and reclaimed the kingdom for the Byzantine Empire, which ruled it precariously until the arrival of the Arabs in the 8th century century.

Islamization

The fall of Rome after the Vandal invasion and the instability during the Byzantine period led to the reconstitution of some of the Christian Berber principalities, which resisted occupation by the Muslim Umayyads between 670 and 708.

The best-known characters in this conflict were the Christian king Kusayla, who defeated Sidi Ocba ibn Nafaa in the year 689, near Biskra, and the Christian queen and warrior Dihya, called "la Kahena", which at the head of the Berbers (mainly the famous Zenetas), inflicted, in the battle of Meskiana in 693, a severe defeat to the expeditionary body of the emir Hassan ibn in Noman, which he will drive away to Tripoli.

Mansourah mosque in the province of Tremecén.

After the Muslim conquest, the citizens of the territory gradually adopted the Islamic religion (to protect themselves against attacks by nomads) and gradually changed the Romance language (descendant of "Vulgar Latin", with Berber influence). who spoke in Arabic. Berber, Phoenician, Latin, Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, French: the mixture of languages, the "linguistic miscegenation", is intense, giving rise to Algerian Arabic (and Maghrebi Arabic in general) that remains until our days. The Berber language has also survived to the present day.

As for Arab immigration in North Africa, it was of little importance except in the two outer regions of Algeria, Kairouan and Tangier. Since its total population has received a limited Arab demographic contribution, a large part of the Arabic-speaking populations is Berber.

The first part of the Muslim conquest of Spain was led by a Berber contingent made up almost entirely of converts, from chief Táriq ibn Ziyad, who gave his name to the Rock of Gibraltar (جبل طارق, «Ŷabal Ṭāriq»). After Tárik's success, the caliph had him put in chains and he died on the way.

At the beginning of the VIII century, before the Umayyad domination of the entire Maghreb, several Zenet Berber tribes began to unite in around Abu Qurra and rebelled against the Arab occupation. Their struggle will continue under various Kharijite Berber dynasties in a conflict that lasted for nearly a century.

In the X century, Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi founded the Fatimid dynasty in lower Kabylia, where he found a favorable echo to his millenarian preaching. The Fatimids established their authority in North Africa between 909 and 1171 and founded a breakaway caliphate of Baghdad's Abbasids. This kingdom was marked by numerous Kharijite revolts (Kharijism), especially that of Abu Yazid leading the Berber tribes in 944, who inflicted the most severe defeat on the weakened and vulnerable Fatimid army, taking the city of Kairouan. The revolt was defeated by Ziri ibn Manad, at the head of the Sanhaya tribes, who, to save the empire, received the post of governor of the central Maghreb. In this way, in 972 the Fatimids, after the Egyptian accession, had less interest in the Maghreb and it was their son, Bologhine ibn Ziri, who inherited control of Ifriqiya. The Zirids will reign in the place for about two centuries.

Extension of the Fatimid Caliphate in 969 AD.

Hammad ibn Bologhine, his son, ruled the Zirids independently in northern present-day Algeria from 1014, recognizing the Sunni Abbasids of Baghdad as legitimate caliphs, and founding the Hammadi dynasty. The Zirids also recognized the Abbasid caliphs in 1046 by openly showing the Fatimids their abandonment of Shiism.

From 1048 some Hilalian Arab tribes from the south emigrated to North Africa and were sent by the Fatimid power to suppress the Zirids and Hammadids. In successive waves they penetrated some large cities, which they looted and destroyed. In Algeria these southern tribes allied with some local tribes. These two kingdoms, prosperous at the time, will be greatly impoverished by these raids. The Zirids will change their capital from Kairouan to Mahdia, the Hammadis from Al-Qal'a (Al-Qal'a of Beni Hammad, currently recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to Bejaia.

Algeria was then under the control of the Almoravids in a small region in the west, under the Hammadids in the center and under the Zirids in the east. In 1152, a new Muslim Berber dynasty, the Almohads, definitively defeated the reigning powers, led by Muhammad ibn Tumart, their spiritual leader, who was succeeded by Abd al-Mumin. The Almohads formed one of the most powerful empires in the Mediterranean, unifying the Maghreb and Al-Andalus until 1269. Through the great cities of the coast (Bugía, Annaba, Algiers...), they opened up to the Christian West with which they maintained close trade exchanges.

Slave market in Algiers in 1684

The fall of the Almohads marks a turning point in relations with the Christian countries of the north, which are organizing for the Reconquest, while the myth of Muslim invincibility collapses. In the Maghreb some zenet dynasties prevail, such as the Merinids of Fez in present-day Morocco, and the Abdelwadíes of Tlemcen in present-day Algeria. The Hafsids take over Tunisia and eastern Algeria. These dynasties were prosperous in the 13th and 14th centuries, but were hopelessly pressured by the rise of Spain and Portugal towards the end of the 15th century. Undermined then by internal struggles for access to the throne, the Almohad empire sees its power diminished and its domains gradually break down.

Following the final victory of the troops of the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, part of the population of Al-Andalus is forced to flee the Iberian Peninsula. Although the Mudejars had already begun to emigrate at the end of the XV century, the flow to the Maghreb intensified after the Pragmatic Sanction of 1502 that forced them to convert to Catholicism, but above all after their complete expulsion in 1609. The then-called Moriscos took refuge mainly in both Morocco and Algeria, countries that they were completely unaware of. The arrival of these great families in the western half of Algeria will profoundly influence culture and social life and will contribute to the construction of large cities and the expansion of its economy.

Spanish presence

Spanish fortress of Santa Cruz in Orán.

In July 1501, the Portuguese launched an expedition to try to land on the beach of the Andalusians (plage des Andalouses) in Oran.

It was not until Mazalquivir's journey in 1505, that Spain was seen participating in the first expedition against Oran. The city was ravaged by more than 6,000 fires and some 25,000 people died. Later, the city was taken by the army of Pedro Navarro, commissioned by the delegate of the Spanish crown, Cardinal Cisneros, on May 17, 1509. After the occupation of the port of Mazalquivir (1505) and the city of Orán (1509), the city was abandoned and then fully occupied by Spanish troops. Since 1509 Cardinal Ximénez de Cisneros began to build the church of San Luis on the ruins of the Ibn El Beitar mosque, which dominates the old town on both sides of the city.

In 1510, Ferdinand the Catholic attacked the city of Algiers. The Spanish besieged it and then built a new fortification on an islet in the Bay of Algiers, making the city a real fortress. They take possession of the rock of the port of Algiers, as a base to bombard the city and thus prevent supplies from reaching it. Salem Ben Toumi, chief of the Beni Mezghenna tribe, seeks the help of the Turks, then Pedro Navarro occupies Bugía between the years 1510 and 1555. In 1554, the governor count of Alcaudete made an alliance with the sultan of Morocco, Mohamed Ech- Cheikh, against the Turks, but they managed to establish themselves in Algiers despite fierce Spanish resistance; even in spite of these facts, the established Spanish fortress was maintained.

Landing and ill-treatment of prisoners in Algiers. Recorded by Jan Goeree and Casper Luyken, 1706.

In the 16th century, the Spanish gain strength in Oran and manage to build a prison on a rocky outcrop near the Mazalquivir port (Mers El Kébir). This place was inhabited by many monkeys (Spanish monkeys), which gave its name to the fortress. The Spanish prisoners locked up in "La Mona" they could see their families once a year, always coinciding with the Easter Sunday holiday. As a curiosity, "La Mona" It was the name of the cake with which they honored the pilgrims of the Virgin of the town and the visitors of Murdjajo.

In 1563, Bazán de Silva y Álvarez, Marquis of Santa Cruz, built the fortress of Santa Cruz on top of the Aïdour peak in Orán. In 1568, Juan de Austria visited Mazalquivir and Orán.

The Jews of Oran did not have such an easy life with the Spanish, considering them enemies of the faith. The Jews who live in Ras El Ain Ravin and Blanco were expelled from Oran by the Spanish in 1669 and had to go to live on the mountain of La Cornisa Superior (Misserghin).

The Spanish proceeded to restore the fortress to accommodate the city's governors. "The fortifications of the place consisted of a wall, surmounted by high towers, spaced between them, the castle itself, or "kasbah", as recounted in the chronicles of the same. The Spanish governor "will establish his headquarters in the dungeon, the measurements of the land will be more than two and a half kilometers long, these fortifications consisted of numerous fortresses, bastions and watchtowers."

Algeria, on Easter Monday in Oran, amusement of the Spanish colony.

Despite these fortifications, the city was subjected to incessant attacks on the slopes of the walls. In 1701, El Rozalcazar, or Bordj Lahmar or Chateau Neuve, was considered the largest of the fortifications in the city of Oran. So in 1707, Moulay Ismaïl, sultan of Morocco, tried to force the Spanish to remain on the defensive, seeing his army decimated. From these facts, the city maintained a constant growth, being necessary to gain space and air beyond the walls through the demolition of the walls, which is carried out for several years in what was left of the city at that time. moment. The Spanish are then trapped by the raiders inside the fortress through the use of traps, and already due to lack of supplies, are fed for the first time with the famous stew called "la calentica". Already in 1770, Oran is transformed into a city of 532 houses and 42 buildings, with a population of 2,317, and having 2,821 bourgeois deportees who participate in free trade. Within the framework of the Spanish reign of Carlos III, the supporters of the conservation of the city and its abandonment confront each other. Between 1780 and 1783, Minister Floridablanca proposed to his English counterpart the exchange of the city of Oran for British rule of the Gibraltar peninsula. Finally, the earthquake that devastated the city in 1792, ruining its walls, led the Court of Madrid to carry out negotiations with the Regency of Algiers and proceed to hand it over. Likewise, a peace and trade treaty was signed.

French Department (1830-1962)

French colonization of Algeria, 1836.

Map of French Algeria.

Starting in 1830, France gradually established an important colony in this territory that came to have the status of department of France. In 1954, after France refused to develop a decolonization plan for Algeria, a liberation war broke out that culminated in the country's independence in 1962.

The events of the war of independence are narrated, in a semi-documentary style and without concessions, in the film The Battle of Algiers (1966) by Gillo Pontecorvo, which won the Golden Lion of the Venice Festival in 1966.

The Turkish government filed an international indictment against France, accusing it of committing genocide against the Algerians, after French lawmakers passed a law making denial of the Armenian genocide a crime. Turkey insists that France's actions during its colonial rule over Algeria and during the Algerian war amounted to genocide, claiming that 15 percent of the Algerian population was massacred by the French, and that starting in 1945, the Algerians were mercilessly martyred.

On December 20, 2012, French President François Hollande acknowledged before the Algerian Parliament the suffering inflicted on the Algerian people by French colonization for 132 years, declaring that "Algeria was subjected to a deeply unfair and brutal system », «the massacres of Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata», «remain anchored in the conscience of the Algerians, but also of the French».

Independent Algeria (1962-present)

After a bloody liberation war that lasted eight years and caused more than a million Algerian deaths, on March 18, 1962 the French government and the FLN (National Liberation Front) signed the Evian Accords that established a ceasefire and the calling of a self-determination referendum. Algeria gained independence on July 5, 1962, and after the first general elections in September Ferhat Abbas, elected president of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), proclaimed the creation of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria.

About a million Europeans left the country, and with it the country lost most of its administrators, businessmen and technicians. 70% of the population was without work, but there was a deep feeling of national solidarity.

The very low schooling rate (less than 10%) during the colonial period left the country without technical and administrative executives. There are no architects, just a few dozen engineers and doctors, and fewer than 2,000 professors.

Presidents of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria

Ahmed Ben Bella (1962-1965)

Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's first president.

In the heart of the FLN were the moderates (Ben Khedda, Mohammed Boudiaf and Hocine Aït Ahmed), and the socialists (Ben Bella, Mohammed Khider and Houari Boumedienne, chief of the Army General Staff). Following the power struggle that broke out the day after the referendum on July 5, 1962, Ahmed Ben Bella took over as general secretary of the FLN political bureau in April 1963 and pushed the conservatives out of the FLN. In September of the same year, the National Assembly approved the first Algerian Constitution and Ahmed Ben Bella was elected president of the country.

The 1963 Constitution determined the socialist orientation of the country and made the FLN a single party. Ben Bella nationalized French properties, as well as other companies considered key to the country's economy. He established a socialist regime based on the self-management of small and medium-sized companies, undertook an agrarian reform and designed a women's liberation program, encouraging them to abandon the veil and integrate into social and political life. He launched a literacy program and attempted a criticized campaign of Arabization of the population that led him to suppress protests and Berber revolts. Progressively Ben Bella instituted an authoritarian presidential regime, centralizing in his person all the powers (general secretary of the FLN, president of the country and commander-in-chief of the army). On June 19, 1965, he was removed from the head of state by a military coup led by Houari Boumedienne, and remained imprisoned for more than ten years.

Houari Boumedienne (1965-1978)

The coup made the army seize power. A revolutionary council made up of 26 officers became the supreme body under the leadership of Houari Boumedienne, who assumed the functions of president and prime minister. Boumedienne ruled with an iron fist, postponing the formalities of democracy in the interest of long-term economic goals, and set the country on the path of nationalist socialism, following much of the trend of Arab socialism. In accordance with this, in May 1968 Boumedienne nationalized the companies for the prospecting, extraction and commercialization of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.

Algeria experienced significant economic and social development under his rule. Between 1962 and 1982, the Algerian population increased from 10 to 20 million people and, massively rural before independence, was 45% urbanized. Annual per capita income, which in 1962 did not exceed 2,000 francs, exceeds 11,000 francs twenty years later, while the school enrollment rate ranges from 75 to 95% depending on the region, far from the 10% of Algeria. French. Since agricultural opportunities were considerably limited by the desert, Boumédiène opted for industrial development. He draws up a three-year plan for the period 1967-1969, followed by two four-year plans (1970-1973 and 1974-1977). They are accompanied by great works, such as the Trans-Saharan (or "path of unity") linking the Mediterranean with black Africa or the "green dam", a forest that will be planted in twenty years to prevent the advance of the desert. The road network is widespread in Algerian territory (the network developed during colonization was limited to port cities).

Houari Boumedienne.

In 1976, after a broad national debate, it was decided to pay more attention to the living conditions of the population, as well as to approve a new Constitution and organize elections. By those dates, the Algerian State had assumed the role of driver of the national economy, but the standard of living of the population remained as stagnant as before independence, the main economic activity of the country continued to be agriculture and mining, while large government economic projects failed due to inefficiency.

Consequently, in the mid-1970s the emigration of Algerian workers to France continued, seeking in the old metropolis the income that Algeria itself was unable to give them, while the bureaucracy increased, although always dominated by the FLN. Boumedienne, the only candidate in the 1976 elections, was elected president; In the National Assembly, all the deputies belonged to the FLN, but this party was far from being accepted by the popular masses, who accused it of having become a true elite closed in on itself. The army was at the center of power.

Algeria acquired a prominent international role in agreement with the Arab countries, the non-aligned and the socialist countries. He negotiated with Vietnam for the release of the last American hostages, declared war on Israel in 1973, and sent troops to support Egypt in the Yom Kippur War. In 1965, Yasser Arafat opened an office in Algiers, and was introduced to the UN by the Algerian foreign minister in 1974. That same year, Algeria got the UN to condemn apartheid in South Africa. He acted as a mediator between Iraq and Iran to resolve their border disputes in 1975 (Algiers Accords). On the other hand, its disputes with Morocco worsened as a result of Algerian support for the Polisario Front and the creation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976.

When Boumedienne died in 1978, 70% of the Algerian population was under the age of 25, which meant enormous social and economic pressure. Everyone knew that the fragile and subsidized local industry would not be enough to employ all these people and that no reform had been able to stop the reduction in income from agriculture, which indirectly impoverished the rural masses more and more. The large revenues earned by Algeria after the 1973 oil crisis were spent on failed economic projects, and were needed to subsidize consumer goods. Thus, the breeding ground for the germs of the crisis of the 1980s was formed.

Chadli Bendjedid (1978-1992)

Chadli Bendjedid.

Colonel Chadli Bendjedid, commander of the Oran military region and compromise candidate, was appointed president in 1978. An opponent of Boumedienne's socialist policies, he gave more space to private initiatives and slowly introduced a market economy, albeit without relinquishing state control of the economy. However, starting in 1985, the fall in the price of oil caused the country's income to fall sharply. On the other hand, the population explosion caused unemployment to rise rapidly and the housing crisis became even more acute.

On October 4, 1988, street riots broke out in the city of Bab-el-Oued and the protests spread to other cities. In reality, President Bendjedid, who appreciated the reforms introduced, was not accused so much; It was the former FLN gyrfalcons who were leading a life of luxury after benefiting from state control over the economy, as well as having invaded almost the entire state apparatus since the days of Boumedienne. Popular accusations of political corruption against the elitist bureaucracy of the FLN have become very common since 1988, while groups linked to Islamic fundamentalism were the majority in these demonstrations. The repression of the army produced hundreds of deaths.

Following these "events of 1988" Chadli Bendjedid quickly introduced reforms. In November of that year he separated the functions of president and general secretary of the FLN. From then on the prime minister would be accountable to Parliament. In February 1989 multipartism was introduced by referendum. Up to 47 parties appeared, including the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front), legalized in September of that year. Well-known opposition figures returned from exile: in December Hocine Aït, the leader of the FFS (Front of the Socialist Forces) did, and in September 1990 former president Ben Bella. Recently created newspapers and magazines multiplied and people began to talk about the "Algerian spring".

Market in the main square of Ghardaïa (1971)

• Abdelmalek Benhabyles (1992)
• Mohammed Boudiaf (1992)
• Ali Kafi (1992-1994)
• Liamine Zéroual (1994-1999)
• Abdelaziz Buteflika (1999 - 2019)

Canceled Elections (1991)

In June 1990, municipal and provincial elections took place. The FFS, which had many supporters among the Kabyles, as well as other parties protested the way the elections had been organized and decided to boycott them. Given the reduction in the possibilities of election, the voters voted en masse against the FLN and the FIS obtained 52.42% of the votes.

In spite of everything, Chadli Bendjedid decided to continue with democratization and announced legislative elections for June 1991. However, the new electoral law made it more difficult for the FIS to win. He called for a strike and at the beginning of June 1991 there were riots that led to the declaration of a state of siege. The Hamrouche government resigned and the new prime minister, Ghozali, postponed the elections until December. Thousands of FIS supporters were arrested, including the two most important leaders, Abassi Madani and Ali Benhadj. On December 26, in the first round of the elections, of the 430 available, 228 were covered, of which 189 were from the FIS. The FFS obtained 25 and the FLN only 15. This was followed by a strong controversy between supporters and opponents that the democratic experience should continue. On January 12, 1992, under pressure from the army, President Chadli resigned and the second round of the elections was annulled. The army, together with the FLN, established a "High Council of State" made up of five members and chaired by one of the most important historical figures in the struggle for independence: Mohammed Boudiaf, who had lived in exile in Morocco since 1964. The FIS was dissolved, its leaders were arrested and a state of emergency was declared. Then the chain events followed one another: the terrorism/repression cycle began and no one was left out of the reach of one or the other. At the end of June 1992 M. Boudiaf was assassinated.

Civil War (1991-2002)

Algeria, 2012

The country followed the one-party model until 1988. After the legalization of multipartyism, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the municipal elections and the first round of the legislative elections in 1991 (see Elections since the implementation of multipartyism (1989)), but the army declared a state of emergency and prevented him from assuming power. This unleashed the violence led by various armed groups such as the Islamic Salvation Army, the armed wing of the FIS, or its rival, the Armed Islamic Group. Since then thousands of people have been killed in rebel offensives and official counter-offensives. The military ruled until 1994.

In the late 1990s, part of the eastern region of the country was the scene of attacks against the civilian population by fundamentalist groups seeking to destabilize the central government. Several massacres took place, some of which left more than 200 fatalities.

Presidency of Bouteflika (1999-2019)

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, leader of Algeria between 1999 and 2019.

In the 1999 presidential elections, Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected, who was re-elected in 2004, in 2009 and again in April 2014, beginning his fourth consecutive term. He resigned for health reasons in 2019. He was succeeded as president by Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Government and politics

Hemiciclo of the National People's Assembly.

The political regime of Algeria is that of a semi-presidential republic, in which the President of Algeria is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government.

In November 2020, Algeria authorized a referendum to approve the new constitutional reform that, among other things, authorizes its army to intervene militarily abroad for the first time in its history in the context of peace missions in accordance with the resolutions of the UN, African Union and Arab League.

Algeria's constitution dates from 2020. The president is elected every five years directly by the population with the right to vote. He can be re-elected for one time. He appoints the Prime Minister and, in consultation with the Prime Minister, the members of the Government. The Prime Minister presents his program of government to the lower house of Parliament for ratification. Parliament consists of two chambers: the National People's Assembly (the lower house) and the National Council (the upper house). Bills they are debated first in the National Popular Assembly and then in the Council of the Nation. Although bills are debated in both chambers, only the National People's Congress can modify bills. The members of the National Popular Assembly are elected by the population with the right to vote for a period of five years. One third of the members of the Council of the Nation are appointed by the president and the other two thirds are chosen by the legislature at the local and district level.

Human Rights

In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Algeria has signed or ratified:

Status of major international human rights instruments

Algeria	International treaties
	CESCR		CCPR			CERD	CED	CEDAW		CAT		CRC			MWC	CRPD
	CESCR	CESCR-OP	CCPR	CCPR-OP1	CCPR-OP2-DP			CEDAW	CEDAW-OP	CAT	CAT-OP	CRC	CRC-OP-AC	CRC-OP-SC		CRPD	CRPD-OP
Pertenence
Signed and ratified, signed, but not ratified, neither signed nor ratified, without information, it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies.

National Defense

The National People's Army of Algeria (ENPA) (Arabic: الجيش الوطني الشعبي) (French: Armée Nationale Populaire) is the name given to the Algerian Armed Forces (FAA). The ENPA was the armed wing of the National Liberation Front during the Algerian War of Independence. The President of Algeria is according to the Algerian constitution, the supreme commander of the Algerian Armed Forces.

Political-administrative organization

Algiers, first city of Algeria.

Algeria is currently divided into 58 vilayats (provinces), 553 dairas (counties) and 1,541 baladiyahs (municipalities). The capital and largest city of each Algerian vilayat, daira and baladiyah always have the same name as the vilayat, daira or baladiyah where it is located. The same applies to the largest daira of the vilayat or the largest baladiyah of the daira.

According to the Algerian constitution, a vilayate is a “territorial collectivity” that enjoys some economic freedom. The APW or "L'Assemblée Populaire Wilayale" (Popular Parliament of “Wilayale”), is the political entity that regulates a province. A "Valí" (Prefect) heads each province. This person is chosen by the President of Algeria to handle the decisions of the APW.

The APW also has a “president”, who is elected by the members of the assembly.

Map of the Algerian provinces numbered according to the official order.

Administrative divisions have changed several times since independence. When introducing new provinces, the number of the old provinces is maintained, hence the non-alphabetical order. With their official numbers, they are currently:

#	Valiato	Surface (km2)	Population	Map	#	Valiato	Surface (km2)	Population
1	Adrar	402,197	439,700		30	Uargla	211,980	552,539
2	Chlef	4,975	1,013,718		31	Oran	2.114	1,584.607
3	Laghouat	25,057	477,328		32	The Bayadh	78.870	262,187
4	Oum El Bouaghi	6.768	644,364		33	Illizi	285,000	54.490
5	Batna	12,192	1,128,030		34	Bordj Bou Arréridj	4.115	634.396
6	Bugía	3.268	915.835		35	Bumerdés	1.591	795.019
7	Biskra	20,986	730,262		36	The Tarf	3,339	411,783
8	Béchar	161,400	274,866		37	Tinduf	58,193	159,000
9	Blida	1,696	1,009,892		38	Tissemsilt	3.152	296,366
10	Bouira	4.439	694,750		39	The Oued	54,573	673,934
11	Tamanrasset	556,200	198,691		40	Jenchela	9,811	384,268
12	Tébessa	14,227	657,227		41	Souk Ahras	4,541	440.299
13	Tremecé	9,061	945.525		42	Tipasa	2,166	617.661
14	Tiaret	20,673	842.060		43	Mila	9,375	768,419
15	Tizi Uzu	3,568	1,119.646		44	Aín Defla	4.897	771,890
16	Algiers	273	2,947,461		45	Naama	29.950	209,470
17	Djelfa	66.415	1,223,223		46	Aín Temushent	2,376	384,565
18	Jijel	2.577	634.412		47	Gardaya	86.105	375.988
19	Sétif	6.504	1,496,150		48	Relizan	4.870	733.060
20	Saida	6,764	328.685		49	The M'Ghair	8.835	162.267
21	Skikda	4.026	904,195		50	The Menia	62.215	57.276
22	Sidi Bel Abbes	9,150	603,369		51	Ouled Djellal	11.410	174.219
23	Annaba	1.439	640.050		52	Bordj Baji Mokhtar	120,026	16.437
24	Guelma	4,101	482,261		53	Beni Abbes	101.350	50.163
25	Constantine	2,187	943,112		54	Timimun	65.203	122.019
26	Medea	8,866	830,943		55	Touggourt	17,428	247,221
27	Mostaganem	2,269	746.947		56	Djanet	86.185	17,618
28	M'Sila	18.718	991,846		57	In Salah	131.220	50,392
29	Muaskar	5,941	780.959		58	In Guezzam	88.126	11,202

Geography

Physical map of Algeria

Limits:

• Total: 6 734 kilometres
• Border countries: Libya (989 kilometres), Mali (1359 kilometres), Mauritania (460 kilometres), Morocco (1900 kilometres), Niger (951 kilometres), Tunisia (1034 kilometres), Western Sahara (41 kilometres).

The northern part of Algeria is a large elongated plateau, in which numerous depressions form, bounded by high mountain ridges to the north and south. The Atlas Mountains extend to the north of the country and are formed by two folding ranges: the northern one, called the Tell Atlas, and the southern one, called the Saharan Atlas. Between both is the plateau or interior plateau. To the south of the Saharan Atlas begins the Sahara desert, which occupies most of the country and presents a very varied relief, due to the presence of ancient mountains, heavily worked by wind erosion. From the coast to the interior, it is worth distinguishing: the small coastal plains, greatly reduced by the proximity of the mountains to the Mediterranean, among which the Mitidja (Algiers), the lower Chéliff valley, and the Oran, Skikda and Annaba basins stand out; the Tell; the High Plateaus, with their depressions, partly covered with salt lakes (chotts or shotts); the Saharan Atlas; and the desert area.

Algerian rivers maintain an almost regular flow only in the mountainous north and in summer they suffer strong drying. Many inland rivers do not flow into the sea, but drain into depressions in the terrain, where when they evaporate they form marshes and brackish lagoons. No river in Algeria is navigable, not even those in the north, which often have their lower sections covered in mud, although they are used for irrigation. Algeria's main river is traditionally considered to be the Cheliff (or Chelif, or Shelif) river in the north, although the longest is the Draa river in the southwest, which is now part of the border with Morocco.

Ecology

Most of Algeria is occupied by the Sahara, divided according to WWF into four desert ecoregions: the Northern Sahara steppe south of the Atlas, the Sahara desert in the southern half of the country, the Western Sahara xerophytic bush in the Ahaggar massif and the Tassili n'Ajjer plateau in the southeast, and the southern Saharan steppe and bushveld in the far south. In the north of the country the dominant biome is the Mediterranean forest, with the North African Mediterranean forest to the north and the Mediterranean shrub steppe to the south, as well as an enclave of Mediterranean dry forest and succulent scrub of acacias and erguenes in the far west. Algeria's diversity is completed by the North African montane coniferous forest in the Atlas Mountains and the Saharan brackish forest in various scattered wetlands.

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  Map of Algeria.

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  Oasis in the Ahaggar massif.

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  Lake Agoulmime, Tikjda.

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  Cedar in the Southern Mountains.

Climate change

Economy

Algeria is classified as an upper-middle-income country by the World Bank. The economy remains state-dominated, a legacy of the country's post-independence socialist development model. In recent years, the Algerian government has halted privatizations of state industries and imposed restrictions on imports and foreign participation in its economy. These restrictions have only just begun to be lifted, although questions remain about the slow diversification of the economy. the Argelia.

The port city of Oran

Its main resources are oil, gas, iron, zinc, silver, copper and phosphates. 14% of the active population is dedicated to agriculture and fishing. The unemployment rate has historically been very high, reaching 17.1% in 2005; but it has tended to decrease in recent years, reaching 10% in 2011 but has remained high among young people, with a rate of 21.5% for young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Fossil fuels are Algeria's main source of income, accounting for approximately 60% of state revenue, 30% of GDP, and 98% of export earnings in 2006. Of the countries with the largest oil reserves, the country ranks 14th, storing some 11.8 billion barrels of crude, but the current amount of reserves is considered to be even higher. The United States Energy Information Administration reported in January 2007 that Algeria had proven reserves of 161.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the eighth country in the world with the largest reserves of this fuel.

Economic and financial indicators improved in the mid-1990s, due in part to political reforms supported by the International Monetary Fund, and a renegotiation of foreign debt with the Paris Club. The Algerian economy benefited in 2000 and 2001 from the increase in the price of crude oil, and from the tight fiscal policy carried out by the government, resulting in a large increase in trade benefits, high records in exchanges business, and debt reduction. However, the government's continued efforts to diversify the economy, attract investment, and raise the standard of living of citizens met with little success. In 2001, the government signed an association treaty with the European Union that would mean lower tariffs and would increase trade. In March 2006, Russia agreed to forgive US$4.74 billion of Soviet-era debt during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to the country, the first by a Russian leader in half a century. In compensation, Algerian President Bouteflika agreed to buy $7.5 billion worth of Russian fighter jets, air defenses and other weapons for the Algerian Armed Forces, according to the Russian state agency Rosoboronexport.

Algeria decided in 2006 to pay off the debt it had with the Paris Club ahead of schedule, which amounted to 8 billion dollars. This reduced Algeria's foreign debt to values below $5 billion by the end of 2006.

The Algerian economy grew by 2.6% in 2011, driven by public spending, particularly in the construction and public works sector, and by growing domestic demand. If hydrocarbons are excluded, growth has been estimated at 4.8%. Growth of 3% is expected in 2012, rising to 4.2% in 2013.

Agriculture

Since Roman times, Algeria has stood out for the fertility of its soil, although only 9.4% of the population works in agriculture.

Large amounts of cotton were grown in the mid-19th century to coincide with the American Civil War, but its industry suffered a recoil. In the early XX century, efforts were made to resume cultivation of this plant. A small amount of cotton is grown in the southern oases. Large amounts of a plant fiber, made from the leaves of the dwarf palm, are produced. Other important crops are olive trees and tobacco.

For the cultivation of cereals, more than 30,000 km² are used. The Tell area is the area with the largest area of cereal cultivation. During the time of the French occupation, its productivity was substantially increased thanks to the artesian wells. The main cereals are wheat, barley and avena sativa. A wide variety of fruits and vegetables are exported, especially citrus, as well as figs, dates, esparto grass and cork. Algeria is Africa's largest market for avena sativa.

Tourism

Ruins of the Roman theatre of Djémila.

Tassili n'Ajjer cave paintings, a World Heritage Site since 1982.

Desert of the Sahara

Algeria is a country to be visited at any time of the year. In summer you can enjoy some beautiful and crystalline beaches, both virgin and equipped with restaurants, hotels and tourist complexes, such as in Algiers, Bejaïa, Tipasa and Oran. In winter you can enjoy the snow-capped mountains of the Djurjura in Kabylia. In the center of the Djurdjura National Park, in the municipality of Tikjda, the Chrea ski resort offers the possibility of practicing alpine skiing and cross-country skiing.

Some of the most important places to visit are the deserts and their oases, taking into account that most of the largest desert in the world, the Sahara, is located on Algerian territory.

Algeria has an important archaeological and cultural heritage. Since 1982, it has seven classified sites on the Unesco World Heritage list:

• the ruins of Djemila
• the ruins of Tipasa
• the ruins of Timgad
• the Casba of Algiers
• the Berber cities of the M'zab valley
• the ruins of the Berber fortress of Qal'a Beni Hammad
• the mountain range of Tassili n'Ajjer, one of the world's largest cave paintings

And even though it is one of the most modern countries in Africa, the reason it has not been a major tourist destination since the 1990s is that 14 years ago, terrorist groups began to make Algeria a country full of of chaos, terror and fear. However, in 1999 the Algerian president tried to negotiate with these groups,^{[citation needed]}, managing to reduce their terrorist actions. Some small groups are still active which are located towards the south of the country. The president proposed to eliminate them from the country by the end of 2007. However, on April 11, 2007, the attacks reappeared. The Algerian government announced that it would join the Moroccan government in combating these groups.^{[citation needed]}The president is counting on the help of the UN, of the Tuaregs (Algerian desert soldiers)^{[citation needed]} and the Algerian military. This instability causes recommendations not to travel to the southern areas due to existing terrorist threats. The desert cities that do not suffer from this threat are those north of Djanet. Some of the most touristy are: Adrar, In Amenas, Tindouf, El Oued, Ghardaia, El Golea and Biskra. Also of note are the more modern desert towns of Hassi Messaoud.

Algeria has a metro line in its capital. The initial project had 14 state-of-the-art trains made in Spain, these trains were supplied by the multinational company CAF.^{[citation required]} It also has three tram lines, which were inaugurated in 2009, which, like all planned trains, are of the latest generation.^{[citation required]}

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  Djurdjura under the snow.

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  Cordillera Ouarsenis, northwest (1985 m).

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  The coast in Bugia.

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  The Bakhdache valley of Laghouat.

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  Tadrart red desert.

How to get to Algeria

• By plane: Algeria has 234 airports, of which 15 are international, but only three are operational^{[chuckles]required]}; most of them have flights connected only to cities in France. From Hassi Messaoud in addition to flights to France, British Airways offers flights to London.
  • From Constantine at Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport Air Algérie offers flights to Basel and Geneva in Switzerland and Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Mulhouse in France. In Spain it offers several daily flights from Alicante airport to Algiers and Oran.
    
    In addition, the company Aigle azur offers lines to France (Lyon, Marseille, Mulhouse, Paris-Orly). Turkish Airlines offers flights to Istanbul. Many international companies are interested in opening new flights to this airport with the inauguration of their new terminal in 2007.^{[chuckles]required]}
  • The Houari Boumediene International Airport has several international and national airlines.

Algiers airport is one of the most modern airports in the entire region after the three largest airports in Morocco. It has a duty free area and a variety of shops, fast food, restaurants, parking with a capacity of 9,000 cars and other services. International airlines that fly to Algeria are Aigle Azur, Air France, Air Niger, Alitalia, Astraeus, Hahn Air, British Airways, EgyptAir, Iberia, Lufthansa, Libyan Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Syrian Arab Airlines, Tunisair, Turkish Airlines, and soon Air Canada, Air China, Air Nostrum, China Southern Airlines and Etihad Airways. In 2007, Houari Boumediene Airport was ranked the fifth most modern airport in Africa after Johannesburg, Marrakech, Casablanca and Agadir and the third largest.^{[citation needed]} In November 2007, the new terminal 2 was inaugurated for domestic flights, considered the most modern terminal of its type in Africa.^[who?] Egsa (company which is in charge of the Algerian airports), in 2008 it will inaugurate new terminals in several Algerian airports, including Annabe, Constantine, Ghardaia, Hassi Messaoud, Oran, Tlemcen airport and etc. EGSA plans to build a third terminal at the Houari Boumediene Airport (Algiers), which will be called Terminal 3. It has the ambitious project of making this terminal the largest in Africa and one of the largest and most important in the world, with 300,000 m² and with a capacity of 20 million people. It is planned to start construction in 2008 and inaugurate it in 2012.

• By ferry
  • Spain: There are many routes from Spain especially since:
    • Alicante: offers daily trips to Oran with Transmediterránea or with Enmtv. There are also weekly routes to Algiers.
    • Barcelona: to Oran and Algiers.
    • Almeria: Ghazaouet with Transmediterránea. It is the fastest line waiting for new routes to the ports of the east Algerian.
  • France: From:
    • Marseille: There are daily lines to almost all the Algerian ports Skikda, Annaba, Bugía, Jijel, Algiers, Oran with Sncm and Enmtv.
    • Sète: There are lines to Algiers and Oran.
  • Italy: There is line from Naples and Genoa to Annaba, Algiers and Skikda.

You can also travel by road or train. By 2009, Algeria will have 200 modern Spanish-made trains that will operate routes in the country.

Demographics

Population growth since 1961 (in thousands of inhabitants).

The population of Algeria was 44,227,000 according to the 2020 census. It is a young population, with a median age of 27.1 years. Infant mortality is 26.75 per thousand and life expectancy is 74.26 years. Outside the largest cities, medical care is rudimentary. The average number of children per woman was 2.38 in 2008 and 1.76 in 2010, one of the lowest rates on the African continent.

Of the more than a million European settlers, mainly French, who lived in Algeria before independence, the pieds-noirs, a few hundred still remain in the country today. After Algerian independence in 1962, some 800,000 pieds-noirs were evacuated to metropolitan France, while some 200,000 remained in Algeria. Of the latter, there were still about 100,000 in 1965, 50,000 in the late 1960s, and a few thousand in the 1990s.

65% of Algerians live in urban areas.

Culture

Algerian musicians in Tremecén. Painting of Yellès Bachir.

Salad with couscous.

As many communities have settled in Algeria since the V century, Algeria today has a great cultural and ethnic diversity. 80% of the Algerian culture is divided between the fertile north and the desert south: in the north, the European-type culture has developed more, while the culture of the south has maintained more of its traditional characteristics due to isolation, although some cities they are experiencing a rapid growth of 21st century century technology.

The peoples of the Berber culture reside mainly in the north of Algeria, with the highest population density, but they also have a strong millenary implantation in the Sahara.

Languages

Multilingual welcome banner of the city of Isser (Boumerdes) in Arabic, Berber (tifinagh)And French.

Classical Arabic is the official language of the country, and since April 2002 Tamazight, or Berber, has also been the national language, without being granted co-official language status. The language was an instrument of repression against the Berber minority, which has been demanding official recognition and more autonomy from the Algerian central power since 1972. In daily life, Algerians speak a “dialectal Arabic”, or darija, quite different from classical Arabic in vocabulary wise, but quite similar in syntax and grammar. The darija has preserved numerous Berber words and structures and has some borrowings from French. Tamazight is also expressed in different regional variants: Kabyle (taqbaylit) in Kabylia, Chenoui in the northwest and Chaoui in the northeast (Aurés region). In addition, there are also Tuareg languages in the Sahara, Tamzabit in the M'Zab Valley and Tashelhit on the border with Morocco.

Because linguistic, ethnic or religious censuses are prohibited in Algeria, the exact number of Arabic-speaking and other languages is not known. On the other hand, a good part of the Algerian population is bilingual or trilingual, since they speak fluent Arabic as well as Tamazight or French, so it is very difficult to accurately define linguistic groups of one language or another. In 2007 it was estimated that 27.4% or 30% (one third of the population, 8 million inhabitants) spoke one of the Berber languages, and more than 72% spoke Arabic, mostly Algerian dialectal Arabic. French, however, it is spoken by 70% of Algerians as a second language, especially present in the educational system, in the media, and in tourism, business, and finance. Since its independence, the Algerian governments have tried to favor the expansion of classical Arabic to the detriment of local variants, and in opposition to French and Tamazight or Bererer.

Hassania or Hassaniyya is the dialectal Arabic spoken by Saharawi refugees in the Tindouf refugee camps. They also speak Spanish due to the past Spanish presence in the area.

Religion

98% of the population is Sunni Muslim, 2% is Christian (Protestant and Catholic) and there is a very small Jewish community. The latter number 500 people throughout the country, and live mainly in Algiers; they come from the Jewish population before the creation of Israel, most of which fled or were expelled after independence. A study published in 2015 by Patrick Johnstone and Duane Alexander Miller estimates that in 2012 there were 380,000 Christian converts from Islam.

Philosophy

Algeria has also been the birthplace of important figures of classical and modern philosophy, with names like Augustine of Hippo, Jacques Derrida, Louis Althusser or Albert Camus.

Music

Chaâbi music is a typical Algerian musical genre characterized by specific rhythms and qacida (folk poems) in a dialect of Arabic. The most important representative of this type of music is undoubtedly El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka. One of the best representatives of the Ma'luf style (see Andalusian music) from the Constantine region (Constantinois) is Mohamed Tahar Fergani.

The Hadj M'Hamed El Anka

Cheb Khaled, the king of raï.

Among the traditional musical styles, Bedouin music stands out, characterized by poetic songs based on long kacida (poems); Kabyle music, based on a rich repertoire consisting of poetry and ancient tales that have been passed down from generation to generation; shawia music, a tradition from various areas of the Aurés; the rahaba musical style is unique in that region. Souad Massi is a traditional singer-songwriter and guitarist who uses several languages, sometimes mixed, in her work. Manel Filali, from Germany, and Kenza Farah, from France are some of the singers from the diaspora. Tergui music is usually sung in Tuareg languages; the Tuareg Tinariwen group has been internationally successful. Staïfi music arose in Sétif and remains a unique style of its kind.

Modern music shows several facets: raï music is a typical style of western Algeria. Algerian rap is a relatively recent style in the country that has been growing significantly.

Among these musical genres, hip hop became popular, its population with an average age located among the youngest countries is comfortable being part of this culture.

Break dance is very present, where aspects rooted in African culture and dances are shown.

Sports

Several games have existed in Algeria since ancient times. In Aurés, people played El Kherba or El khergueba, a variant of chess. Cards, checkers and chess are part of the Algerian culture. Fantasy and sports shooting are part of the entertainment of the Algerians.

Algerian Ahmed Boughera El Ouafi was the first African medalist, winning the Marathon at the 1928 Olympic Games. The second Algerian medalist was Alain Mimoun at the 1956 Olympic Games. Several men and women were champions in athletics at the 1990s, such as Noureddine Morceli, Hassiba Boulmerka, Nouria Merah-Benida and Taoufik Makhloufi, all of whom specialized in middle distance running.

Soccer is the most popular sport in Algeria. The best known footballers are Lakhdar Belloumi, Rabah Madjer, Riyad Mahrez and Ismaël Bennacer. The Algerian soccer team has participated in four soccer World Cups (1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014). In addition, soccer teams such as ES Sétif have won tournaments at the international or continental level. The Algerian Football Federation is the association that organizes the Algerian football teams in national competitions, as well as the international matches of the national football team.

Algerian football team