Algeria

I

Introduction

Algeria, country in northwestern Africa that borders the Mediterranean Sea, officially known as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria. Algeria is the second largest country on the African continent. Only Sudan covers more area. The Sahara, a vast desert, spreads over nine-tenths of the country. Coastal plains lie near the Mediterranean, separated by mountains from the Sahara. The overwhelming majority of Algeria’s people live in the northern part of the country, near the coast. Algiers, along the Mediterranean coast, is the country’s capital and largest city. Algeria’s name in Arabic, al-Jazā’ir (“the islands”), refers to small islands lying off the coast near the capital.

Most of Algeria’s people are of Arab, Berber, or mixed Arab and Berber ancestry. The Berbers were the first people known to have inhabited northwestern Africa. At the end of the 7th century ad, Muslim Arabs appeared in North Africa, conquered the area and introduced the religion of Islam and the Arabic language. Today, the overwhelming majority of Algerians are Muslims and speak the Arabic language. The Berber minority accepts Islam but preserves its language and customs. French is also widely spoken in Algeria.

Algeria was a colony of France from the mid-19th century until it won independence in 1962 in one of the bloodiest independence struggles in history. The eight-year war for independence caused enormous destruction and led to the departure of many of Algeria’s European settlers. See also Algerian War of Independence.

Algeria’s economy was underdeveloped and based largely on agriculture at the time of independence, and the government soon began efforts to modernize it. Today, Algeria is one of the wealthier countries in Africa, largely because of its petroleum reserves. In the early 1990s fighting between the military and Islamist fundamentalists plunged the country into civil war. Although outbursts of violence continue, government efforts at conciliation quieted the turmoil by the early 2000s.

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II

Land and Resources

Algeria has little fertile land; most of the country is desert. Large deposits of petroleum constitute its principal resource. Algeria is bounded on the east by Tunisia and Libya; on the south by Niger, Mali, and Mauritania; and on the west by Morocco.

Algeria has four main geographic regions, which extend east to west across the country in parallel zones. In the north, a narrow plain spreads along the Mediterranean coast. The mountains of the Tell Atlas, a range of the Atlas Mountains, rise behind the plain, parallel and close to the sea. Numerous valleys in this region contain most of Algeria’s arable land. The country’s principal river, the Chelif, rises in the Tell Atlas and flows to the Mediterranean Sea; no permanent streams are found south of the Tell.

South of the Tell Atlas is the High Plateau, a highland region of level terrain. Several basins here collect water during rainy periods, forming large, shallow lakes. As these dry they become salt flats, called chotts, or shatts. Sheep and goats graze on grass and scrub in better-watered areas of the High Plateau. Grain is also grown here.

South of the High Plateau lies the third region, the a part of the Atlas Mountain system known as the Saharan Atlas. The Saharan Atlas rises above the plateau and then descends to the Sahara. The Saharan Atlas receives more rain than the High Plateau and is well-suited for grazing.

The fourth region is a great expanse of desert. The Algerian portion of the Sahara makes up more than 90 percent of the country’s total area. Much of the terrain has a surface of gravel or bare rock. Chains of sand dunes, called ergs, cover about a quarter of the area. The Grand Erg Oriental (Great Eastern Erg) and the Grand Erg Occidental (Great Western Erg) are vast expanses of sand dunes. In the south, rising above the desert, are the Ahaggar Mountains, which culminate in Mount Tahat, the highest peak in Algeria.

A

Climate

The coastal plain and Tell Atlas in the north have a typical Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. This is the most humid area of Algeria. During the summer an exceedingly hot, dry wind, the sirocco (known locally as the Chehili), blows north from the Sahara.

To the south the climate becomes increasingly dry. The Sahara is a region of daily temperature extremes, wind, and great aridity. Less than 130 mm (5 in) of rain falls here each year.

B

Natural Resources

Most of the natural wealth of Algeria lies in its sizable mineral deposits, notably crude petroleum, natural gas, phosphates (see Phosphoric Acid), and iron ore. Other minerals include lead and zinc. Arable land comprises only about 3 percent of the total area. This farmland is located mainly in the valleys and plains of the coastal region.

Rich soils are rare in Algeria. The most fertile lands, nearest the coast, are relatively poor in humus and suffer from overcultivation. The plains have considerable alluvial deposits, but the uplands have poorer soils and can support only grasses suitable for grazing.

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