Algeria
Capital: Algiers · Northern Africa
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa.
Photo: Chettouh Nabil, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
The Ahaggar Cultural Park is a vast Algerian national park located in the Tamanrasset Province. It is known for its rich archaeological and historical significance,…
Photo: Hamza-sia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Tuareg on the dune of Timerzouga, place named Tadrart in the town of Djanet, wilaya of Ilizi 20km from the Algerian-Libyan border (Cultural Park of Tassili).
Photo: Hamdanmourad, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
This photo was taken in June 5, 2015 in the lake of Aguelmim, in Tikjda at 1700 m of altitude (Algeria).
Photo: KEBIR, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Did you know?
Algeria's territory has been a crossroads of cultures and civilizations for millennia, shaped first by indigenous Amazigh societies, including the Numidians, whose kingdom became one of the earliest major states in the region, as well as by Phoenician, Roman, Vandal, and Byzantine influences. From the 7th century onward, the spread of Islam and the arrival of Arab tribes gradually transformed the region's linguistic, religious, and cultural landscape, contributing to the development of a distinct Algerian identity rooted in both Arab-Islamic and Amazigh heritage.
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Sand Dune at the Cultural Park of Ahaggar, southern Algeria.
Photo: Original: Hamza-sia Derivative work including rotation,…, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
A view of the large sebkha of Oran (salt lake), Algeria
Photo: Terki Hassaine Samir, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Mount Adaouda in Atakor volcanic field in Tamanrasset in Algeria.
Photo: IssamBarhoumi, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name
Different forms of the name Algeria include: Arabic: الجزائر, romanised: al-Jazāʾir, Algerian Arabic: دزاير, romanised: dzāyer, French: l'Algérie. The country's full name is officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (Arabic: الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, romanised: al-Jumhūriyah al-Jazāʾiriyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyah ash‑Shaʿbiyah; French: République algérienne démocratique et populaire, abbr. RADP; Standard Algerian Berber: Tagduda tazzayrit tamagdayt taɣerfant, ⵜⴰⴳⴷⵓⴷⴰ ⵜⴰⵣⵣⴰⵢⵔⵉⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⴳⴷⴰⵢⵜ ⵜⴰⵖⴻⵔⴼⴰⵏⵜ).
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Wild grenade in the canyon of Ghoufi, Batna province in Algeria
Photo: Reda Kerbush, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
This photo was taken from the Rachgoune Beach in Ain Témouchente privince, Algeria (Island of Rachgone)
Photo: Dionysos47, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Chelia Mountains, Boumama in the Khenchela province, part of the Aures mountains, Algeria
Photo: Blackmysterieux, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
History
Before the sixteenth century, the territory now known as Algeria was simply central North Africa; a large, dissident and unstable region organised around the family, village and tribe rather than strong central states. Unlike Tunisia and Morocco, which had developed centres of power earlier, it lacked comparable political hubs. The physical landscape itself shaped these social and political patterns. Algeria comprises the sea, intermittent coastal plains, the Tell Atlas and Saharan Atlas ranges, the high plains and the harsh desert.
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Casbah Palace
Photo: toufik Lerari from Nice, France, CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
The Moul n'ga Cirque in the Tadrart region, Southeast Algeria, with wave clouds above. The wave cloud formation is caused by sinusoidial oscillations in an air mass…
Photo: Pir6mon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Algérie - Arménie - 20140531 - Yacine Brahimi (Alg) face à Taron Voskanyan (Arm).
Photo: Clément Bucco-Lechat, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Geography
Since the 2011 breakup of Sudan, and the creation of South Sudan, Algeria has been the largest country in Africa. It is also the largest country of the Mediterranean basin. Its southern part includes a significant portion of the Sahara. To the north, the Tell Atlas forms with the Saharan Atlas, further south, two parallel sets of reliefs in approaching eastbound, and between which are inserted vast plains and highlands. Both Atlas tend to merge in eastern Algeria. The vast mountain ranges of Aures and Nememcha occupy the entire northeastern Algeria and are delineated by the Tunisian border. The highest point is Mount Tahat (3,003 metres or 9,852 feet).
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This is an image of Cultural Fashion or Adornment from
Photo: Mus52, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
In Algeria, a camel driver is a person who guides and takes care of camels and dromedaries.
Photo: Fawzi Demmane, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
fishing boat near to Jijel province, Algeria
Photo: ALA BOUCHOU, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Government and politics
Algeria's government has been described as authoritarian, and elected politicians have relatively little sway over affairs in the country. Instead, a group of unelected civilian and military "décideurs" ("deciders") known as "le pouvoir" ("the power") exercise de facto rule over the country, even deciding who should be president. The most powerful man might have been Mohamed Mediène, the head of military intelligence, before he was brought down during the 2019 protests. In recent years, many of these generals have died, retired, or been imprisoned.
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Bab el Bled in the old city of Mila, in Algeria
Photo: Tonivettel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Waterfall of Yakouren, in Tizi Ouzou province (Algeria)
Photo: Chettouh Nabil, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Female of the Barbary macaque with her child on Cape Carbon Bejaia (Algeria)
Photo: Hamza-sia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Economy
Algeria's currency is the dinar (DZD). The economy remains dominated by the state, a legacy of the country's socialist post-independence development model. In June 2024 The World Bank's 2024 report marks a turning point for Algeria, which joins the select club of upper-middle-income countries.
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Apricot market in the Casbah of Algiers
Photo: Reda Kerbush, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Village of Kebach (M'Chounèche).
Photo: Blackmysterieux, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Bab el Bled in the old city of Mila, in Algeria
Photo: Tonivettel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Demographics
At the outset of the 20th century, Algeria's population was approximately 4 million. in 2024, Algeria has a population of an estimated 47.4 million.
About 90% of Algerians live in the northern, coastal area; the inhabitants of the Sahara desert are mainly concentrated in oases, although some 1.5 million remain nomadic or partly nomadic. 28.1% of Algerians are under the age of 15.
Between 90,000 and 165,000 Sahrawis from Western Sahara live in the Sahrawi refugee camps, in the western Algerian Sahara desert.
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Tassili n'Ajjer National Park, Algeria
Photo: Chettouh Nabil, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
This is an image of Cultural Fashion or Adornment from
Photo: Reda Kerbush, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dromedary at M'Chouneche, Biskra province, in Algeria
Photo: Blackmysterieux, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Culture
Modern Algerian literature, split between Arabic, Tamazight and French, has been strongly influenced by the country's recent history. Famous novelists of the 20th century include Mohammed Dib, Albert Camus, Kateb Yacine and Ahlam Mosteghanemi while Assia Djebar is widely translated. Among the important novelists of the 1980s were Rachid Mimouni, later vice-president of Amnesty International, and Tahar Djaout, murdered by an Islamist group in 1993 for his secularist views.
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