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.
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.
C | Plants and Animals |
The northern sections of Algeria have
suffered from centuries of deforestation and overgrazing. Remnants of forests
exist in a few areas of the higher Tell Atlas and Saharan Atlas. Trees include
pines, Atlas cedar, and various oaks, including cork oak. Lower slopes are bare
or covered with a scrub vegetation of juniper and other shrubs. Much of the High
Plateau is barren, but tracts of steppe vegetation containing esparto grass and
brushwood are present. Plant life in the Sahara is widely scattered and consists
of drought-resistant grasses, acacia, and jujube trees.
The relatively sparse vegetation of the
country can support only a limited wildlife population. Animal life includes
fennec fox, jerboa, ibex, boar, jackal, hare, antelope, and reptiles such as
monitor lizards. Servals—small, spotted cats—are rare. The endangered scimitar
oryx and dama gazelle disappeared from Algeria in the 1990s.
D | Environmental Issues |
Algeria is more advanced in nature
conservation than its neighbors in Africa. It has a comprehensive environmental
law that includes nature conservation, a system of protected areas, and
universities and institutions with specialized training in conservation. The
government manages national parks, nature preserves, and special hunting areas.
Other protected areas include special forest areas and private holdings. No
marine parks exist, but the government has the authority to close maritime areas
to fishing. National parks, including the giant Tassili N’Ajjer National Park in
the eastern corner of the country, comprise a large proportion of the protected
area.
The effects of Algeria’s human population
on the fragile landscape have been severe. The greatest ecological threats are
deforestation and burning of scrub vegetation, conversion of steppe habitat to
arable land, and soil erosion due to overgrazing and poor farming practices.
Pollution of Mediterranean coastal waters is pervasive. Wetlands are in
particular danger of destruction. In addition, desertification caused by the
encroaching Sahara poses a constant ecological and environmental menace.
III | PEOPLE |
The population consists almost entirely of
Berbers, Arabs, and people of mixed Arab and Berber ancestry. Until 1962 about 1
million European settlers, mainly French, and an indigenous population of
150,000 Jews lived in Algeria. More than 90 percent of this group, however,
emigrated after Algeria became independent in 1962. Most of Algeria’s urban
dwellers live along the coast. The rural population, lives in villages and on
small farms. A few thousand Tuareg live in the south, in Algeria’s part of the
Sahara, speaking a Berber language and maintaining their tribal traditions.
The population of Algeria (2008 estimate) is
about 33,739,635. Approximately 90 percent of the population is concentrated in
the coastal region. The population is young: About 26 percent of Algerians are
under 15 years old. The population growth rate was 1.2 percent in 2001, down
from rates as high as 3 percent in the 1980s. During the 1970s and 1980s
Algeria’s birth rates ranked among the highest in the world. In recent decades
many Algerians have emigrated from their homeland to other countries.
Approximately 1 million Algerians live in France.
A | Principal Cities |
Algiers is the capital, chief seaport, and
largest city. Other important cities are Oran, a port and a trading and
industrial center; Annaba, a port and shipping center as well as an industrial
center; Arzew and Skikda, both centers for petroleum refining; and Constantine,
the hub of a livestock- and wheat-producing region.
In 1970 nearly 60 percent of the Algerian
people lived in rural areas. The ratio of urban to rural dwellers had been
nearly reversed by the year 2000. Today, 58 percent of Algeria’s population is
urban. Urbanization has occurred both because of population growth, which has
turned villages into towns and cities, and because rural Algerians have moved to
cities in search of work.
B | Language and Religion |
Arabic is the official language of
Algeria. The Berber population speaks Berber dialects, such as Kabyle, Chaouia,
Chenoua, and Tamazight. French is still widely read and spoken by many
Algerians. Islam is the official religion and is professed by the vast majority
of the population; almost all are Sunni Muslims.
C | Education |
Primary education is free and compulsory
for all children between the ages of 6 and 16. The Algerian educational system,
long patterned after the French, was changed by a program of Arabization shortly
after independence. The government introduced new teaching methods and began
training Algerian teachers and bringing in Arabic-speaking teachers from other
countries. At the time of independence in 1962, 10 percent of the population was
literate. Today, 72 percent of the total population can read. This improvement
is one of Algeria’s greatest achievements since independence. Improvement in the
education of women has helped raise the age at marriage and lower the country’s
once-high birth rate.
Algeria has ten universities, including
two universities of science and technology, and a number of technical colleges.
The University of Algiers (1879) has faculties of law, medicine, science, and
liberal arts. Seven of the country’s universities and nearly all of its 20 or so
specialized colleges have been founded since independence. The government also
maintains vocational and teacher-training schools.
D | Culture |
Cultural life in Algeria is increasingly
vital, especially in urban areas, where intellectuals attempt to combine
Western, Islamic, and socialist ideas. French tradition long dominated the
cultural life of the country. Since independence, culture has been a divisive
issue. The government emphasis on Arab culture and language has alienated
Algeria’s Berber minority, who cherish their own traditions and dialects. Even
before independence, there was a growing movement among Algerian artists and
intellectuals to revive national interest in Arab-Berber origins, a movement
that has gained official support. In response to Berber demands, in 2001 the
government recognized Tamazight as a national language. Berbers would like it
made an official language.
Rai is a music style that developed in
Algerian cities in the 1970s. It is popular among young people who seek to
modernize the country’s traditional values. Berber music traditions have
survived in the mountains and valleys of Algeria. Village generally have their
own singers and songs. Soloist and chorus alternate in chanting rhythms to drum
accompaniment.
D1 | Libraries and Museums |
Foremost among Algerian libraries is
the National Library (1835) in Algiers, which has about 1 million volumes,
including important works on African subjects. Collections are maintained by the
University of Algiers, and by the Municipal Library in Constantine.
The Prehistory and Ethnographic Museum
(1928), the National Museum of Antiquities (1897), and the National Museum of
Fine Arts of Algiers (1930) are located in Algiers, the cultural capital as well
as the political capital of Algeria. The Museum of Cirta (1853) in Constantine
contains art and archaeological collections.
D2 | Literature |
Algerian writers have created important
works both in Arabic and in French. Arabic writers were among the first to
promote Algerian historical studies, while French-language Algerian writers were
particularly prominent figures during the war of independence. Contemporary
Algerian literature draws on the riches of the Arabic language as well as on the
country’s double cultural heritage—French and Arab. Many of the writings echo
the hopes and contradictions of a divided society.
Noted French-language Algerian writers
of the 20th century include poet and novelist Mohammad Dib, novelist Mouloud
Feraoun, novelist Mouloud Mammeri, poet Malek Haddad, novelist and filmmaker
Assia Djebar, novelist Rachid Mimouni, and novelist and journalist Tahar Djaout.
Ahmed Tewfiq al-Madani and Tahar Wattar are prominent Arabic prose writers.
Abdelkader Alloula, Algeria’s most renowned playwright, directed theater
productions in Arabic. Kateb Yacine and Rachid Boudjedra wrote novels in French
and Arabic. French novelist Albert Camus and French poet Jean Sénac were both
born and educated in Algeria.
Leading Berber intellectuals, such as
the novelist Mouloud Mammeri, devoted themselves to the preservation of the oral
poetry of Kabylia and the development of a written script for Tamazight. A
movement for Berber cultural rights emerged in Algeria during the 1980s.
However, this movement ran counter to the ideas of the Islamic fundamentalist
movement, whose militants have assassinated Berber politicians and
intellectuals.
IV | ECONOMY |
Algeria’s economy is based mainly on mineral
production. Agriculture plays a declining but still important role. Algeria has
rich mineral resources, especially petroleum and natural gas. The economy is
mixed, with some public and some private ownership. Algeria’s economic growth
slowed after independence in 1962, because of the disruption of the war for
independence. Before independence, Algeria had an underdeveloped economy geared
toward supplying raw materials to France and buying French manufactured goods.
After independence, the government instituted industrialization programs. During
the late 1960s and 1970s Algeria increased its output of petroleum and natural
gas. Rising world oil prices after 1973 stimulated economic growth.
A drop in oil in prices starting in 1986
provoked an economic crisis that revealed the weakness of Algeria’s centrally
planned economy and the failure of its efforts to introduce heavy industries. In
1989 the government launched a comprehensive program, supported by the
International Monetary Fund, to achieve economic stability and introduce
free-market reforms. However, the civil war, which embroiled the country in the
1990s, stalled reform efforts. Expansion of the oil and gas industries,
increased economic diversification, and tight control of government spending
have helped the economy recover since the mid-1990s. Unemployment remains a
major problem.
Mineral, especially hydrocarbon, production
accounts for the largest part of the gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of
the total value of goods and services produced. While Algeria remains one of the
wealthier nations of Africa, its economic growth is highly influenced by oil and
natural gas prices.
A | Labor |
Unemployment is an acute problem in
Algeria. In 2004, 20 percent of the workers were unemployed, and it is estimated
that unemployment among workers under the age of 30 is as high as 50 percent. Of
the economically active population, 53 percent was employed in government or
other service industries, 26 percent worked in industry, and 21 percent engaged
in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
B | Agriculture |
After independence in 1962, most farmland
in Algeria came under state control. In the early 1970s the state farming sector
was dissolved and state-owned farmland was distributed to socialist
cooperatives. Unsatisfactory crop production led to privatization in the late
1970s, and today most farms are privately owned. Farming accounts for a small
share of Algeria’s GDP. Productivity is low and Algeria must import a large
amount of its food needs. The principal food crops include cereals such as wheat
and barley; vegetables and melons; fruits such as grapes, dates, and olives; and
roots and tubers such as potatoes. Tobacco is also an important crop. Sheep,
goats, and cattle are among the livestock raised. In the 1990s the government
replanted many old vineyards in order to encourage the resurrection of
winemaking, a traditional Algerian industry.
C | Forestry and Fishing |
Forests, which contain much brushwood,
cover an extremely small part of Algeria’s land. Lumber is used principally for
heating and industrial needs. Bark is cut for tanning and cork for commercial
purposes. Charcoal, made from charred wood, is also used for fuel.
Despite Algeria’s Mediterranean coast,
fishing remains a relatively minor industry. Sardines account for about half the
catch. Other fish include anchovies, sprats, tuna, and shellfish.
D | Mining and Manufacturing |
The chief mineral products are
hydrocarbons—crude petroleum and natural gas—from the Sahara. Algeria possesses
some of the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world, and is one of the
world’s top natural gas exporters. Pipelines transport natural gas from Algeria
to Spain and Italy. Hydrocarbons account for a substantial share of Algeria’s
GDP. Almost all of Algeria’s export revenues are derived from hydrocarbon sales.
Other major mineral products are iron ore
and pyrites, zinc, lead, mercury, gypsum, and barite. Large deposits of
phosphates are thought to exist in hilly regions of Djebel Onk in the north.
Nearly all mining and industrial activity is state-controlled. In the late
1990s, however, the government privatized some industries and began to allow
foreign investment in the hydrocarbon sector.
Among Algeria’s major manufactures are
food products, beverages, and tobacco, including olive oil, soft drinks, and
wine; iron and steel; transportation and farm equipment, including trucks and
tractors; plastics; wood and paper products; and carpets and textiles. Much of
Algeria’s manufacturing industry is located in or near the cities of Algiers,
Annaba, and Oran.
E | Currency and Banking |
The monetary unit of Algeria is the
dinar. In the mid-1960s the government nationalized all foreign and
private banks. In 1986 the state-run Bank of Algeria began to liberalize the
banking sector and allow the establishment of private banks. Aided by agreements
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and lenders from abroad, Algerian
foreign debt has fallen in recent years. An association agreement with the
European Union (EU), Algeria’s principal trading partner, was expected to make
overseas investment in Algeria easier.
F | Commerce and Trade |
The principal Algerian exports are natural
gas and petroleum. In addition to hydrocarbons the country exports phosphates,
iron ore, hides, cork, wine, tobacco, and fruits and vegetables. Major imports
are foods, consumer goods, and machinery. Algeria’s major trading partners are
the European Union and the United States. Algeria’s trade volume and balance
depend heavily on petroleum prices.
G | Transportation |
Algeria’s rail and road systems mainly
serve the northern third of the country. Railroad lines run to the northern edge
of the Sahara, and roads link the Sahara oil fields to the coast. Algeria’s
segment of a trans-Saharan highway, extending from the Mediterranean coast past
Tamanrasset, an oasis in the Sahara, to the Niger border, was completed in 1985.
The state-owned Air Algérie and the privately owned Khalifa Airways provide
domestic and international air service. The country’s principal ports are
Algiers, Oran, and Annaba.
H | Communications |
Numerous daily and weekly newspapers are
published in French, Arabic, or both languages. Algeria’s press is relatively
free, but the government does practice censorship and occasionally seizes
newspapers outright. Despite government monitoring and interference, the print
and broadcast media in general is freer than it was during the authoritarian
decades immediately after independence. The state operated the nation’s
telecommunications system and national television station until the year 2000,
when legislation gave the government only a supervisory role. With the state
monopoly removed, the way was opened for competition in telecommunications.
Radio stations broadcast in Arabic, French, and Kabyle.
V | GOVERNMENT |
Under the constitution adopted in 1976,
Algeria became a socialist republic. The constitution declared the National
Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FLN) as the sole legitimate
political party. A revised constitution in 1989 abandoned the commitment to
socialism and allowed the formation of other political parties. After it became
clear that the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut, FIS), an
Islamist party, would gain a legislative majority in the country’s first
multiparty parliamentary elections in 1992, the elections were annulled and the
country’s unicameral legislature, the National People’s Assembly, was suspended.
Algeria was ruled by a High Council of State from 1992 until 1994, when the
council appointed a president as head of state. After a constitutional
referendum, the constitution was again revised in 1996, most significantly to
ban political parties based solely on ethnicity, religion, or another separatist
feature, and to create a new, bicameral legislature.
A | Executive and Legislature |
A president is head of state of Algeria.
The president is popularly elected to a five-year term and may serve no more
than two terms. The president appoints a prime minister as head of government.
The prime minister in turn appoints a council of ministers to help carry out the
functions of government.
Algeria has a bicameral legislature
consisting of a 144-member Council of the Nation as the upper house and a
389-member National People’s Assembly as the lower house. One-third of the
Council of the Nation members are appointed by the president; the other
two-thirds are chosen by municipal councils. All members serve six-year terms.
Members of the National People’s Assembly are popularly elected to four-year
terms.
B | Judiciary |
The highest court of Algeria is the Supreme
Court, which functions as the high court of appeal. Three Algerian courts of
appeal and special criminal courts (for economic and political crimes against
the state) are located in Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. Numerous justices of
the peace and commercial courts complete the judicial system.
C | Local Government |
Algeria is divided into 48 provinces
(wilayat). These are subdivided into nearly 700 local communes. Each
province (wilaya) is headed by a governor appointed by the federal
government. Elected councils govern the wilayat and communes.
D | Political Parties |
The National Liberation Front (FLN) and
allied parties dominated Algerian politics from 1962, when independence was
achieved, until 1992 when the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won a majority in
the country’s first multiparty parliamentary elections. After the 1992 elections
were annulled, the FIS, which sought to install an Islamic government, was
banned; a 1996 constitutional amendment banned political parties based solely on
religion or ethnicity.
In the 2002 parliamentary elections the FLN
won slightly more than half the seats in the National People’s Assembly, far
more than any other party. The National Democratic Rally (Rassemblement National
Démocratique, RND), a pro-government and pro-business party closely allied with
the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, came in second. Two moderate
Islamic-oriented parties, the Reform Movement and the Islamist Movement for
Peaceful Society, won more than 80 seats combined. Other notable political
parties include the Workers’ Party, the Algerian National Front, the Renaissance
Movement, the Socialist Forces Front, and the Rally for Culture and Democracy.
Since the 2002 elections the FLN, the RND, and the Islamist Movement for
Peaceful Society have constituted the political alliance loyal to the Algerian
president.
In the 2007 parliamentary elections—the
country’s third multiparty elections—the FLN won the most seats, 136, but not
enough to form a majority by itself. Two other parties in the ruling coalition,
however—the pro-business National Democratic Rally and the Islamist Movement for
Peaceful Society—won 113 seats. By allying with other minor parties, Bouteflika
maintained his majority coalition in the parliament. The FIS remained a banned
party in the 2007 elections.
E | Health and Welfare |
The government sponsors social welfare
programs providing allowances for the aged, needy, and disabled; benefits for
nonagrarian workers; agrarian reform; public works; and accelerated
public-housing programs.
Since 1974 medical care has been provided
free to all Algerian citizens. Public health officials are engaged in an effort
to eliminate epidemic diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. Other health
problems are widespread malnutrition and eye ailments such as trachoma. Cholera
has been brought under control.
F | Defense |
The president is commander in chief of the
military forces, which numbered 137,500 in 2004. The nucleus of the
120,000-troop army was provided by the liberation forces after Algerian
independence was secured. A 10,000-member air force is equipped with Soviet- and
French-built jet planes and helicopters. About 7,500 people make up the naval
forces.
VI | HISTORY |
The earliest inhabitants of what is now
Algeria were Berbers, tribal peoples of unknown origin. Cave paintings in the
Ahaggar Mountains region, dating between 6500 and 1200 bc, depict a people who raised cattle
and hunted game in the area.
A | Ancient Times |
About 800 bc, the Phoenicians, a seafaring people
from the eastern Mediterranean, founded a North African state at Carthage in
what is now Tunisia. During the Punic Wars (3rd-2nd centuries bc) between Carthage and Rome, Masinissa
(reigned 202-148 bc), a Berber
chief allied with Ancient Rome, established the first Algerian kingdom, Numidia.
His grandson, Jugurtha, was subjugated by Rome in 106 bc.
Numidia prospered under Roman rule. Large
estates produced so much grain and olive oil that the region became known as the
granary of Rome. A system of military roads and garrisoned towns protected the
inhabitants from nomadic tribes. In time, these towns, such as Timgad and
Tipasa, grew into miniature Roman cities.
The decline of Rome brought many changes.
Roman legions were withdrawn to defend other frontiers, and in the 3rd century
ad regional independence was
briefly expressed in the heretical Donatist movement, a North African Christian
sect persecuted by the Roman authorities. Saint Augustine, a native Algerian of
the 4th and 5th centuries, particularly denounced Donatism in his prolific
writings. The Vandals, a Germanic tribe, invaded the region in the 5th century
and stayed on to establish their own kingdom. Barely a century later these
warriors were themselves overthrown by an army of the Byzantine emperor
Justinian, whose dream was to restore the glory of the Roman Empire.
B | Medieval Islamic Dynasties |
Justinian’s dream was short-lived. In the
7th century the Arabs invaded North Africa, bringing with them a new religion,
Islam. In Algeria they were resisted by the Berber leaders Kusayla and Kahina, a
supposed prophetess of a tribe that some scholars believe had been converted to
Judaism. Eventually, however, the Berbers submitted to Islam and Arab authority,
and Algeria became a province of the Umayyad caliphate. The Arabs, however,
remained largely an urban elite.
The Abbasids seized the caliphate from the
Umayyads in the 8th century. In the ensuing disorder, Algerian Berbers, many of
them members of the Kharijite sect of Islam, founded their own autonomous
Islamic kingdoms. One of the most prominent was that of the Rustamids at Tahert
in central Algeria. Tahert prospered in the 8th and 9th centuries. In the early
10th century Tahert was captured by the Fatimids, who adhered to the Shia branch
of Islam. Between the 11th and 13th centuries two successive Berber dynasties,
the Almoravids and the Almohads, brought northwest Africa and southern Spain
under a single central authority. Tlemcen became a city of fine mosques and
schools of Islamic learning, as well as a handicrafts center. Algerian seaports
such as Bejaïa, Annaba, and the growing town of Algiers carried on a brisk trade
with European cities, supplying the famed Barbary horses, wax, fine leather, and
fabrics to European markets.
C | Ottoman Rule |
The Almohad dynasty collapsed in 1269 and
was succeeded by the 300-year-long rule of the Abd al-Wadid (or Zayyanid)
dynasty, centered in Tlemcen. The period was marked by fierce trade competition
among rival Mediterranean seaports, both Christian and Muslim. To gain
advantage, city governments began to hire corsairs—pirates who seized merchant
ships and held crews and cargo for ransom. Algiers became a primary center of
corsair activities.
In the 16th century the Christian
Spaniards occupied various North African ports. Algiers was blockaded and forced
to pay tribute. Other ports were captured outright. The desperate Muslims called
for help from the Ottoman sultan, then the caliph of all Islam. Two corsair
brothers, the Barbarossas (“Redbeards”), persuaded the sultan to send them with
a fleet to North Africa. They drove the Spaniards out of most of their new
possessions, and in 1518 the younger Barbarossa, Khayr ad-Din, was appointed
beylerbey, the sultan’s representative in Algeria.
Because of its distance from the Ottoman
capital at Constantinople (present-day İstanbul), Algiers was governed as an
autonomous province. Externally, the effectiveness of its corsair fleet made
Algiers a power in its own right—Algerian pirates dominated the Mediterranean.
European states paid tribute regularly to ensure protection for their ships, and
prisoner ransom brought a rich income to the province. Internal security was
maintained by Ottoman janissary (from Turkish, yeniçeri, “new
special troops”) garrisons.
In the late 18th century, as the Ottoman
Empire was in decline, improved firepower and ship construction enabled the
Europeans to challenge corsair domination. International agreements to outlaw
piracy made collective action against Algiers possible. In 1815 the United
States sent a naval squadron against the city. The following year an Anglo-Dutch
fleet nearly destroyed its defenses, and in 1830 Algiers was captured by a
French army.
D | French Colonization |
France annexed Algiers and the surrounding
territory in 1834 and began occupying other coastal and inland areas. The new
regime, led by a French governor-general, aroused fierce resistance from tribes
accustomed to indirect Ottoman rule. Military leader Abd al-Qadir, the head of
the Sufi Islamic brotherhood known as the Qadiriyya, used hit-and-run tactics
that were highly effective against the French forces. A hero to Algerian
nationalists to this day, al-Qadir was not completely subdued until 1847. Berber
forces continued to resist the French in the 1850s, and in 1871 Kabyle Berbers
staged a fierce rebellion in Kabylia, in eastern Algeria. French colonial forces
finally put the revolt down in 1872, and subsequently confiscated large amounts
of land from the Berbers.
With these insurrections out of the way,
France began to colonize Algeria in earnest, and European settlers poured into
the country. To encourage settlement, the French confiscated or purchased lands
at low prices from Muslim owners. Algeria was divided into three overseas
departments of France, controlled for all practical purposes by the European
settlers. The settlers formed a privileged elite. With the help of large
infusions of capital, they developed a modern economy, with industries, banks,
schools, shops, and services similar to those at home. The settlers developed
Algerian agriculture, gearing it to support the French economy. Large estates
produced wines and citrus fruit for export to France, just as North Africa once
produced grain for Rome. Some Europeans made vast fortunes, but the majority
were small farmers, tradespeople, shopkeepers, and factory workers. All,
however, shared a passionate belief in Algérie Française—a French
Algeria.
The displaced and deprived Muslim
population remained a disadvantaged majority, subject to many restrictions. By
French law they could not hold public meetings, carry firearms, or leave their
homes or villages without permission. Legally, they were French subjects, but to
become French citizens, with full rights, they had to renounce Islam. Few
did so. Beginning in the late 19th century, thousands emigrated to France to
find work.
The Muslim population grew steadily; by
1930, it numbered 5 million. A small minority, educated in French schools,
adopted French culture, although they were not accepted as equals by the
settlers. From this group came the initial impetus for Algerian
nationalism.
E | Rise of Algerian Nationalism |
Algerian nationalism developed after World
War I (1914-1918) among groups of Muslims who at first wanted only equality with
the Europeans. Ferhat Abbas, Ahmed Messali Hadj, and Shaykh Abd al-Hamid
Ben Badis were among the most prominent Algerian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1936 the French government devised a plan providing full equality for Muslim
war veterans and professionals, but it was scuttled by colonial deputies in the
French National Assembly. Frustrated by the settlers’ stubborn resistance to
reform, Abbas joined forces with Messali during World War II (1939-1945) to
organize a militant anti-French party, the Friends of the Manifesto and Liberty.
After the war the Algerian Organic Statute (1947) set up Algeria’s first
parliamentary assembly. The bicameral (two-chambered) body had separate houses
(“colleges”) for settlers (and a few select Algerians) and indigenous Algerians.
The political power of the assembly, along with that of the governor-general,
was weighted in favor of settler interests. The system satisfied neither
Algerians nor settlers and proved ineffective. The more militant, younger
nationalists were by then beginning to favor armed revolt. In the early 1950s
many went into hiding or exile.
F | War of Independence |
In March 1954 Algerian nationalists formed
the Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action, out of which developed the
National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FLN). On October 31
and November 1 the FLN launched its bid for Algerian independence with
coordinated attacks on public buildings, military and police posts, and
communications installations.
A steady rise in guerrilla action over the
next two years forced the French to bring in reinforcements; eventually, 400,000
French troops were stationed in Algeria. The FLN’s National Liberation Army
(Armée de Libération Nationale, ALN) combined Abd al-Qadir’s guerrilla tactics
with the deliberate use of terrorism. The guerrilla tactics effectively
immobilized superior French forces, while killings and kidnappings of Europeans
and Muslims who did not actively support the FLN created a climate of fear
throughout the country. This in turn brought counterterrorism, as settlers and
French army units raided villages and urban neighborhoods, killing Muslims.
Certain villages suspected of aiding guerrillas were subjected to collective
punishment in the form of massacres, bombings, or forced relocation of the
population.
In 1956 the war spread to the cities. In
Algiers, cafés, schools, and shops became targets, as the nationalists sought to
weaken French morale and draw international attention to their cause. This
so-called Battle of Algiers was ruthlessly put down, but it publicized the
Algerian struggle to the world. Elsewhere, the French gradually gained the upper
hand by using new tactics, such as using aircraft to bomb suspected ALN centers.
The French also forced Algerians into relocation centers to prevent them from
aiding the ALN. Electrified fences along the Tunisian and Moroccan borders
effectively cut off ALN soldiers outside Algeria from units inside the
country.
Despite their military superiority, the
French were unable to find a political solution satisfactory to both the
settlers and the FLN. International criticism of France increased in forums such
as the United Nations (UN), and France’s allies in the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) worried about the commitment of French forces to an
unpopular war.
In May 1958 settlers and French army
officers joined forces in Algiers to overthrow the French government, charging
it with vacillation. A Committee of Public Safety demanded the return to office
of General Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader of the Free French, as the only
one who could settle the war and preserve French Algeria. De Gaulle, however,
was a realist, and once in power he recognized that the war was unwinnable. In
1959 he announced his intention of allowing Algerians a measure of
self-determination.
The plan struck the settlers like a
thunderbolt. Outraged, they staged an unsuccessful revolt against de Gaulle in
early 1960, and in 1961 a group of army generals again tried to overthrow the
government. Both times, however, the bulk of the army remained loyal to the
government. Associated with the generals’ plot was a group of military and
settler extremists, called the Secret Army Organization, which at the same time
carried on a brutal campaign of counterterrorism against both the FLN and French
authorities.
In March 1962 a cease-fire was finally
arranged between government and FLN representatives at Evian, France. In the
long-awaited referendum, held the following July, Algeria voted overwhelmingly
for independence. The settlers began a mass evacuation; before the end of the
year most of them had left the country.
The material and human costs of the war
were staggering. Approximately 500,000 people perished in the conflict, the vast
majority of them Algerians. The fighting was so chaotic—besides combat
casualties, tens of thousands of pro-French Algerians were killed by other
Algerians, numerous settlers were abducted and disappeared, and rival ALN units
fought each other for power—that a precise number of casualties is impossible to
calculate. See Algerian War of Independence.
G | Independence |
The Evian agreements provided for
immediate independence for Algeria, with special aid from France—referred to as
“cooperation”—to help the country recover from eight years of devastation. On
its side, the FLN guaranteed protection and full civil rights for the remaining
settlers. After a three-year period they would choose between Algerian and
French citizenship. The Evian agreements also allowed the French to continue to
exploit the Saharan oil and gas fields they had discovered and developed during
the war.
The departure of the majority of Europeans
deprived Algeria of nearly all its skilled labor force. To make matters worse,
factional rivalries within the FLN, kept in the background during the war, now
became visible. At a meeting in Tripoli, Libya, FLN leaders approved a program
that specified Algeria as a socialist state, with the FLN as the only legal
political organization. The leaders were able to agree on little else, and open
warfare soon broke out between factions. Colonel Houari Boumedienne, chief of
staff of the Army of National Liberation, threw his support to Ahmed Ben Bella,
one of the founders of the FLN, who in September 1962 was elected the first
premier of independent Algeria.
Ben Bella started putting the country back
on its feet. The first constitution was approved by voters in 1963, providing a
presidential form of government. Ben Bella was then elected president. The only
check on the president’s power would be censure by two-thirds of the National
Assembly. With such unrestricted authority, Ben Bella became totally absorbed in
his personal power and prestige, more and more preoccupied with international
leadership, and at the same time more autocratic at home. By mid-1965
Boumedienne, then minister of defense, felt Ben Bella had gone too far; he had
Ben Bella arrested in a bloodless coup and assumed supreme power.
H | Boumedienne’s Rule |
Under Boumedienne Algeria finally began to
capitalize on its vast resources. The army—rather than the FLN—became the
dominant force. Boumedienne formed a 26-member Council of the Revolution as
supreme authority; its members were army commanders and his close civilian
associates. Factionalism and personal rule were strictly prohibited. Although
Boumedienne remained first among equals—he was simultaneously president, prime
minister, and minister of defense—the principle of collegial leadership was
maintained. Nevertheless, Algeria’s political system remained autocratic and
undemocratic.
Boumedienne pursued a socialist
state-building strategy for Algeria. By 1966 all of the land abandoned by
emigrating settlers, amounting to most of the farmland in the country, was
appropriated by the government and incorporated into state-run farms.
Boumedienne also inaugurated state plans to develop industry, particularly the
hydrocarbon sector. One of his great accomplishments was the nationalization of
the French-controlled oil fields in February 1971. In the early 1970s
Boumedienne distributed state-owned farmland to peasant cooperatives in an
unsuccessful attempt to boost productivity. He also promoted the use of the
Arabic language and the study of Arabic culture, an action that was resented and
resisted by the Berber population.
In 1976 a national charter and subsequent
new constitution reaffirmed Algeria as a socialist state under solely FLN
leadership. Boumedienne was legally elected president. When he died in 1978,
Colonel Chadli Benjedid was selected by the army to succeed Boumedienne. An
election officially placed Benjedid in the presidency. Benjedid initially
continued his predecessor’s policies but relaxed some of Boumedienne’s strict
political controls; he released and pardoned former president Ben Bella in 1980.
He also began to reorient and liberalize the economy. His state plans gave
greater attention to agriculture, and farmland was privatized. Benjedid was
reelected in 1984, running unopposed.
I | Unrest and Civil War |
Declining oil prices in the mid-1980s had
severe economic consequences for Algeria. In 1988 frustrated youthful protestors
clashed with government troops throughout the country. After a severe
suppression of the rioters, Benjedid initiated reforms and was reelected to a
third five-year term. A revised constitution and legislation in 1989 allowed for
a multiparty democratic system. Political parties were legalized; one of the new
parties to be formed was an Islamist one—the Islamic Salvation Front (Front
Islamique du Salut, FIS).
Conflict between the Islamist FIS and the
military-backed FLN dominated the 1990s. In 1990 provincial and municipal
elections, the FIS defeated the FLN by an overwhelming margin. Following violent
FIS demonstrations, parliamentary elections scheduled for 1991 were suspended
and rescheduled, and the FIS’s chief leaders—Abassi Madani and Ali Benhadj—were
arrested. Parliamentary elections were canceled in 1992, after a first round of
balloting made it likely that the Islamists would win control of parliament, and
Benjedid was forced to resign. Military and civilian officials established an
executive High Council of State (HCS) with Mohammed Boudiaff, an exiled FLN hero
of the war of independence, as president. Violence erupted and the FIS was
officially outlawed. Boudiaff was assassinated in 1992, and fighting escalated
between government forces and Islamist militants. Although the FIS had lost its
legal status, it quickly mobilized its military wing. An even more extremist
Islamic group emerged and began a campaign of assassinations and bombings.
Defense minister Liamine Zeroual, a former
diplomat and career soldier, was named president in early 1994. The following
year he won election in Algeria’s first successful multiparty presidential
elections since independence. Zeroual began to gain international support.
International lenders rescheduled the country’s foreign debt, a move that helped
the beleaguered Algerian government.
Another revised constitution came into
effect in 1996. Most notably, this constitution banned political parties based
exclusively on religion, language, race, gender, or region. In addition, the
constitution created a new, bicameral legislature, composed of the National
People’s Assembly and the Council of the Nation. The widespread victory of the
National Democratic Rally (Rassemblement National Démocratique, RND), a newly
formed pro-government party, in parliamentary elections in 1997 prompted
allegations of election fraud among opposition parties and sparked protests in
Algiers. In late 1998 Zeroual announced that he would step down. Just before the
presidential elections were held in 1999, six of the seven candidates withdrew.
They cited election fraud that made the victory of the remaining candidate, whom
they claimed had the backing of the military establishment, a foregone
conclusion. The remaining candidate, former foreign minister Abdelaziz
Bouteflika, won the uncontested election. Later in 1999 Bouteflika presented a
“Civil Concord” calling for national reconciliation. It was enthusiastically
endorsed in a referendum. Bouteflika offered amnesty to militant Muslims, and
thousands of them laid down their arms. One group that did not was reportedly
supported by al-Qaeda, the international terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.
Algeria has suffered greatly from its
civil war. The widespread violence since the suppression of the 1992 elections
claimed more than 100,000 lives, and assaults by Islamist groups in this
war-weary country still occur. In their efforts to undermine the government,
Islamist militants and extremists have attacked members of the military and
government as well as individuals expressing secular or non-Muslim views,
including journalists, teachers, writers, intellectuals, foreigners, and both
Muslim and Christian clerics. Extremists also resorted to indiscriminate car
bombings. Algeria reeled from savage atrocities in the second half of the 1990s,
especially from mid-1997 to early 1998. Retaliation by government security
forces and civilian militias trained and armed by the government was brutal in
kind.
Although the Algerian government routinely
blamed violence on Islamist guerrillas, human rights organizations began to
question whether the government was doing enough to protect civilians and if
government forces were involved in atrocities themselves. A UN panel was allowed
to conduct a limited investigation into the violence in late 1998. The panel
blamed the Islamist groups for most of the violence but also urged the Algerian
government to make improvements in the areas of human rights and democracy.
J | Recent Developments |
At the start of the 21st century, human
rights and democracy had not made substantial progress in Algeria. However,
Bouteflika attempted to polish Algeria’s tarnished international image and
strengthen Algeria’s relationship with the United States and the European Union
(EU). Reelected in 2004, Bouteflika brought relative stability to Algeria by
releasing imprisoned opposition leaders and granting amnesty to Islamist rebels.
In 2005 Algerians voted their approval of the president’s Charter on Peace and
National Reconciliation, which was meant to close the chapter on a decade of
violence. It pardoned Islamist militants so long as they renounced violence, but
it also protected the army and security forces from bearing responsibility for
the thousands of Algerians who “disappeared” after arrest.
Although most political observers
believed that real power in Algeria belonged to the president, the army, and the
security services, Algeria conducted its third multiparty parliamentary
elections in 2007. The parliamentary coalition loyal to Bouteflika, consisting
of the FLN, the pro-business National Democratic Rally, and the moderate
Islamist Movement for a Peaceful Society, won the largest bloc of seats, 249, in
the 389-member National People’s Assembly. The Islamic Salvation Front remained
a banned party. Political observers were struck by the relative lack of violence
leading up to and during the elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment