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104-600: It is spoken by an estimated 100,000 people in Algeria , most of them along the Moroccan border with the Atlas Mountains . It is also spoken by about 10,000 people in neighboring regions of Niger , and by minorities in bordering regions of Mauritania , Mali , and Libya . It was spoken also by people to the north of the former colony of Western Sahara abandoned by Spain before the short conflict with Mauritania and

208-507: A beachhead to protect the landing of the rest of the troops. While the French were preparing, they were constantly attacked and harassed by hidden Algerian scouts, whose guerrilla-style harassment was only a prelude to the main attack. As the French were slowly disembarking their troops and equipment, Hussein Dey's three Beys , from Oran , Titteri and Medea , and various caids had answered

312-524: A bloody civil war from 1992 to 2002. Spanning 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the world's tenth-largest nation by area , and the largest nation in Africa . It has a semi-arid climate, with the Sahara desert dominating most of the territory except for its fertile and mountainous north, where most of the population is concentrated. With a population of 44 million, Algeria

416-667: A Berber dynasty originating from Algeria and which at one point was a dominant power in the Maghreb ruling over much of Morocco and western Algeria including Fez, Sijilmasa , Aghmat , Oujda , most of the Sous and Draa and reaching as far as M'sila and the Zab in Algeria. As the Fatimid state was at the time too weak to attempt a direct invasion, they found another means of revenge. Between

520-617: A bloody siege, they conquered Oran . Following their decisive victories over the Algerians in the western-coastal areas of Algeria, the Spanish decided to get bolder, and invaded more Algerian cities. In 1510, they led a series of sieges and attacks, taking over Bejaia in a large siege , and leading a semi-successful siege against Algiers . They also besieged Tlemcen. In 1511, they took control over Cherchell and Jijel , and attacked Mostaganem where although they were not able to conquer

624-499: A destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, who became known as colons and later, as Pied-Noirs . Between 1825 and 1847, 50,000 French people emigrated to Algeria. These settlers benefited from the French government's confiscation of communal land from tribal peoples, and the application of modern agricultural techniques that increased the amount of arable land. Many Europeans settled in Oran and Algiers , and by

728-639: A distinct native population that came to be called Berbers , who are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa. From their principal center of power at Carthage , the Carthaginians expanded and established small settlements along the North African coast; by 600 BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa , east of Cherchell , Hippo Regius (modern Annaba ) and Rusicade (modern Skikda ). These settlements served as market towns as well as anchorages. As Carthaginian power grew, its impact on

832-544: A landing by troops under Louis Auguste Victor de Ghaisne, comte de Bourmont . The French quickly defeated the troops of Hussein Dey , the Deylikal ruler, but native resistance was widespread. This resulted in a protracted military campaign, ultimately lasting more than 45 years, to root out popular opposition to the colonization. The so-called "pacification" was marked by resistance from figures such as Ahmed Bey , Abd El-Kader , and Lalla Fatma N'Soumer . The invasion marked

936-583: A man originating from modern day Algeria known as Abd al-Mu'min would soon take control over the Maghreb. During the time of the Almohad Dynasty Abd al-Mu'min 's tribe, the Koumïa, were the main supporters of the throne and the most important body of the empire. Defeating the weakening Almoravid Empire and taking control over Morocco in 1147, they pushed into Algeria in 1152, taking control over Tlemcen, Oran, and Algiers, wrestling control from

1040-468: A mixed system of "total domination and total colonization" whereby French military would wage total war against civilian populations while a colonial administration would provide rule of law and property rights to settlers within French occupied cities. From 1848 until independence, France administered the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria as an integral part and département of the nation. One of France's longest-held overseas territories, Algeria became

1144-456: A parliament called the Divan of Algiers. These rulers/kings were known as Deys. The state could be best described as an elective monarchy . A diplomatic incident in 1827, the so-called Fan Affair (Fly Whisk Incident), served as a pretext to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. After three years of standstill and a more severe incident in which a French ship carrying an ambassador to

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1248-515: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Algeria Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa . It is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia ; to the east by Libya ; to the southeast by Niger ; to the southwest by Mali , Mauritania , and Western Sahara ; to the west by Morocco ; and to

1352-443: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Algeria -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Niger -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Morocco -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Mauritania -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Libya -related article

1456-537: Is now Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Spain, Malta and Italy. The Hammadids captured and held important regions such as Ouargla, Constantine, Sfax, Susa, Algiers, Tripoli and Fez establishing their rule in every country in the Maghreb region. The Fatimids which was created and established by the Kutama Berbers conquered all of North Africa as well as Sicily and parts of the Middle East. Following

1560-479: Is the tenth-most populous country in Africa, and the 33rd-most populous country in the world. Algeria's official languages are Arabic and Tamazight ; French is used in media, education, and certain administrative matters, but it has no official status. The vast majority of the population speak the Algerian dialect of Arabic . Most Algerians are Arabs , with Berbers forming a sizeable minority. Sunni Islam

1664-520: Is the official religion and practised by 99 percent of the population. Algeria is a semi-presidential republic composed of 58 provinces ( wilayas ) and 1,541 communes . It is a regional power in North Africa and a middle power in global affairs. The country has the second-highest Human Development Index in continental Africa and one of the largest economies in Africa , due mostly to its large petroleum and natural gas reserves, which are

1768-557: Is to take care of the happiness of the three million Arabs, whom the fate of arms has brought under our domination." During this time, only Kabylia resisted, the Kabylians were not colonized until after the Mokrani Revolt in 1871. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote and never completed an unpublished essay outlining his ideas for how to transform Algeria from an occupied tributary state to a colonial regime, wherein he advocated for

1872-544: The Almohads in the second half of the 12th century. The influx of Bedouin tribes was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural Arabization of the Maghreb and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by the Banu Hilal tribes had become completely arid desert. The Almohads originating from modern day Morocco, although founded by

1976-662: The Bourbon Restoration among the French populace at large also made France unstable. In an attempt to distract his people from domestic affairs, King Charles X decided to engage in a colonial expedition. In 1827, Hussein Dey , Algeria's Dey, demanded that the French pay a 28-year-old debt contracted in 1799 by purchasing supplies to feed the soldiers of the Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt . The French consul Pierre Deval refused to give answers satisfactory to

2080-592: The Kingdom of Altava . During the reign of Kusaila its territory extended from the region of modern-day Fez in the west to the western Aurès and later Kairaouan and the interior of Ifriqiya in the east. After negligible resistance from the locals, Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate conquered Algeria in the early 8th century. Large numbers of the indigenous Berber people converted to Islam. Christians, Berber and Latin speakers remained in

2184-720: The Kingdom of France , ruled by Charles X , invaded and conquered the Deylik of Algiers . Algiers was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1529 after the capture of Algiers in 1529 and had been under its direct rule until 1710, when Baba Ali Chaouch achieved de facto independence from the Ottomans, though the Regency was still nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Deylik of Algiers elected its rulers through

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2288-473: The Levant . Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic Flake tool techniques. Tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian (after the archaeological site of Bir el Ater , south of Tebessa ). The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Iberomaurusian (located mainly in the Oran region). This industry appears to have spread throughout

2392-588: The Moulouya River in modern-day Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilisation, unequalled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravids more than a millennium later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BC. After Masinissa's death in 148 BC, the Berber kingdoms were divided and reunited several times. Masinissa's line survived until 24 AD, when

2496-772: The Nile and the Red Sea were living Bedouin nomad tribes expelled from Arabia for their disruption and turbulency. The Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym for example, who regularly disrupted farmers in the Nile Valley since the nomads would often loot their farms. The then Fatimid vizier decided to destroy what he could not control, and broke a deal with the chiefs of these Bedouin tribes. The Fatimids even gave them money to leave. Whole tribes set off with women, children, elders, animals and camping equipment. Some stopped on

2600-941: The OIC , OPEC , the United Nations, and the Arab Maghreb Union , of which it is a founding member. Different forms of the name Algeria include: Arabic : الجزائر , romanized :  al-Jazāʾir , Algerian Arabic : دزاير , romanized:  dzāyer , French : l'Algérie . The country's full name is officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (Arabic: الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية , romanized:  al-Jumhūriyah al-Jazāʾiriyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyah ash‑Shaʿbiyah ; French: République algérienne démocratique et populaire , abbr. RADP; Berber Tifinagh : ⵜⴰⴳⴷⵓⴷⴰ ⵜⴰⵣⵣⴰⵢⵔⵉⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⴳⴷⴰⵢⵜ ⵜⴰⵖⴻⵔⴼⴰⵏⵜ , Berber Latin alphabet : Tagduda tazzayrit tamagdayt taɣerfant ). Algeria's name derives from

2704-564: The Odjak of Algiers; and the Reis or the company of corsair captains rebelled, they removed the Ottoman viceroy from power, and placed one of its own in power. The new leader received the title of "Agha" then " Dey " in 1671, and the right to select passed to the divan , a council of some sixty military senior officers. Thus Algiers became a sovereign military republic. It was at first dominated by

2808-733: The Ottoman sultan . Algerian nationalist, historian and statesman Ahmed Tewfik El Madani regarded the regency as the "first Algerian state" and the "Algerian Ottoman republic". Around ~1.8-million-year-old stone artifacts from Ain Hanech (Algeria) were considered to represent the oldest archaeological materials in North Africa. Stone artifacts and cut-marked bones that were excavated from two nearby deposits at Ain Boucherit are estimated to be ~1.9 million years old, and even older stone artifacts to be as old as ~2.4 million years. Hence,

2912-549: The Spanish Navy bombarded Algiers in 1783 and 1784 . For the attack in 1784, the Spanish fleet was to be joined by ships from such traditional enemies of Algiers as Naples , Portugal and the Knights of Malta . Over 20,000 cannonballs were fired, but all these military campaigns were doomed and Spain had to ask for peace in 1786 and paid 1 million pesos to the Dey. In 1792, Algiers took back Oran and Mers el Kébir,

3016-897: The Zirids seceded. To punish them the Fatimids sent the Arab Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym against them. The resultant war is recounted in the epic Tāghribāt . In Al-Tāghrībāt the Amazigh Zirid Hero Khālīfā Al-Zānatī asks daily, for duels, to defeat the Hilalan hero Ābu Zayd al-Hilalī and many other Arab knights in a string of victories. The Zirids , however, were ultimately defeated ushering in an adoption of Arab customs and culture. The indigenous Amazigh tribes, however, remained largely independent, and depending on tribe, location and time controlled varying parts of

3120-479: The dey with a proposal for negotiations was fired upon, the French determined that more forceful action was required. Charles X also sought to divert attention from turbulent French domestic affairs which culminated with his deposition during the later stages of the invasion in the July Revolution . The invasion of Algiers began on 5 July 1830 with a naval bombardment by a fleet under Admiral Duperré and

3224-632: The presque-isle of Sidi Ferruch was chosen as a landing spot, 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Algiers. The vanguard of the fleet arrived off Algiers on 31 May, but it took until 14 June for the entire fleet to arrive. Following the rise in tension and the start of the war, the Algerians mobilized themselves. The tribes of the Makhzen system were levied throughout the Beyliks of Constantine , Oran , and Titteri . The Zwawa and Iflissen warrior tribes of Kabylia were also levied, and were given under

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3328-533: The sixteenth and ninth-largest in the world, respectively. Sonatrach , the national oil company, is the largest company in Africa and a major supplier of natural gas to Europe. The Algerian military is one of the largest in Africa, with the highest defence budget on the continent and among the highest in the world (ranks 22nd globally). Algeria is a member of the African Union , the Arab League ,

3432-545: The unresolved conflict with Morocco that annexed and controlled most of its territory, forcing most Western Saharan population to flee, and many of them live now in refugee camps in Algeria. It is still spoken in the small unoccupied regions of Western Sahara still controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (but also claimed by Morocco). This article related to the Arabic language

3536-474: The 1 million deaths claimed by the Algerian government after independence. Horne estimated Algerian casualties during the span of eight years to be around 700,000. The war uprooted more than 2 million Algerians. Invasion of Algiers in 1830 French victory Expeditionary army: 37,577 men 3,988 horses The invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large-scale military operation by which

3640-612: The 11th. The last were evacuated to Sicily by the Normans and the few remaining died out in the 14th century. During the Middle Ages , North Africa was home to many great scholars, saints and sovereigns including Judah Ibn Quraysh , the first grammarian to mention Semitic and Berber languages, the great Sufi masters Sidi Boumediene (Abu Madyan) and Sidi El Houari , and the Emirs Abd Al Mu'min and Yāghmūrasen . It

3744-518: The 1st French division started marching toward them in column formation , Algerian forces retreated toward the village of Sidi Khalef at the edge of the plateau. After some fighting, the Algerians were routed by a bayonet charge. French casualties were very low on that day, but Amédée de Bourmont, one of the French commander-in-chief's four sons, was among the killed. On July 3, Admiral Duperré and some of his warships bombed Algiers coastal defences . However, French ships remained relatively far from

3848-648: The Ain Boucherit evidence shows that ancestral hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in northern Africa much earlier than previously thought. The evidence strongly argues for early dispersal of stone tool manufacture and use from East Africa, or a possible multiple-origin scenario of stone technology in both East and North Africa. Neanderthal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles (43,000 BC) similar to those in

3952-464: The Algerians to their camp up the hill. French artillery fire and bayonet charges eventually turned the Algerian retreat into a general rout . By midday the French had captured the Algerian camp and many of the forces assembled by the Dey went back home. In the camp, the French found riches, weapons, food and livestock that the Algerians had abandoned there while they fled. Despite the French success, Bourmont decided not to move any further until all

4056-628: The Almohads in 1248 after killing their Caliph in a successful ambush near Oujda. The Zayyanids retained their control over Algeria for 3 centuries. Much of the eastern territories of Algeria were under the authority of the Hafsid dynasty , although the Emirate of Bejaia encompassing the Algerian territories of the Hafsids would occasionally be independent from central Tunisian control. At their peak

4160-829: The Berber revolt numerous independent states emerged across the Maghreb. In Algeria the Rustamid Kingdom was established. The Rustamid realm stretched from Tafilalt in Morocco to the Nafusa mountains in Libya including south, central and western Tunisia therefore including territory in all of the modern day Maghreb countries, in the south the Rustamid realm expanded to the modern borders of Mali and included territory in Mauritania . Once extending their control over all of

4264-408: The French destroyed over 8,000 villages and relocated over 2 million Algerians to concentration camps . The war led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Algerians and hundreds of thousands of injuries. Historians, like Alistair Horne and Raymond Aron , state that the actual number of Algerian Muslim war dead was far greater than the original FLN and official French estimates but was less than

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4368-707: The Hilian Arabs, and by the same year they defeated Hammadids who controlled Eastern Algeria. Following their decisive defeat in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 the Almohads began collapsing, and in 1235 the governor of modern-day Western Algeria, Yaghmurasen Ibn Zyan declared his independence and established the Kingdom of Tlemcen and the Zayyanid dynasty . Warring with the Almohad forces attempting to restore control over Algeria for 13 years, they defeated

4472-552: The Islamic Era. The Berber people historically consisted of several tribes. The two main branches were the Botr and Barnès tribes, who were divided into tribes, and again into sub-tribes. Each region of the Maghreb contained several tribes (for example, Sanhadja , Houara , Zenata , Masmouda , Kutama , Awarba, and Berghwata ). All these tribes made independent territorial decisions. Several Amazigh dynasties emerged during

4576-528: The Maghreb, at times unifying it (as under the Fatimids). The Fatimid Islamic state, also known as Fatimid Caliphate made an Islamic empire that included North Africa, Sicily, Palestine , Jordan , Lebanon , Syria , Egypt , the Red Sea coast of Africa, Tihamah, Hejaz and Yemen . Caliphates from Northern Africa traded with the other empires of their time, as well as forming part of a confederated support and trade network with other Islamic states during

4680-510: The Maghreb, part of Spain and briefly over Sicily, originating from modern Algeria, the Zirids only controlled modern Ifriqiya by the 11th century. The Zirids recognized nominal suzerainty of the Fatimid caliphs of Cairo. El Mu'izz the Zirid ruler decided to end this recognition and declared his independence. The Zirids also fought against other Zenata Kingdoms, for example the Maghrawa ,

4784-720: The Middle Ages in the Maghreb and other nearby lands. Ibn Khaldun provides a table summarising the Amazigh dynasties of the Maghreb region, the Zirid , Ifranid , Maghrawa , Almoravid , Hammadid , Almohad , Merinid , Abdalwadid , Wattasid , Meknassa and Hafsid dynasties. Both of the Hammadid and Zirid empires as well as the Fatimids established their rule in all of the Maghreb countries. The Zirids ruled land in what

4888-431: The Muslim population, which lacked political and economic status under the colonial system, gave rise to demands for greater political autonomy and eventually independence from France . In May 1945, the uprising against the occupying French forces was suppressed through what is now known as the Sétif and Guelma massacre . Tensions between the two population groups came to a head in 1954, when the first violent events of what

4992-585: The Regency. The French refused, and a while later two delegates came to the French and negotiated an armistice until peace agreements could be reached. They also proposed to bring the head of the Dey to the French, which the French declined. De Bourmont told them that France wanted the city, its fleet, the Regency's treasury and the departure of Turks from the city and promised to spare the inhabitants houses from pillaging if these terms were accepted. Hussein Dey would also be allowed to bring his personal wealth with him in exile. The two delegates left and came back on

5096-406: The Romans in the Punic Wars . In 146 BC the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew. By the 2nd century BC, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged. Two of them were established in Numidia , behind the coastal areas controlled by Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania , which extended across

5200-407: The Zayyanid kingdom included all of Morocco as its vassal to the west and in the east reached as far as Tunis which they captured during the reign of Abu Tashfin. After several conflicts with local Barbary pirates sponsored by the Zayyanid sultans, Spain decided to invade Algeria and defeat the native Kingdom of Tlemcen. In 1505, they invaded and captured Mers el Kébir , and in 1509 after

5304-433: The attacks on U.S. ships in 1815. A year later, a combined Anglo - Dutch fleet, under the command of Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers to stop similar attacks on European fishermen. These efforts proved successful, although Algerian piracy would continue until the French conquest in 1830. Under the pretext of a slight to their consul, the French invaded and captured Algiers in 1830. According to several historians,

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5408-416: The call to arms and started gathering forces in a large camp on the nearby plateau of Staoueli . Convinced that fear alone was keeping the French from making any move forward, the Algerian forces, led by Ibrahim Agha , came down from the plateau on the early morning of 19 June and attacked the two French divisions that had already disembarked. The Algerian assault was repulsed and the French forces followed

5512-460: The captives. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. They often made raids on European coastal towns to capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in North Africa and other parts of the Ottoman Empire . In 1544, for example, Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the island of Ischia , taking 4,000 prisoners, and enslaved some 9,000 inhabitants of Lipari , almost

5616-427: The cities of North Africa. Algiers lost between 30,000 and 50,000 inhabitants to the plague in 1620–21, and had high fatalities in 1654–57, 1665, 1691 and 1740–42. The Barbary pirates preyed on Christian and other non-Islamic shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea. The pirates often took the passengers and crew on the ships and sold them or used them as slaves . They also did a brisk business in ransoming some of

5720-405: The cities, instead looting them and destroying them. The invasion kept going, and in 1057 the Arabs spread on the high plains of Constantine where they encircled the Qalaa of Banu Hammad (capital of the Hammadid Emirate ), as they had done in Kairouan a few decades ago. From there they gradually gained the upper Algiers and Oran plains. Some of these territories were forcibly taken back by

5824-402: The city of Algiers , which in turn derives from the Arabic al-Jazāʾir ( الجزائر , "the islands"), referring to four small islands off its coast, a truncated form of the older Jazāʾir Banī Mazghanna ( جزائر بني مزغنة , "islands of Bani Mazghanna"). The name was given by Buluggin ibn Ziri after he established the city on the ruins of the Phoenician city of Icosium in 950. It

5928-402: The city, they were able to force a tribute on them. In 1516, the Turkish privateer brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa , who operated successfully under the Hafsids , moved their base of operations to Algiers. They succeeded in conquering Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards with help from the locals who saw them as liberators from the Christians, but the brothers eventually assassinated

6032-450: The civil service without inquiring into their various attributions, he should finally seize every functionary⸺from the head of the government to the campesino guards, the peers, the deputies, and in general the whole ruling class⸺and deport them all at once to some distant country. Do you not think that this great prince, in spite of his powerful army, his fortresses and his treasures, will soon find himself extremely unprepared in administering

6136-435: The coast and thus caused only slight damage. On 29 June, French troops arrived near the Bordj Moulay Hassan fortress, an old Ottoman fortress that the French soon nicknamed "Fort de l'Empereur" as tribute to Emperor Charles V , since it had been built in response to his attack on the city in 1541. On 30 June they started digging trenches in preparation for the siege and by July 3 they had brought all their artillery. In

6240-432: The coastal regions of the Maghreb between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic civilization (animal domestication and agriculture) developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghreb perhaps as early as 11,000 BC or as late as between 6000 and 2000 BC. This life, richly depicted in the Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, predominated in Algeria until the classical period. The mixture of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into

6344-432: The command of Cheikh Mohammed ben Zaamoum . The Odjak of Algiers was also mobilized, and their Agha, Ibrahim was appointed as supreme commander of the Algerian forces. As Hussein Dey declared a holy Jihad against the French invaders, many volunteers from throughout the country joined the army of Hussein Dey. Furthermore several letters were sent to specific tribes whom were renown for their martial prowess throughout

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6448-445: The command of Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon sailed as far as Iceland , raiding and capturing slaves . Two weeks earlier another pirate ship from Salé in Morocco had also raided in Iceland. Some of the slaves brought to Algiers were later ransomed back to Iceland, but some chose to stay in Algeria. In 1629, pirate ships from Algeria raided the Faroe Islands . In 1659, the Janissaries stationed in Algiers, also known commonly as

6552-486: The conquered country; that his new subjects, deprived of all those who conducted or could conduct affairs of state, will be unable to govern themselves, while he, coming from the antipodes, knows neither the religion, nor the language, nor the laws, nor the habits, nor the administrative customs of the country, and who has taken care to remove all those who could have instructed him in them, will be in no state rule them. You will therefore have no difficulty in foreseeing that if

6656-468: The country. “ Good day to all the people of Kabylia and to all their notables and their marabouts . Know that the French formed the design to land and seize the capital of Algiers. You are a people renowned for your courage and your dedication to Islam. The Ujaq calls you to holy war so that you may reap the benefits, in this world and in the next, like your ancestors who fought in the First Holy War against Charles V in 1541. Whoever wants to be happy in

6760-406: The defenders of the fort stopped firing as they no longer had any cover after all the merlons had been destroyed. The fortress was devastated and most of its guns had been destroyed. The defenders then gathered what was left of powder and blew up the fortress before fleeing the place. Out of the 2,000 men of the garrison, only half had survived and returned to the Casbah With the fortress out of

6864-444: The definition of its borders with its neighboring entities on the east and west. The Ottoman Turks who settled in Algeria referred both to themselves and the peoples as " Algerians ". Acting as a central military and political authority in the regency, the Ottoman Turks shaped the modern political identity of Algeria as a state possessing all the attributes of sovereign independence, despite still being nominally subject to

6968-412: The dey with a proposal for negotiations, he responded with cannon fire directed toward one of the blockading ships. The French then determined that more forceful action was required. King Charles X decided to organise a punitive expedition on the coasts of Algiers to punish the "impudence" of the dey, as well as to root out Barbary corsairs who used Algiers as a safe haven. The naval part of the operation

7072-417: The dey, and in an outburst of anger, Hussein Dey touched the consul with his fly-whisk . Charles X used this as an excuse to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. The blockade lasted for three years, and was primarily to the detriment of French merchants who were unable to do business with Algiers, while Barbary pirates were still able to evade the blockade. When France in 1829 sent an ambassador to

7176-439: The early 20th century they formed a majority of the population in both cities. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the European share was almost a fifth of the population. The French government aimed at making Algeria an assimilated part of France, and this included substantial educational investments especially after 1900. The indigenous cultural and religious resistance heavily opposed this tendency, but in contrast to

7280-498: The early 4th century BC, Berbers formed the single largest element of the Carthaginian army. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries , Berber soldiers rebelled from 241 to 238 BC after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War . They succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthage's North African territory, and they minted coins bearing the name Libyan, used in Greek to describe natives of North Africa. The Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by

7384-417: The early morning of July 4, general De la Hitte , commander of the French artillery, ordered all batteries to open fire. The defenders immediately returned fire, and a long cannonade ensued. The fort's garrison, composed of about 800 janissaries and 1,200 Moors, resisted for several hours despite the intense bombardment they were subjected to, a feat of courage that impressed the French. Near 10:00 am however,

7488-600: The end of the centuries-old Regency of Algiers and the beginning of the colonial period of French Algeria . In 1848, the territories conquered around Algiers were organised into three départements , defining the territories of modern Algeria . During the Napoleonic Wars , the Kingdom of Algiers had greatly benefited from trade in the Mediterranean, and from the massive imports of food from France, largely bought on credit. The Dey of Algiers attempted to remedy his steadily decreasing revenues by increasing taxes, which

7592-629: The entire population. In 1551, the Ottoman governor of Algiers, Turgut Reis , enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island of Gozo . Barbary pirates often attacked the Balearic Islands . The threat was so severe that residents abandoned the island of Formentera . The introduction of broad-sail ships from the beginning of the 17th century allowed them to branch out into the Atlantic. In July 1627 two pirate ships from Algiers under

7696-608: The exact number of Algerian troops vary greatly, with some estimates putting it at about 25,000–30,000 while some French sources putting it at 50,000. On the morning of 14 June 1830, the French Expeditionary Force composed of 34,000 soldiers divided in three divisions, started disembarking on the Sidi Ferruch Presque-isle . After landing, they quickly captured the Algerian battery and the division under general Berthezène established

7800-721: The few in North Africa who remained independent. The Berber people were so resistant that even during the Muslim conquest of North Africa they still had control and possession over their mountains. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire led to the establishment of a native Kingdom based in Altava (modern-day Algeria) known as the Mauro-Roman Kingdom . It was succeeded by another Kingdom based in Altava,

7904-492: The forces had been disembarked. Meanwhile, in Algiers, Hussein Dey spent the next three days actively trying to gather the forces that had scattered after the battle. Everyday more and more of them arrived to the city, and soon the apparent inaction of the French gave the Algerians renewed confidence. On the morning of 24 June, Algerian forces came back on Staoueli plateau and deployed themselves in front of French outposts. As

8008-645: The great majority in Tunisia until the end of the 9th century and Muslims only became a vast majority some time in the 10th. After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, numerous local dynasties emerged, including the Rustamids , Aghlabids , Fatimids , Zirids , Hammadids , Almoravids , Almohads and the Zayyanids . The Christians left in three waves: after the initial conquest, in the 10th century and

8112-461: The indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilisation was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and political organisation supported several states. Trade links between Carthage and the Berbers in the interior grew, but territorial expansion also resulted in the enslavement or military recruitment of some Berbers and in the extraction of tribute from others. By

8216-537: The institution of a regular administration, governors with the title of pasha ruled for three-year terms. The pasha was assisted by an autonomous janissary unit, known in Algeria as the Ojaq who were led by an agha . Discontent among the ojaq rose in the mid-1600s because they were not paid regularly, and they repeatedly revolted against the pasha. As a result, the agha charged the pasha with corruption and incompetence and seized power in 1659. Plague had repeatedly struck

8320-579: The land, as they were harassed by local tribes. In fact, by the time the Byzantines arrived Leptis Magna was abandoned and the Msellata region was occupied by the indigenous Laguatan who had been busy facilitating an Amazigh political, military and cultural revival. Furthermore, during the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Carthaginians, and Ottomans the Berber people were the only or one of

8424-643: The libraries in Algiers were burned, as were many land surveys detailing ownership of farmland. Alexis de Tocqueville likened the invasion of Algeria to an invasion of France by the Chinese: Suppose that the Emperor of China, landing in France at the head of an armed power, should make himself master of our largest cities and of our capital. That after having burned all the public registers before suffering to read them, and having destroyed or dispersed all of

8528-488: The local noble Salim al-Tumi and took control over the city and the surrounding regions. Their state is known as the Regency of Algiers . When Aruj was killed in 1518 during his invasion of Tlemcen , Hayreddin succeeded him as military commander of Algiers. The Ottoman sultan gave him the title of beylerbey and a contingent of some 2,000 janissaries . With the aid of this force and native Algerians, Hayreddin conquered

8632-467: The methods used by the French to establish control over Algeria reached genocidal proportions. Historian Ben Kiernan wrote on the French conquest of Algeria: "By 1875, the French conquest was complete. The war had killed approximately 825,000 indigenous Algerians since 1830." French losses from 1831 to 1851 were 92,329 dead in the hospital and only 3,336 killed in action. In 1872, The Algerian population stood at about 2.9 million. French policy

8736-423: The next day at about 11:00 am, and told the French that the Dey agreed to their terms. French troops entered the city on July 5 at 12:00. A few days later, Hussein Dey and his family embarked on a frigate and departed for Naples . With the French invasion of Algiers, a number of Algerians migrated west to Tetuan . They introduced baklava , coffee , and the warqa pastry now used in pastilla . Many of

8840-468: The next world, must devote himself entirely to Jihad when the time is right. Jihad is a duty imposed on us by religion, when the infidel is in our territory.” From a letter sent by Ibrahim Agha to several Kabyle tribes, such as the Ait Iraten . The exact number and composition of the Algerian army is unknown, but it is known that the majority of troops were from the Makhzen tribal levy. Estimates of

8944-537: The north by the Mediterranean Sea . The capital and largest city is Algiers , located in the far north on the Mediterranean coast. Inhabited since prehistory , Algeria has been at the crossroads of numerous cultures and civilizations, including the Phoenicians , Numidians , Romans , Vandals , and Byzantine Greeks . Its modern identity is rooted in centuries of Arab Muslim migration waves since

9048-531: The odjak; but by the 18th century, it had become the dey's instrument. Although Algiers remained nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, in reality they acted independently from the rest of the Empire, and often had wars with other Ottoman subjects and territories such as the Beylik of Tunis . The dey was in effect a constitutional autocrat. The dey was elected for a life term, but in the 159 years (1671–1830) that

9152-663: The other colonized countries' path in central Asia and Caucasus , Algeria kept its individual skills and a relatively human-capital intensive agriculture. During the Second World War , Algeria came under Vichy control before being liberated by the Allies in Operation Torch , which saw the first large-scale deployment of American troops in the North African campaign . Gradually, dissatisfaction among

9256-513: The picture, the city was now at the mercy of the French invasion force. The French brought their artillery in the ruins of the fortress started exchanging fire with the Casbah of Algiers . A little after midday, an envoy of the Dey reached French lines and attempted to negotiate a French withdrawal in exchange for an official apology to the King of France and the repayment of French war expenditures by

9360-540: The regency's authority was seldom applied in the Kabylia , although in 1730 the Regency was able to take control over the Kingdom of Kuku in western Kabylia. Many cities in the northern parts of the Algerian desert paid taxes to Algiers or one of its Beys. Barbary raids in the Mediterranean continued to attack Spanish merchant shipping, and as a result, the Spanish Empire launched an invasion in 1775 , then

9464-507: The remaining Berber territory was annexed to the Roman Empire . For several centuries Algeria was ruled by the Romans, who founded many colonies in the region. Algeria is home to the second-largest number of Roman sites and remains after Italy. Rome, after getting rid of its powerful rival Carthage in the year 146 BC, decided a century later to include Numidia to become the new master of North Africa. They built more than 500 cities. Like

9568-460: The rest of North Africa, Algeria was one of the breadbaskets of the empire, exporting cereals and other agricultural products. Saint Augustine was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern-day Annaba, Algeria), located in the Roman province of Africa . The Germanic Vandals of Geiseric moved into North Africa in 429, and by 435 controlled coastal Numidia. They did not make any significant settlement on

9672-456: The seventh century and the subsequent Arabization of the indigenous populations. Following a succession of Islamic Arab and Berber dynasties between the eighth and 15th centuries, the Regency of Algiers was established in 1516 as a largely independent tributary state of the Ottoman Empire . After nearly three centuries as a major power in the Mediterranean, the country was invaded by France in 1830 and formally annexed in 1848, though it

9776-419: The system was in place, fourteen of the twenty-nine deys were assassinated. Despite usurpation, military coups and occasional mob rule, the day-to-day operation of the Deylikal government was remarkably orderly. Although the regency patronised the tribal chieftains, it never had the unanimous allegiance of the countryside, where heavy taxation frequently provoked unrest. Autonomous tribal states were tolerated, and

9880-528: The two last Spanish strongholds in Algeria. In the same year, they conquered the Moroccan Rif and Oujda , which they then abandoned in 1795. In the 19th century, Algerian pirates forged affiliations with Caribbean powers, paying a "license tax" in exchange for safe harbor of their vessels. Attacks by Algerian pirates on American merchantmen resulted in the First and Second Barbary Wars , which ended

9984-623: The way, especially in Cyrenaica , where they are still one of the essential elements of the settlement but most arrived in Ifriqiya by the Gabes region, arriving 1051. The Zirid ruler tried to stop this rising tide, but with each encounter, the last under the walls of Kairouan , his troops were defeated and the Arabs remained masters of the battlefield. The Arabs usually did not take control over

10088-399: The whole area between Constantine and Oran (although the city of Oran remained in Spanish hands until 1792). The next beylerbey was Hayreddin's son Hasan , who assumed the position in 1544. He was a Kouloughli or of mixed origins, as his mother was an Algerian Mooresse. Until 1587 Beylerbeylik of Algiers was governed by Beylerbeys who served terms with no fixed limits. Subsequently, with

10192-465: Was during this time that the Fatimids or children of Fatima , daughter of Muhammad , came to the Maghreb . These "Fatimids" went on to found a long lasting dynasty stretching across the Maghreb, Hejaz and the Levant , boasting a secular inner government, as well as a powerful army and navy, made up primarily of Arabs and Levantines extending from Algeria to their capital state of Cairo . The Fatimid caliphate began to collapse when its governors

10296-488: Was employed by medieval geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi . Algeria took its name from the Regency of Algeria or Regency of Algiers, when Ottoman rule was established in the central Maghreb in early 16th century. This period saw the installation of a political and administrative organization which participated in the establishment of the Watan el djazâïr ( وطن الجزائر , country of Algiers) and

10400-478: Was given to Admiral Duperré , who advised against it, finding it too dangerous. He was nevertheless given command of the fleet. The land part was under the orders of Louis Auguste Victor de Ghaisne, comte de Bourmont . On 16 May, a fleet comprising 103 warships and 464 transports departed Toulon , carrying a 37,612-man army. The ground was well-known, thanks to observations made during the First Empire , and

10504-607: Was later called the Algerian War began after the publication of the Declaration of 1 November 1954 . Historians have estimated that between 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependents were killed by the National Liberation Front (FLN) or by lynch mobs in Algeria. The FLN used hit and run attacks in Algeria and France as part of its war, and the French conducted severe reprisals . In addition,

10608-415: Was not fully conquered and pacified until 1903. French rule brought mass European settlement that displaced the local population, which was reduced by up to one-third due to warfare, disease, and starvation. The Sétif and Guelma massacre in 1945 catalysed local resistance that culminated in the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954. Algeria gained its independence in 1962. The country descended into

10712-423: Was predicated on "civilising" the country. The slave trade and piracy in Algeria ceased following the French conquest. The conquest of Algeria by the French took some time and resulted in considerable bloodshed. A combination of violence and disease epidemics caused the indigenous Algerian population to decline by nearly one-third from 1830 to 1872. On 17 September 1860, Napoleon III declared "Our first duty

10816-648: Was resisted by the local peasantry, increasing instability in the country and leading to increased piracy against merchant shipping from Europe and the young United States of America . This, in turn, led to the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War , which culminated in August 1816 when Lord Exmouth executed a naval bombardment of Algiers in response to Algerian massacres of recently freed European slaves. The widespread unpopularity of

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