Algeria

Algeria - Africa's second largest country

In 1962, after the eight-year Algerian War, Algeria became independent from France, to which it previously belonged as a province.

The country in northern Africa had already been conquered by France in 1830. Much earlier, the Roman and then the Ottoman Empire extended into the area.

The population of Algeria is originally of Berber origin, having lived there since 1500 BC. - now 70% of the population are Arabs. The country is strongly Muslim, almost all Algerians belong to Islam.

After the military coup in 1991, bloody clashes between Islamist terrorists and the Algerian military determined everyday life in Algeria and cost over 100,000 lives.

Although the situation has calmed down, traveling in Algeria, for example, is not without risk, and not just because the vast majority of the country consists of desert.

There are definitely worthwhile travel destinations, in addition to cultural treasures from various millennia, as well as natural beauties such as the so-called "plateau of abysses".

Algeria: history

Until about the 15th century

According to Abbreviationfinder website, since around 1500 BC The area of today's Algeria was settled by Berber tribes. End of the 3rd century BC The kingdom of Numidia was established in the east and the kingdom of Mauritania in the west, which also extended over the north of what is now Morocco. Around the 1st century, the Romans conquered the entire region. In the 5th century, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Berbers regained their independence. In the 7th century the Arabs subjugated Mauritania, subordinated it to the province of Ifrigiya and Islamized it. The emirate of the Rustamids was established in the 8th century, the Fatimids ruled from 908 to 972, the Zirids until 1015 and the Hammadids until 1152. In the middle of the 12th century, the Almohads united the entire Maghreb. The Abdalwadids ruled from 1236 to 1554.

From the 16th to the 19th century

In the 16th century, the Spanish conquered the coastal cities of Algeria. Corsairs seized power and, with the help of the Ottoman sultan, drove the Spaniards out. As a result, the country was under Ottoman rule. In the 17th century, the corsairs were increasingly pushed back by the European naval powers, so that from the 18th century a brisk trade across the Mediterranean could be carried out. In 1830, the French began to conquer Algeria, which subsequently became a French province. In 1870/71 an uprising was put down in eastern Algeria, around 25% of the locals were killed. In 1906 France had also occupied the Algerian Sahara.

20th century to the present

A French massacre committed against tens of thousands of Algerians in May 1945 on the occasion of unrest resulted in a strengthening of the Algerian independence movement. In 1954 the "Algerian War" against France began under the leadership of the FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale), which led to the country's independence in 1962. The country's first president, Ben Bella, began setting up a centralized socialist planned economy, and the FLN became a unity party. In 1965, Ben Bella was overthrown by Boumédienne in a bloody coup. After his death in 1979, Bendjedid Chadli took over the office, who initiated extensive reforms after the popular uprising in 1988. In 1989 the new democratic constitution came into force.

In the free election in 1991, the radical Islamist FIS won in the first round. An intervention by the military ended the election and declared a state of emergency, the FIS was banned and Chadli was forced to resign. Muhammad Boudiaf took over the chairmanship of the High Council of State, he was assassinated in 1992 and Ali Kafi succeeded him. The civil war that began in 1991 between the radical Islamists and the army killed a total of over 100,000 people.

From 1994 to 1999 President Zeroual ruled the country. In 1996 a new constitution came into force.

In 1999, Abd el-Asis Bouteflika took over the presidency. The problem of Islamic terror could not be eliminated for the time being, one of the causes is the country's extremely high youth unemployment. However, there was a referendum on a policy of reconciliation. Protests by the Berbers in the same year resulted in the Berber language Tamazight being declared the national language.

The FLN won the parliamentary elections in 2002. The 2004 presidential election resulted in a second mandate for Bouteflika.