Geography
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-Jaz?’ir (“the islands”), refers to small islands lying off the coast near the capital.

Brief History
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.

Economy
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.

Population
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.

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 (2007 estimate) is about 33,333,216. Approximately 90 percent of the population is concentrated in the coastal region. The population is young: About 27 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.

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.

from Encarta