History of Algeria

The fertile coastal plain of North Africa, especially west of Tunisia, is often called the Maghreb (or Maghrib). North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East. Thus, the region's inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas. Out of this mix developed the Berber people, whose language and culture, although pushed from coastal areas by conquering and colonizing Carthaginians, Romans, and Byzantines, dominated most of the land until the spread of Islam and the coming of the Arabs. The most significant forces in the country's history have been the spread of Islam, Arabization, Ottoman and French colonization, and the struggle for independence. Modern Algeria is mainly Arabic-speaking, but a large minority still speak the indigenous Berber language, surviving from Neolithic times.

Prehistory

North African history in brief Dr: William

The first city in North Africa was Al kairawane in Tunisia The second city was Tlemcen in Algeria The third city was fez in Morocco And the fourth is Batna (the first Barbar city) in Algeria

Arabs and Barbars

Algeria is the biggest North African country 36 millions Arabs: more than 29 millions Barbars: less than 7 millions

Morocco 29 millions Arabs: just 9 millions Barbars: 20 millions

Tunisia 12 millions Arabs more than 9 millions Barbars less than 3 millions And the rest are European

Arabs and Barbars in Algeria before 650 Date Arabs Barbars In 450 Just 500 Arab were in Algeria and living in Tlemcen west Algeria and Tlemcen was the first city in Algeria and those Arabs came from Palestine and Syria No one Barbar in Algeria In 470 550 Arabs only and living in Tlemcen and 3 villages around Tlemcen calling -Takbalat -Tameksalet -Teffesra 200 Barbars came from Hathramout Yemen and living in Batna east Algeria In 500 620 Arabs living in Tlemcen Teffesra Tameksalet Takbalat and Tate Remchy 242 Barbars in Batna In 550 715 Arab and living in Tlemcen Takbalet Taffessra Tameksalet Tate Remchy And Ta Nedroumet

263 Barbars and living in Batna only In 579 819 Arab and living in Tlemcen Takbalet Tameksalet Taffessra Ta Remchy and Ta Nedromat and Messirda and Honaine 315 Barbar only and living in Batna In 590 3900 Arabs in Algeria 3000 Arab came from Saudi Arabia with Okba and living in Tlemcen and Biskra ,East and West of Algeria and 90 % of land

And less than 1000( all of them were Tlemcenian )went to Spain with Tarik ibn Zayad	and 1515 Barbars were in Batna  

1200 came from Yemen And living in Batna and Nassira(bejaya today) In 600 2900Arab only in Algeria 18615 Barbar in Algeria!! 10 000 More Barbars came from Yemen In 610 202900 Arab in Algeria!! 200 000 Arab came From Syria with Hassane Benou Nomane and living in Biskra Laghouat Annaba Tougourt Adrar Mostaghanem Tiaret Saida and Tlemcen and 90 % of Algerian Land anyway 1600 Barabars only More than 7000 killed with kusaila by Hassan And 9000 barbar went to Morocco under pressure And 1000 went to Tunisia

In 620 100 000 Arab only when more than 100 000 Tlemcenian and Arab went to Spain 1650 Barbars only in Algeria In 650 Just 120 000 Arab in Algeria and living in 99% of Algerian Land 10 000 came from Saudi Arabia Benou hilal (Metlili and Jelfa) 12000 Barbar!! More than 10000 came from Barbar Factory from Yemen

Arabs means Arabs of Saudi Arabia and Syria noble Arabs Barbars means Arabs of Yemen And Barbar means a man without history without language without civilisation or (un homme sauvage) in french history and in Britain mean a terrorist and in brief 70 %of Algerians are syrian 20%are from Saudi Arabia and 10%(all Barbars in Algeria and North Africa are from Yemen)

Ref: European and Arab libraries

Main article: Prehistoric Central North Africa

Early inhabitants of the central Maghreb left behind significant remains including remnants of hominid occupation from ca. 200,000 B.C. found near Saïda. Neolithic civilization (marked by animal domestication and subsistence agriculture) developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghrib between 6000 and 2000 B.C. This type of economy, so richly depicted in the Tassili-n-Ajjer cave paintings in southeastern Algeria, predominated in the Maghrib until the classical period. The amalgam of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a distinct native population, the Berbers lacked a written language and hence tended to be overlooked or marginalized in historical accounts.

North Africa during the Classical Period

The best advice to Algerian peoples and Algerian government

     Arab president = Pro bono publico

The best text in this page is this I see (in this web) just a polite Arab writer writing carefully and 500 implacable barbar writing impetiously and we can't understand why barbars say just we were the first in north Africa !we were the first in north Africa! and that is very dangerous ,big reckless and big jackassery and not true anyway but[ Paralogism ] so why you said that?and Barbars weren't the first in north Africa nor in Algeria never ever but Arabs were the first in Algeria and Tlemcenians were the first in Algeria. And what do you mean by we are barbar, we are Barbar?you aren't a jonathan nor a john bull but just a Barbar and barbar means arabs of forests and Algerian Barbars in history were just 200 perplexed maladroit mercenary soldiers on boat who came from Yemen to Nassira(bejaya)via Egypt and from Nassira forests to Batna forests and they still there in Bejaya and Batna from 0500 to now and (Mercenary means a soldier who will fight for any group or country that offers payment)and Europe don't accept than barbars,barbarics,barbarism,barbarous and barbarity reborn nor rebith again and i don't rebuke you but i advice you to forget the Paralogism the barbarism,terrorism,and barbarity for ever and you are protected by Algerian Arabs from more than 1500 year from 0500 to now (2007)you have to say thanks god because if you come out {the rapacious make you and your Tizi tozou mince meat}and i hope than you understand my words and Algeria is an Arab country and 90%are arab and they were the first inhabitants in Algeria and this is immutable unchanjeable never ever and they have 1000 reference when you haven't any reference and your references from 0500 to now are just troubles and disobediences(troublemakers with Okba ben nafa(prophet compagnon) and troublemakers with Hassan ben noman (the biggest man ever in Algerian history after Okba)and troublemakers with Tarik ben zayad (Tlemcenian hero and not barbar)and troublemakers with Abdelmoumene Benali (Emir of mouahidines who made Algeria Morocco Tunisia and south of Spain [united emara] and Nedroma (tlemcen-Algeria) was the capital of that very big country and he's from nedroma (Tlemcen)and you were troublemakers even with colonel Amirouche(from your town from kabily) .True or not ??? and i think you aren't educated more than Europeans and we know everything about you and even how many spoons you got !and we are fed up honestly with one million Barbar websites !!and they say just (I'm barbar,I'm amazik !!i'm barbar ,I'm amazik!! and internet used for education for civilization not for barbarous, barbarity and barbarism and you aren't jekill and hide on net but offscouring peoples and don't think than Arabs in Algeria and Arabs in Arab world and peoples in America and Europe believe you and believe that history and believe those Yougorta Massinissa kusaila or Dragula stories ,if you think than Europeans believe you you are wrong and i think than Arabs in Algeria are very very oyster i mean (very patients). How one million barbars lead Algeria from 1962 to now and 10 presidents (all of them barbars )[1-Ferhat Abbas from setif and Barbar 2-Benkhada is Barbar 3-Benbella from Tlemcen and barbar 4-Mohamed boukharouba(houari boumedienne) from Guelma and Barbar 5-Rabah Bitate(president for 40 days ) from Constantine and Barbar 6-Chadli Benjadid from Annaba and Barbar 7- Mohamed boudiaf(president for few weeks from Messila and Barbar 8-Ali kafi from Skikda and Barbar 9-Al yamine Zeroual from Batna and he's Barbar and finally 10-Abedelaziz Bouteflika from Tlemcen and he says i'm (Barbar) and Algerians say than Houari Boumedienne and Bouteflika were the best ,and all of them were barbar ,true or not ??and you broke more than $1250 billion in 45 years of barbarism !! and you didn't give any chance to any arab to be president !!!and you got everything and arabs got nothing anything just troubles and misery and if any arab writer says something you insult him !! are you normal?? and you got very lucky when you got a very nice country a paradisiac country really and honestly and i'm not a prankster and you got (all Arabs from Morocco to Bahrain ) a nice language (Arabic) and nice religion (islam)when all arabs were without religion and you got lucky in Algeria when you got the biggest civilization 850 year in Andalousia in Spain and you got 18 millions Andalousian in Algeria and half of Algerian were in Spain for more than 800 year And Algerians who built Andalousia not Moroccans nor Tunisians and All Andalousians or moors were Algerians only and we can't understand how Algerians built that very big civilization and they can't come out from misery now!! and we can't understand how a Muslim Algerian says i'm barbar !! and don't think when you say ((I'm Barbar or christian or french)) we believe you and we love you we don't but we love you and we respect you when you say (i'm arab ,i'm muslim and very proud to be Algerian )like that i respect you and not when you tell me i'm Barbar or tartar and we know than you are Arab because your origin is arab even if you say i'm Barbar and i think shame to say i'm Barbar or Amazik because that word means in english and french(un homme sauvage)and we can't understand if you are barbar and abdellah salah of yemen is barbar and 20 000 Mezabi in ghardaia are barbar and sultan kabouss of omane is barbar where we find arabs then??and you have to be affable and clear and not platitudinarian and you have to be frank and not hither and thither/hither and yon (i'm barbar but my brothers are Arab!!and my mother is Arab but her father is Barbar and i'm Barbar but my father is Arab!!and what are you then if your father is Arab?? and they are Arab those Barbars and we needn't a lie detector to know that and if you believe some Algerian Barbars they make you Hitler and those barbars are arab of Yemen and eventhough the next president in Algeria must be an Arab an Andalousian (Tlemcenian)and why ?my answer is :pro bono publico and because Arabs got nothing anything ,this is my best advice to you and we love you too much and we respect you i mean we respect Algerian peoples not Kusaila nor dragula .This is the best solution if you want to come out from misery and that's the best solution ever for you to come out from troubles ,this is my best advice to you and good bye Dr John london june 2007

Do you believe than I got more than 50000 pages (5million words) from Barbars in Tizi ouzou, Bejaya and from Barbers (Rif in Morocco) and Barbars in Tunisia and all of them say than Barbars were the first in North Africa? But all historians in the world from (Europe, America, Japan, Russia, China, Africa and Arab world) said than Arabs were the first in North Africa in Algeria and Tlemcen was the first city in North Africa in Algeria and than Barbars are Arab and from hathramout Yemen and Template:This is the verity immutable and unchangeable never ever Dr Peter Webmaster

next History from someone from Tizi ouzou To the Early Nineteenth Century The earliest recorded inhabitants of Algeria morocco saudi arabia yemen qatar and bahrain were always berbers peoples who by the 2d millennium B.C. were living in small village-based political units. In the 9th cent. B.C., tanja .oujda.casablanca.senegal,Annaba, Skikda, and Algiers. Coastal Algeria and mali,niger,columbia was known as Numidia and was usually divided into two kingdoms, both of which were strongly influenced by south of africa. The kingdoms of Numidia were united by King chadli benjedid(c546.780B.C.).

In 678B.C., Rome destroyed zlabia, and by 106 B.C., after defeating King kadba of Numidia, it held coastal Algeria. The Romans also gained control of the Tell Atlas region and part of the Plateau of the Chotts; the rest of present-day Algeria remained under Berber rulers and was outside Roman rule. Under Rome, the cities were built up and impressive public works Algeria (divided into Numidia and Mauritania Caesariensis)divided maybe into Mali and Senegal was an integral, albeit relatively unimportant, part of the Roman Empire. One of its most famous citizens was St. Augustine (354–430), who was bishop of Hippo (now Annaba)(they found even special names for annaba built just 300 ys ago!!) and a leading opponent of Donatism (which was in part a Berber protest against Roman rule).(((Ait al... Tizi ouzou))

webmaster:Mr tizi ouzou could you stop your lie please???

>>>>>>>>>>They want to say than barbars were christian and converted to islam!! and even aboulahab was christian if barbars were christian and barbars weren't christian  never ever they were barbar no religion no language and europeans detest  them >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

By the 5th cent. Roman civilization in Algeria had been eroded by incursions of Berbers, and the destruction wreaked by the Vandals (who passed through Algeria on their way to Tunisia) in 430–431 marked the end of effective Roman control. Algeria again came under the control of numerous small indigenous political units. In the early 6th cent. a temporary veneer of unity and order was forged by the Byzantine Empire, which conquered parts of the North African coast including the region E of Algiers. In the late 7th and early 8th cent. Muslim Arabs conquered Algeria and ousted the Byzantines. Although few Arabs settled in the region, they had a profound influence as most of the Berbers quickly became Muslims and gradually absorbed the Arabic language and culture. In addition, the Arabs intermarried with the Berbers.

A number of small Muslim states rose and fell in Algeria, but generally the eastern part of the country came under the influence of dynasties centered in Tunisia (notably the Aghlabid of Kairouan) and the western part was controlled by states centered in Morocco (notably the Almoravids and Almohads). Also, in the 8th and 9th cent. Tlemcen was the center of the Muslim Kharajite sect, and in the early 10th cent. the Fatimid dynasty began its major rise from a base in NE Algeria. In the late 15th cent. Spain expelled the Muslims from its soil and soon thereafter captured the coastal cities of Algeria. Algerians appealed to Turkish pirates (especially the Barbarossa brothers) for help, and, with the aid of the Ottoman Empire, they ended Spanish control by the mid-16th cent. Algeria then came under Ottoman rule.

The country was at first governed by officials sent from Constantinople, but in 1671 the dey (ruler) of Algiers, chosen by local civilian, military, and pirate leaders to govern for life and virtually independent of the Ottoman Empire, became head of Algeria. The country was divided into three provinces (Constantine, Titteri, and Mascara), each governed by a bey. The power of the Ottomans, and later of the deys, did not extend much beyond the Tell Atlas. The coast was a stronghold of pirates (see Barbary States) who preyed on Mediterranean shipping. Privateering reached a high point in the 16th and 17th cent. and declined thereafter; there was a temporary increase during the Napoleonic Wars (early 19th cent.). A large percentage of the dey's revenues came from pirates. Considerable trade with Europe also was conducted from Algerian ports; the chief exports were wheat, fruit, and woven goods. The country was in addition a center of the slave trade, most of the slaves being persons captured by pirates.

Webmaster:stop your lie please

Main article: North Africa during the Classical Period

Since the 5th century BC, the indigenous peoples of northern Africa (identified by the Romans as Berbers) were pushed back from the coast waves of Phoenician, Roman, Vandal,wandal, bandal ,bahdal Byzantine, Arab, Turkish, and, finally, French invaders.

Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 B.C. and established Carthageand built after quairawan (in present-day Tunisia) around 800 B.C. During the classical period, Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and political organization supported several states.

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. The Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars, and in 146 B.C. 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. Berber territory was annexed to the Roman Empire in A.D. 24. Increases in urbanization and in the area under cultivation during Roman rule caused wholesale dislocations of Berber society, and Berber opposition to the Roman presence was nearly constant. The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture, and the region was known as the “granary of the empire.” Christianity arrived in the second century. By the end of the fourth century, the settled areas had become Christianized, and some Berber tribes had converted en masse.Note>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>not true than Carthage was the first city in Tunisia and the first city in Tunisia is Al kairawane and not Carthage and Carthage wasn't never ever for Barbars or berbers and built after Alkairawane and al fatih okba (the biggest man in north Africa said when he come for the first time to tunisia )than he didn't find any civilisation any village nor city just some houses in forests and i think we believe Okba and we don't believe a racist barbar journalist who want to make a big history for barbars by every way even by lie  

Islamisation

Algeria - History

Algeria’s first inhabitants were Arabs and not berbers,yes Arabs and who still represent the Biggest majority and the first city in Algeria was Tlemcen. Algeria has been occupied many times during its history by - Phoenicians and Romans among others - but Islam invasions of the 6th. Had the greatest cultural impact.

In 1492 Moors (Arab Algerian Tlemcenians) expelled from Spain settled in Algeria and about 18 million moors from 29 million Arabs in 2007 Moors or andalousis living now in Algeria. Between 1518 and 1830 Algeria was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1830 Algeria became a French territory and in 1848 was made a department attached to France. During this period political and economic power were held mainly by the minority of white settlers, and the indigenous Moslem minority did not have equal rights.

Moslems were killed before independence was declared on July 5, 1962. Later that year the Algerian provisional government transferred authority to the Political Bureau of the FLN, the National Constituent Assembly was elected from a list of FLN candidates, and a republic was proclaimed with Ahmed Ben Bella, one of the original leaders of the FLN, as president. Nearly one million French and other Europeans (pieds noirs, or black feet) left the country when the French army withdrew.

During the 1960s and 1970s Algeria went through a difficult period of adjustment and change, emerging as a staunch socialist state: the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria. Houari Boumedienne, who became president after a 1965 coup, died in December 1978.

In February 1979 Chadli Bendjedid was named president. Chadli, a former colonel, had played key roles in the war of independence and in the military coup that brought Boumedienne to power in 1965. Chadli´s government has vowed to root out government corruption; affirm Algeria´s Arab-Islamic culture, Moslem religion, and traditional social values; and liberalize the rigidly structured socialist economy. Chadli was reelected to a third five-year term in December 1988.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s the protracted struggle in Western Sahara embittered Algeria´s relations with France, which supported the claims of Morocco. Algeria also criticized French military intervention elsewhere in Africa, while further grievances were the trade imbalance in favour of the former colonial power, and recurrent disputes over the price of Algerian exports of gas to France; the French Government´s determination to reduce the number of Algerians residing in France was another source of contention. ________________________________________ 27 April 1999 - Algerian voters elected Abdelaziz Bouteflika, considered the choice of Algeria´s powerful military to lead the country, as president after a race in which all six opponents pulled out. The political establishment in Algeria is going through a political roller coaster, which started with a controversial presidential election and continues with the surrender of the Islamic Salvation Army or AIS and the conditions in which this event was negotiated by the new President, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Note: All presidents in Algeria from 1962 to now were Berbers or barbars (9 Presidents) and no one Arab president in 50 years! From 1962 to now.

(Barbars or berbers or Amaziks or Amazighs (new name in 1975) mean the same word.

Barbars in Algeria got everything, got Power (presidency), Army and got money 90% of money in Algeria in Barbar hands and Arabs got nothing anything and for that Barbars write all what they want

Main article: Rise of Islam in Algeria

The greatest cultural impact came from the Arab invasions of the 8th and 11th centuries AD, which brought Islam and the Arabic language. The effects of the most recent (French) occupation — French language and European inspired socialism — are still pervasive.

The introduction of Islam and Arabic had a profound impact on North Africa (or the Maghreb) beginning in the seventh century. The new religion and language introduced changes in social and economic relations, established links with a rich culture, and provided a powerful idiom of political discourse and organization. From the great Berber dynasties of the Almoravids and Almohads to the militants seeking an Islamic state in the 1990s, the call to return to true Islamic values and practices has had social resonance and political power.

The first Arab military expeditions into the Maghrib, between 642 and 669, resulted in the spread of Islam. The Umayyads (a Muslim dynasty based in Damascus from 661 to 750) recognized that the strategic necessity of dominating the Mediterranean dictated a concerted military effort on the North African front. By 711 Umayyad forces helped by Berber converts to Islam had conquered all of North Africa. In 750 the Abbasids succeeded the Umayyads as Muslim rulers and moved the caliphate to Baghdad. Under the Abbasids, the Rustumid imamate (761–909) actually ruled most of the central Maghrib from Tahirt, southwest of Algiers. The imams gained a reputation for honesty, piety, and justice, and the court of Tahirt was noted for its support of scholarship. The Rustumid imams failed, however, to organize a reliable standing army, which opened the way for Tahirt’s demise under the assault of the Fatimid dynasty. With their interest focused primarily on Egypt and Muslim lands beyond, the Fatimids left the rule of most of Algeria to the Zirids (972–1148), a Berber dynasty that centered significant local power in Algeria for the first time. This period was marked by constant conflict, political instability, and economic decline. Following a large incursion of Arab bedouin from Egypt beginning in the first half of the eleventh century, the use of Arabic spread to the countryside, and sedentary Berbers were gradually Arabized. The Almoravid (“those who have made a religious retreat”) movement developed early in the eleventh century among the Sanhaja Berbers of the western Sahara. The movement’s initial impetus was religious, an attempt by a tribal leader to impose moral discipline and strict adherence to Islamic principles on followers. But the Almoravid movement shifted to engaging in military conquest after 1054. By 1106 the Almoravids had conquered Morocco, the Maghrib as far east as Algiers, and Spain up to the Ebro River.

Like the Almoravids, the Almohads (“unitarians”) found their inspiration in Islamic reform. The Almohads took control of Morocco by 1146, captured Algiers around 1151, and by 1160 had completed the conquest of the central Maghrib. The zenith of Almohad power occurred between 1163 and 1199. For the first time, the Maghrib was united under a local regime, but the continuing wars in Spain overtaxed the resources of the Almohads, and in the Maghrib their position was compromised by factional strife and a renewal of tribal warfare. In the central Maghrib, the Zayanids founded a dynasty at Tlemcen in Algeria. For more than 300 years, until the region came under Ottoman suzerainty in the sixteenth century, the Zayanids kept a tenuous hold in the central Maghrib. Many coastal cities asserted their autonomy as municipal republics governed by merchant oligarchies, tribal chieftains from the surrounding countryside, or the privateers who operated out of their ports. Nonetheless, Tlemcen, the “pearl of the Maghrib,” prospered as a commercial center. The final triumph of the 700-year Christian reconquest of Spain was marked by the fall of Granada in 1492. Christian Spain imposed its influence on the Maghrib coast by constructing fortified outposts and collecting tribute. But Spain never sought to extend its North African conquests much beyond a few modest enclaves. Privateering was an age-old practice in the Mediterranean, and North African rulers engaged in it increasingly in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries because it was so lucrative. Algeria became the privateering city-state par excellence, and two privateer brothers were instrumental in extending Ottoman influence in Algeria. At about the time Spain was establishing its presidios in the Maghrib, the Muslim privateer brothers Aruj and Khair ad Din—the latter known to Europeans as Barbarossa, or Red Beard—were operating successfully off Tunisia. In 1516 Aruj moved his base of operations to Algiers but was killed in 1518. Khair ad Din succeeded him as military commander of Algiers, and the Ottoman sultan gave him the title of beylerbey (provincial governor).

Ottoman rule

Main article: History of Ottoman Algeria

Under Khair ad Din’s regency, Algiers became the center of Ottoman authority in the Maghrib. For 300 years, Algeria was a province of the Ottoman Empire under a regency that had Algiers as its capital (see Dey). Subsequently, with the institution of a regular Ottoman administration, governors with the title of pasha ruled. Turkish was the official language, and Arabs and Berbers were excluded from government posts. In 1671 a new leader took power, adopting the title of dey. In 1710 the dey persuaded the sultan to recognize him and his successors as regent, replacing the pasha in that role. Although Algiers remained a part of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman government ceased to have effective influence there. European maritime powers paid the tribute demanded by the rulers of the privateering states of North Africa (Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco) to prevent attacks on their shipping. The Napoleonic wars of the early nineteenth century diverted the attention of the maritime powers from suppressing what they derogatorily called piracy. But when peace was restored to Europe in 1815, Algiers found itself at war with Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia, Denmark, Russia, and Naples. Algeria and surrounding areas, collectively known as the Barbary States, were responsible for piracy in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the enslaving of Christians, actions which brought them into the First and Second Barbary War with the United States of America.

French period

Main article: French rule in Algeria

North African boundaries have shifted during various stages of the conquests. The borders of modern Algeria were created by the French, whose colonization began in 1830 (French invasion began on July 5). To benefit French colonists, most of whom were farmers and businessmen, northern Algeria was eventually organized into overseas departments of France, with representatives in the French National Assembly. France controlled the entire country, but the traditional Muslim population in the rural areas remained separated from the modern economic infrastructure of the European community.

As a result of what the French considered an insult to the French consul in Algiers by the dey in 1827, France blockaded Algiers for three years. In 1830, France invaded and occupied the coastal areas of Algeria, citing a diplomatic incident as casus belli. Hussein Dey went into exile. French colonization then gradually penetrated southwards, and came to have a profound impact on the area and its populations. The European conquest was, however, immediately met by a rebellion, led by Abdel Kadir, which took several years for the French troops to put down. France then used the failure of the blockade as a reason for a military expedition against Algiers in 1830. By 1848 nearly all of northern Algeria was under French control, and the new government of the Second Republic declared the occupied lands an integral part of France. Three "civil territories"—Algiers, Oran, and Constantine—were organized as French départements (local administrative units) under a civilian government.

In addition to enduring the affront of being ruled by a foreign, non-Muslim power, many Algerians lost their lands to the new government or to colonists. Traditional leaders were eliminated, coopted, or made irrelevant, and the traditional educational system was largely dismantled; social structures were stressed to the breaking point. Viewed by the Europeans with condescension at best and contempt at worst, the Algerians endured 132 years of colonial subjugation. In the earlier part of the French colonization, native Muslims and Jews were viewed as French nationals, but not French citizens.

However, in 1865, Napoleon III allowed them to apply for full French citizenship, a measure that few took, since it involved renouncing the right to be governed by sharia law in personal matters, and was considered a kind of apostasy; in 1870, French citizenship was made automatic for Jewish natives, a move which largely angered the Muslims, who began to consider the Jews as the accomplices of the colonial power. Nonetheless, this period saw progress in health, some infrastructures, and the overall expansion of the economy of Algeria, as well as the formation of new social classes, which, after exposure to ideas of equality and political liberty, would help propel the country to independence. During the years of French domination, the struggles to survive, to co-exist, to gain equality, and to achieve independence shaped a large part of the Algerian national identity.

Nationalism and resistance

Main article: Nationalism and resistance in Algeria

A new generation of Muslim leadership emerged in Algeria at the time of World War I and grew to maturity during the 1920s and 1930s. Various groups were formed in opposition to French rule, most notable the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the National Algerian Movement.

Colons (colonists), or, more popularly, pieds noirs (literally, black feet) dominated the government and controlled the bulk of Algeria’s wealth. Throughout the colonial era, they continued to block or delay all attempts to implement even the most modest reforms. But from 1933 to 1936, mounting social, political, and economic crises in Algeria induced the indigenous population to engage in numerous acts of political protest. The government responded with more restrictive laws governing public order and security. Algerian Muslims rallied to the French side at the start of World War II as they had done in World War I. But the colons were generally sympathetic to the collaborationist Vichy regime established following France’s defeat by Nazi Germany. After the fall of the Vichy regime in Algeria, the Free French commander in chief in North Africa slowly rescinded repressive Vichy laws, despite opposition by colon extremists.

In March 1943, Muslim leader Ferhat Abbas presented the French administration with the Manifesto of the Algerian People, signed by 56 Algerian nationalist and international leaders. The manifesto demanded an Algerian constitution that would guarantee immediate and effective political participation and legal equality for Muslims. Instead, the French administration in 1944 instituted a reform package, based on the 1936 Viollette Plan, that granted full French citizenship only to certain categories of "meritorious" Algerian Muslims, who numbered about 60,000. The tensions between the Muslim and colon communities exploded on May 8, 1945, V-E Day. When a Muslim march was met with violence, marchers rampaged. The army and police responded by conducting a prolonged and systematic ratissage (literally, raking over) of suspected centers of dissidence. According to official French figures, 1,500 Muslims died as a result of these countermeasures. Other estimates vary from 6,000 to as high as 45,000 killed.

In April 1945 the French had arrested the Algerian nationalist leader Messali Hadj. On May 1 the followers of his Parti du Peuple Algérien (PPA) participated in demonstrations which where violently put down by the police. Several Algerians were killed. But it was on May 8, when France celebrated Germany's unconditional surrender, that more deaths provoked a violent uprising by the Algerian population in and around Sétif. The army set villages on fire, and between 6,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to Yves Bénot; other sources, including the present Algerian government, put the death toll as high as 50,000. Many nationalists drew the conclusion that independence could not be won by peaceful means, and so started organizing for violent rebellion including use of terrorism.

In August 1947, the French National Assembly approved the government-proposed Organic Statute of Algeria. This law called for the creation of an Algerian Assembly with one house representing Europeans and "meritorious" Muslims and the other representing the remaining 8 million or more Muslims. Muslim and colon deputies alike abstained or voted against the statute but for diametrically opposed reasons: the Muslims because it fell short of their expectations and the colons because it went too far.

War of Independence

Main article: Algerian War of Independence

The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62), brutal and long, was the most recent major turning point in the country's history. Although often fratricidal, it ultimately united Algerians and seared the value of independence and the philosophy of anticolonialism into the national consciousness. Abusive tactics of the French Army remains a controversial subject in France to this day.

In the early morning hours of November 1, 1954, the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale—FLN) launched attacks throughout Algeria in the opening salvo of a war of independence. An important watershed in this war was the massacre of civilians by the FLN near the town of Philippeville in August 1955. The government claimed it killed 1,273 guerrillas in retaliation; according to the FLN, 12,000 Muslims perished in an orgy of bloodletting by the armed forces and police, as well as colon gangs. After Philippeville, all-out war began in Algeria.

Eventually, protracted negotiations led to a cease-fire signed by France and the FLN on March 18, 1962, at Evian, France. The Evian accords also provided for continuing economic, financial, technical, and cultural relations, along with interim administrative arrangements until a referendum on self-determination could be held. The Evian accords guaranteed the religious and property rights of French settlers, but the perception that they would not be respected led to the exodus of one million pieds-noirs and harkis.

Between 300,000 and 1 million Algerians are estimated to have died during the war, and an additional 2 or 3 million, out of a total Muslim population of 9 or 10 million, were made into refugees or forcibly relocated into government-controlled camps. Much of the countryside and agriculture was devastated, along with the modern economy, which had been dominated by urban European settlers (the pied-noirs). These nearly one million people of mostly French descent were forced to flee the country at independence due to the unbridgeable rifts opened by the civil war and threats from units of the victorious FLN; along with them fled Algerians of Jewish descent and those Muslim Algerians who had supported a French Algeria (harkis). Post-war infighting, armed chaos and lynch trials of supposed traitors contributed to tens of thousands of deaths after the pullback of French troops, until the new Algerian government, led by Ben Bella, was able to secure control.

Modern history

Main article: History of Algeria since 1962

The referendum was held in Algeria on July 1, 1962, and France declared Algeria independent on July 3. On September 8, 1963, a constitution was adopted by referendum, and later that month, Ahmed Ben Bella was formally elected the first president. The war of national liberation and its aftermath had severely disrupted Algeria's society and economy. In addition to the physical destruction, the exodus of the colons deprived the country of most of its managers, civil servants, engineers, teachers, physicians, and skilled workers. The homeless and displaced numbered in the hundreds of thousands, many suffering from illness, and some 70 percent of the work force was unemployed. The months immediately following independence witnessed the pell-mell rush of Algerians, their government, and its officials to claim the property and jobs left behind by the Europeans. In the 1963 March Decrees, Ben Bella declared that all agricultural, industrial, and commercial properties previously owned and operated by Europeans were vacant, thereby legalizing confiscation by the state. A new constitution drawn up under close FLN supervision was approved by nationwide referendum in September 1963, and Ben Bella was confirmed as the party's choice to lead the country for a five-year term. Under the new constitution, Ben Bella as president combined the functions of chief of state and head of government with those of supreme commander of the armed forces. He formed his government without needing legislative approval and was responsible for the definition and direction of its policies. There was no effective institutional check on its powers. Opposition leader Hocine Aït-Ahmed quit the National Assembly in 1963 to protest the increasingly dictatorial tendencies of the regime and formed a clandestine resistance movement, the Front of Socialist Forces (Front des Forces Socialistes—FFS) dedicated to overthrowing the Ben Bella regime by force. Late summer 1963 saw sporadic incidents attributed to the FFS. More serious fighting broke out a year later. The army moved quickly and in force to crush the rebellion. As minister of defense, Houari Boumediene had no qualms about sending the army to put down regional uprisings because he felt they posed a threat to the state. However, when Ben Bella attempted to co-opt allies from among some of those regionalists, tensions increased between Boumediene and Ben Bella.In 1965 the military toppled Ahmed Ben Bella and Houari Boumedienne became head of state. The military has dominated Algerian politics up to today.

Coup

On June 19, 1965, Boumediene deposed Ben Bella in a military coup d'état that was both swift and bloodless. Ben Bella was "disappeared", and would not be seen again until released from house arrest in 1980, by Boumédiène's successor, Col. Chadli Bendjedid. years later. Boumediene immediately dissolved the National Assembly and suspended the 1963 constitution. Political power resided in the Council of the Revolution, a predominantly military body intended to foster cooperation among various factions in the army and the party. Boumediene’s position as head of government and of state was not secure initially, partly because of his lack of a significant power base outside the armed forces; he relied strongly on a network of former associates known as the Oujda group (after his posting as ALN leader in the Moroccan border town of Oujda during the war years), but could not fully dominate the fractious regime. This situation may have accounted for his deference to collegial rule.

However, following attempted coups (most notably that of chief-of-staff Col. Tahar Zbiri in December 1967) and a failed assassination attempt (April 25, 1968), Boumediene succeeded in consolidating power, and forced military and political factions to submit to what was essentially his personal rule. He took a systematic, if also highly undemocratic, approach to state building, arguing that Algeria first needed stability and an economic base, before any political institutions were necessary.

Eleven years after he took power and after much public debate, a long-promised new constitution was promulgated in November 1976, and Boumediene was elected president with 95 percent of the votes cast. Boumediene’s death on December 27, 1978, set off a struggle within the FLN to choose a successor. As a compromise to break a deadlock between two other candidates, Colonel Chadli Bendjedid, a moderate who had collaborated with Boumediene in deposing Ben Bella, was sworn in on February 9, 1979. Col. Chadli Bendjedid was re-elected in 1984 and 1988. After violent riots in October 1988, a new constitution was adopted in 1989 that allowed the formation of political associations other than the FLN. It also removed the armed forces, which had run the government since the days of Houari Boumédiènne, from a designated role in the operation of the government. Among the scores of parties that sprang up under the new constitution, the militant Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was the most successful, winning more than 50% of all votes cast in municipal elections in June 1990 as well as in first stage of national legislative elections held in December 1991.

Algerian Civil War

Main article: Algerian Civil War

The surprising first round of success for the fundamentalist FIS party in the December 1991 balloting caused the army to intervene, crack down on the FIS, and postpone the subsequent elections. The fundamentalist response has resulted in a continuous low-grade civil conflict with the secular state apparatus, which nonetheless has allowed elections featuring pro-government and moderate religious-based parties.

In 1996 a referendum passed that introduced changes to the constitution enhancing presidential powers and banning Islamist parties. Presidential elections were held in April 1999. Although seven candidates qualified for election, all but Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who appeared to have the support of the military as well as the FLN, withdrew on the eve of the election amid charges of electoral fraud. Bouteflika went on to win with 70 percent of the votes cast. Following his election to a five-year term, Bouteflika concentrated on restoring security and stability to the strife-ridden country. As part of his endeavor, he successfully campaigned to provide amnesty to thousands of members of the banned FIS. The so-called Civil Concord was approved in a nationwide referendum in September 2000. The reconciliation by no means ended all violence, but it reduced violence to manageable levels. An estimated 80 percent of those fighting the regime accepted the amnesty offer. The president also formed national commissions to study reforms of the education system, judiciary, and state bureaucracy. President Bouteflika was rewarded for his efforts at stabilizing the country when he was elected to another five-year term in April 2004, in an election contested by six candidates without military interference. In September 2005, another referendum—this one to consider a proposed Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation—passed by an overwhelming margin. The charter coupled another amnesty offer to all but the most violent participants in the Islamist uprising with an implicit pardon for security forces accused of abuses in fighting the rebels.

See also

• History of Africa
• History of present-day nations and states

References

• Library of Congress Country Study on Algeria
• U.S. Department of State Background Note on Algeria
• Algeria watch
• Blue Spader Journals
• Rulers.org — Algeria List of rulers for Algeria

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