Algeria Explained

History

Algeria is located in Northern Africa. It is surrounded by the Mediterranean to its north and borders Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Mauritania, and Western Sahara if you count that as a country. Even though Algeria is the largest country in Africa, over 80% of Algeria is desert, meaning that the vast majority of Algeria's population is near the Mediterranean Coast.

This dessert is, of course, the Sahara Desert, which goes from Algeria to parts of Nigeria and Togo! However, there is something that might surprise you: you can ski in Algeria. That's right, if you take a very close look at the map above, you might be able to make out some mountains in Northern Algeria. If you didn't see them, here they are, circled in red:

These are the Atlas Mountains, and the Atlas Mountains Stretch from Morocco to Algeria to Tunisia. Algeria also has a lot of oil and therefore is a part of OPEC. It is part of the African Union, Arab League, and is a close partner with the EU.

Algeria has been conquered by many empires in history, but most of those only conquered the Northern Parts. That said, Northern Algeria was conquered by the Romans, the Vandals, the Greeks (the Byzantine Empire), the Ottomans, the Arabs (the Rashidun, Umayyad, Fatimid, and Almohad Caliphates), the French, and technically the Germans during WWII. It is also important to note that most of what is now Algeria was inhabited by the Berbers (including right now) unless a foreign power had control. But anyway, let's start with the Romans.

The Roman Empire conquered Northern Algeria...as well as the whole Mediterranean region. When the Roman Empire finally came to dividing, Algeria was on the western side (the one that fell). Soon, the Vandals conquered the Roman Territories as the Romans were too busy losing to the Visigoths. But around 537, the Eastern Roman Empire conquered Algeria. It would remain part of the Byzantine Empire (which was its' new name) for the next hundred years, when, in 650, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered most of North Africa...until nine years later when the Byzantine Empire reconquered Algeria...until 14 years later when the Umayyad Caliphate reconquered North Africa...until six years later, when the Byzantine Empire reconquered it...until 10 years later when the Umayyad Caliphate reconquered it.

I can finally end this sentence (and paragraph) because after the Umayyads conquered Algeria, they proceeded to conquer all, and I mean it: ALL of North Africa - including most of the Sahara as well...as well as parts of Portugal and India. Yeah. It was pretty big. In 743, the Berbers reconquered Algeria, and Morocco but the Iberian Peninsula remained at least partially controlled by the Arabs until 1492, when the last Muslim nation, Granada, fell. Several more Arab empires conquered Northern Algeria, including the Fatimid and the Almohad.

In the 1300s and 1400s, people had great ideas. "What if we could rule the whole entire world," someone thought, and that person was Osman I (please don't fact check that). That might not have actually happened, but regardless, the Ottoman Empire, as it became known as, took over large areas around the Mediterranean Sea. Algeria was conquered in 1526. At its greatest extent, the Ottoman Empire conquered parts of (modern-day) Ethiopia, Morocco, Russia, and Qatar. It was HUGE!!! But just like all other empires in history, the Ottoman Empire lost territories. While it lost Albania in the earlier 1900s, Algeria got independence in 1830...which meant that France just had to conquer it 14 years later. Keep in mind that the Berbers had control of the southern parts (aka desert)... until 1906 when France fully conquered Algeria except for a portion that Morocco had.

During WWII, France's African territories were briefly controlled by the Vichy government (who supported the Axis powers) but the territories were soon conquered by the resistance government. Algeria gained independence in 1963 and had a civil war from 1991-2002.

Thanks for reading!