Text Area - Algeria
Algeria
Content List - Algeria News
Police Station in Algeria hit by bombing
Police Station in Algeria hit by bombing
France holds five suspects in Algiers bombing
Bombs kill scores in Algiers
National name: Al Jumhuriyah al Jaza'iriyah ad Dimuqratiyah ash Sha'biyah
Geography
Capital: Algiers
Major Town: Oran, El-Jazair, Batna, Constantine, Annaba
Location: 36°42'N, 3°13'E
Time Zone: CET (UTC+1)
Size: 2,381,741 km²
Borders with the Mediterranean Sea, Morocco and Tunisia
Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Chott Melrhir -40 m ; Highest point: Tahat 3,003 m
Politics
Head of State: President: Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika (1999); Prime Minister: Ahmed Ouyahia (2003)
Form of Government: Republic
Independancy (from France): 05 July 1962
Currency: Algerian dinar (DZD)
Industry
Main industries: Petroleum, natural gas, light industries, mining, electrical, petrochemical, food processing
Agriculture: wheat, barley, oats, grapes, olives, citrus, fruits; sheep, cattle.Industries: petroleum, natural gas, light industries, mining, electrical, petrochemical, food processing.
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, zinc.
Population and People
Population: 33,333,216 (July 2007 est.)
Density per sq mi: 36
Growth rate (birth rate): 17.11 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.86 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 27.7/1000
Religion: Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99%, Christian and Jewish 1%
Languages: Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects
Ethnic groups / Tribes: Arab-Berber 99%, European less than 1%
Age structure: 0-14 years: 27.2% (male 4,627,479/female 4,447,468); 15-64 years: 67.9% (male 11,413,121/female 11,235,096); 65 years and over: 4.8% (male 752,058/female 857,994) (2007 est.)
Life expectancy: 73.7
Literacy (definition: age 15 and over can read and write): Total population: 69.9%, male: 79.6%
female: 60.1% (2002 est.)
Map - Algeria Map- 99% Berber country
- 85% of the country are desert (Sahara)
- “al-jaza’ir” in Arabic means “the island”
- “Les hommes bleus”: blue-robed Touaregs
- 99% Sunni Muslim
- famous Atlas Mountains
- olive and tobacco plantations
- still around 1.5 million nomads
- Women make up 70 percent of Algeria’s lawyers and 60 percent of its judges. Women dominate medicine
- Albert Camus, the famous novelist of the 20th century, was born in 1913 in Algeria
- 130 years of French colonization
- Algeria is a leading military power in North Africa
- UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Algeria: including Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad, the first capital of the Hammadid empire; Tipasa, a Phoenician town; and Djémila and Timgad, both Roman ruins.
- Two landscapes are World Heritage Sites: M'Zab Valley, a limestone valley and Tassili n'Ajjer, a mountain range.
- Also the Casbah of Algiers is an important citadal
- camels and caravans
- Yves Saint Laurent, the famous designer, is Algerian born
- Arabs conquered North Africa in the seventh century
- couscous, Algeria's national dish; exotic spices such as saffron, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon
- ancient ruins, Turkish houses and palaces in Algier
- Maghreb flair Tipasa with Roman, Punic and Christian ruins, and a Numidian mausoleum
- Chiffa Gorges and Kabylia Tlemcen with the Grand Mosque, the Mansourah Fortress and the Almohad ramparts Ouargla, “the golden key to the desert”