Algeria

Algeria is today officially known as the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشّعبية). In antiquity the land was known as Numidia, later part of the Carthaginian, Roman, and Byzantine empires. Nomadic Berbers have also made up a significant percentage of the population for thousands of years, and several Berber dynasties ruled much of the land during the Middle Ages. Islam was introduced by Arabs in the mid-7th century.

During the early part of the 16th century coastal areas of Algeria fell under control of the Spanish Empire, but most of these settlements (including Algiers) were later lost to the Ottomans and from 1517 until 1830 Algeria was considered part of the Ottoman Empire. It was during this period that England, France and Spain each lost thousands of merchant ships and captures slaves to pirates of the infamous Barbary Coast. The French would sieze control of Algiers in 1830 and lead a military conquest of the rest of Algeria that would last until 1848. Once under French control, Algeria was considered an integral part of France, with tens of thousands of Europeans emigrating there.

The Algerian War