1000 BCE – 647
Antiquity
- Berbers (Imazighen)
- Phoenicians and Carthaginians
- Romans
- Vandals
- Byzantines
The Berber population lived in kingdoms and tribal confederations; coastal towns were in contact with Carthage and later Rome.
AfricaCapital: Algiers
Algeria
Algeria is the largest country in Africa: a narrow, fertile coastal strip on the Mediterranean, the Atlas Mountains and behind them the Sahara. Berber kingdoms, Rome, Arab dynasties and the Ottoman Empire all left their mark. After 132 years of French colonisation and an eight-year war the country became independent in 1962.
- Languages
- Arabic (official; Algerian Arabic in daily life), Tamazight (official since 2016), French (widely used in education, commerce and the media)
- Religions & worldviews
- Sunni Islam (Maliki school), Ibadism in the M'zab valley, Small Christian communities
Historical timeline
6000 BCE
Rock art of Tassili n'Ajjer
Thousands of paintings and engravings show cattle, hunters and wild animals in a Sahara that was then still green.
202 BCE – 46 BCE
Kingdom of Numidia
King Massinissa unites Berber tribes and allies with Rome against Carthage.
46 BCE – 430
Roman North Africa
Cities such as Timgad and Djémila supply grain and olive oil; the church father Augustine is bishop of Hippo.
647 – 710
Arab conquest and Islamisation
Arab armies reach the Maghreb; Islam, and later Arabic too, spreads among the Berber population.
1516 – 1830
Ottoman Regency of Algiers
The city becomes a largely autonomous Ottoman province and a centre of privateering in the Mediterranean.
1830 – 1962
French conquest
France occupies Algiers and subdues the interior in decades of war; Emir Abdelkader leads the resistance until 1847.
1954 – 1962
War of Independence
The Front de Libération Nationale begins an armed struggle; the war costs hundreds of thousands of lives.
1962
Independence
After the Évian Accords Algeria becomes independent; about a million European settlers leave.
Historical context
Algeria's history is shaped by the contrast between coast and interior: the coastal cities belonged to the Mediterranean world, while mountains and desert remained the domain of tribes and self-governing communities. Berber dynasties such as the Zirids and Zayyanids ruled states of their own in the Middle Ages.
French colonisation differed from that elsewhere in Africa in that Algeria was governed as part of France and hundreds of thousands of Europeans settled there on expropriated land. The war of independence and the civil war of the 1990s have left deep marks to this day.
Peoples & cultural heritage through the ages
647
Islamic era to the present
- Arabs
- Kabyles
- Chaoui
- Mozabites
- Tuareg
- Andalusian refugees
- European settlers (until 1962)
Arab tribes and Berber dynasties shaped the Middle Ages. Most Algerians have both Berber and Arab roots; Berber languages live on in Kabylia, the Aurès and the Sahara.
Religion, worldview & philosophy
In late antiquity North Africa was a centre of Christianity, with Augustine as its best-known thinker. After the seventh century the population gradually became Muslim; in the Middle Ages dissident currents such as Kharijism found support, of which the Ibadis of the M'zab are the heirs.
For centuries Sufi brotherhoods and the veneration of local saints carried religious life in the countryside. Emir Abdelkader was both a resistance leader and a Sufi scholar; in the twentieth century a reformist movement turned precisely against that popular piety.
Art movements
🎨 Rock art of the Saharac. 10,000–1000 BCE
The paintings of Tassili n'Ajjer form one of the largest collections of prehistoric art in the world.
🎨 Andalusian musicfrom the fifteenth century
Refugees from Spain brought the nouba with them; the traditions of Tlemcen, Algiers and Constantine live on alongside popular chaâbi.
🎨 Modern Algerian painting and literaturetwentieth century
The miniaturist Mohammed Racim renewed an old form; writers such as Kateb Yacine and Assia Djebar wrote about colonisation and identity.
Traditions & customs
RaïMusic & dance
Folk music from Oran that grew in the twentieth century into pop music about love and everyday life; recognised by UNESCO.
YennayerFestival12 January
The Berber New Year is celebrated with a shared meal; a national holiday since 2018.
SebibaRitualAshura
In the oasis of Djanet the Tuareg perform a dance with swords and drums during Ashura.
ImzadMusic & dance
Single-stringed bowed instrument that among the Tuareg is played only by women, accompanying sung poetry.
Cuisine & culinary history
Algerian cooking combines Berber grain dishes with Arab, Andalusian, Ottoman and French influences. Semolina, lamb, olive oil, dates and spice blends such as ras el hanout form the basis.
Culinary history
Barley and durum wheat were already the basis in antiquity; Rome regarded the region as a granary. Couscous, steamed above a stew, probably originated in the Berber Middle Ages and spread across the whole Maghreb.
Muslims and Jews who came from Spain after 1492 brought refined sweets and the combination of meat with fruit; the Ottomans added layered pastries and stuffed vegetables. The French period left the baguette behind and for a time made winegrowing an export sector.
- Berber grain and pastoral cooking
- Arab and Andalusian spices and sweets
- Ottoman pastries and stuffed vegetables
- French bread and patisserie
- Date cultivation in the oases
CouscousMain course
Steamed semolina grains with vegetables, chickpeas and meat.
Origin: Berber; the knowledge and practices around couscous have been on the UNESCO list since 2020.
Chorba frikSoup
Soup of lamb, tomato and roasted green wheat, a fixed part of the Ramadan meal.
Origin: Eastern Algeria; the word 'chorba' comes from Ottoman Turkish.
MakroudDessert
Diamond-shaped semolina biscuits with date paste, fried and dipped in honey.
Origin: Maghreb, medieval; associated with Kairouan and eastern Algeria.
Deglet nourSnack
Semi-soft, translucent date from the oases around Biskra.
Origin: Oasis cultivation in the northern Sahara.
Wonders & heritage
No wonders in the database yet.
Historical figures
No linked people yet.
Events
- Beginning of the Algerian War of Independence1 November 1954 · Revolution & uprising
Conflicts & fossils
No links.
Sources: Algeria — Encyclopaedia Britannica · UNESCO World Heritage: Tassili n'Ajjer