Northern Africa · DZA

Algeria

The story · 12 chapters

How it was drawn

Berber kingdoms, Roman provinces, caliphates and an Ottoman regency held its northern coast; France conquered it and added the Sahara, and a hard war won the vast country its independence in 1962.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Algeria fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Carthage204 BC to 146 BC
Masinissa of Numidia allies with Rome against Carthage and fights at Zama in 202 BC, then keeps seizing Carthaginian land. Carthage's war against him in 150 BC gives Rome its pretext to destroy the city in 146 BC.
Roman Republic112 BC to 46 BC
Rome turns on its Numidian allies. King Jugurtha fights a Roman war from 112 to 105 BC before being betrayed and captured. In 46 BC Julius Caesar defeats King Juba I at Thapsus, and Rome annexes eastern Numidia.
Roman Empire17 to 24
Tacfarinas, a Numidian who had served in the Roman army, leads a guerrilla war against Rome on the southern edge of the province for seven years, until he is killed in AD 24.
Umayyad Caliphate682 to 703
Berber leaders resist the Arab conquest. Kusaila defeats and kills the general Uqba ibn Nafi near Biskra around 683, and the queen known as the Kahina holds out in the Aurès until she is defeated around 702.
Spanish Empire1505 to 1792
Spain seizes Mers el-Kébir in 1505 and Oran in 1509, and fights the corsairs of Algiers for three centuries. Its great attack on Algiers in 1541 fails in a storm. Spain finally gives up Oran in 1792.
United States and European navies1785 to 1816
Algiers' corsairs seize ships and demand tribute from European states and the young United States. After the Second Barbary War with the United States in 1815 and an Anglo-Dutch bombardment in 1816, the regency must free its Christian captives.
France1830 to 1871
France takes Algiers in 1830. Emir Abdelkader leads the resistance in the west until his surrender in 1847, and a great revolt in Kabylia, led by Mokrani, is crushed in 1871, followed by mass land confiscations.
France1954 to 1962
The FLN launches the war of independence on 1 November 1954. France sends hundreds of thousands of soldiers; torture, the Battle of Algiers in 1957 and attacks on civilians mark a war that kills hundreds of thousands. It ends with the Évian Accords of March 1962.
MoroccoSince 1963Still open
A border quarrel leads to the Sand War of 1963. Since 1975 Algeria has backed the Polisario Front against Morocco's control of Western Sahara. The land border has been closed since 1994, and Algeria cut diplomatic ties in 2021.
Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and other Islamist groups1992 to 2002
After the army cancels the 1992 elections, Islamist armed groups wage a brutal war against the state, massacring villagers and killing journalists and foreigners. Most fighters accept amnesty by the early 2000s.

Today

Algeria now

), Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, over a dozen different Arab and Amazigh dynasties, Spaniards, and Ottoman Turks. Under the Turks, the Barbary pirates operated from North Africa and preyed on shipping, from about 1500 until the French captured Algiers in 1830. The French southward conquest of Algeria proceeded throughout the 19th century and was marked by many atrocities. A bloody eight-year struggle culminated in Algerian independence in 1962.

Capital: Algiers
Government: presidential republic
Head of government: Sifi Ghrieb
Head of state: Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Languages: Arabic, Standard Algerian Berber
Area: 2,381,740 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population46.2 million2023 · 9.0 million in 1950
Life expectancy76.3 years2023 · 42.7 years in 1950
GDP per person$13,5062022 · $2,176 in 1950
Living in cities76%2025 · 26% in 1950
Literacy75%2008 · 18% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending8.8% of GDP2025
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

Russian Federation
China
Tunisia

Tensions

Morocco
Israel

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Algeria fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Carthage204 BC to 146 BC

Masinissa of Numidia allies with Rome against Carthage and fights at Zama in 202 BC, then keeps seizing Carthaginian land. Carthage's war against him in 150 BC gives Rome its pretext to destroy the city in 146 BC.

Roman Republic112 BC to 46 BC

Rome turns on its Numidian allies. King Jugurtha fights a Roman war from 112 to 105 BC before being betrayed and captured. In 46 BC Julius Caesar defeats King Juba I at Thapsus, and Rome annexes eastern Numidia.

Roman Empire17 to 24

Tacfarinas, a Numidian who had served in the Roman army, leads a guerrilla war against Rome on the southern edge of the province for seven years, until he is killed in AD 24.

Umayyad Caliphate682 to 703

Berber leaders resist the Arab conquest. Kusaila defeats and kills the general Uqba ibn Nafi near Biskra around 683, and the queen known as the Kahina holds out in the Aurès until she is defeated around 702.

Spanish Empire1505 to 1792

Spain seizes Mers el-Kébir in 1505 and Oran in 1509, and fights the corsairs of Algiers for three centuries. Its great attack on Algiers in 1541 fails in a storm. Spain finally gives up Oran in 1792.

United States and European navies1785 to 1816

Algiers' corsairs seize ships and demand tribute from European states and the young United States. After the Second Barbary War with the United States in 1815 and an Anglo-Dutch bombardment in 1816, the regency must free its Christian captives.

France1830 to 1871

France takes Algiers in 1830. Emir Abdelkader leads the resistance in the west until his surrender in 1847, and a great revolt in Kabylia, led by Mokrani, is crushed in 1871, followed by mass land confiscations.

France1954 to 1962

The FLN launches the war of independence on 1 November 1954. France sends hundreds of thousands of soldiers; torture, the Battle of Algiers in 1957 and attacks on civilians mark a war that kills hundreds of thousands. It ends with the Évian Accords of March 1962.

MoroccoSince 1963Still open

A border quarrel leads to the Sand War of 1963. Since 1975 Algeria has backed the Polisario Front against Morocco's control of Western Sahara. The land border has been closed since 1994, and Algeria cut diplomatic ties in 2021.

Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and other Islamist groups1992 to 2002

After the army cancels the 1992 elections, Islamist armed groups wage a brutal war against the state, massacring villagers and killing journalists and foreigners. Most fighters accept amnesty by the early 2000s.

Algeria now

Capital

Algiers

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

Sifi Ghrieb

Head of state

Abdelmadjid Tebboune

Languages

Arabic, Standard Algerian Berber

Area

2,381,740 km²

Then and now

Population46.2 million2023 · 9.0 million in 1950

Life expectancy76.3 years2023 · 42.7 years in 1950

GDP per person$13,5062022 · $2,176 in 1950

Living in cities76%2025 · 26% in 1950

Literacy75%2008 · 18% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending8.8% of GDP2025

War deathsNone2025