History of Algeria

Enclosed by Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Niger, Mali,  Libya, Mauritania, Algeria is about Texas size. Among Arabs and Africans, this is the biggest country.

Prehistory

People started to settle in Algeria some two hundred thousand years ago. At different times in Algerian history, Arabs, Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines have all been allowed into that nation.

Numidia 

Numidia, an ancient Berber state, lay in Algeria and several surrounding nations. It was significant for North African history between the third and first centuries BCE. The Berber tribe founded the kingdom that had control over the riding and farming.. Numidia also gained notoriety for its political and other ties to massive empires like Carthage and Rome. 

Arrival of Islam 

Following their conquest of Algeria, Arab Muslims came into Islam and settled there in the seventh century. For the native people, who largely practised the ancient Berber religions, it was a major social change. 

Ottoman Rule 

Algeria under Ottoman rule in the sixteenth century Algiers’ Regency was founded by the Ottomans as the basis for Ottoman North African territory. At this time, many Algerians converted to Islam and Arabic became their tongue.

Roman Empire 

Before Islam arrived under Ottoman control, Algeria was a significant component of the Roman Empire. Following their Punic Wars victory over the Carthaginians, the Romans came to rule North Africa, which modern Algeria consists of. Much of the area had been under the Roman Empire by 46 BCE as the province of Africa Proconsularis.

 Romans brought urbanity through aqueducts, constructed roads, and cities like Timgad and Djemila, now UNESCO World Heritage sites. Roman control also converted the area to Christianity, but Islam soon overlapped it.

Medieval Muslim Algeria 

With the arrival of Islam, Algeria underwent a significant political and cultural change in the 7th century. Arab troops brought the new religion; they rapidly arrived at the Berber indigenous population and Islamized the region. During the Middle Ages, Algeria was part of a succession of consecutive Muslim kingdoms: Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, and Berber-based Zirids and Almohads. Their passing began an Islamic cultural legacy in the area connected to the region's architecture, commerce routes, and intellectual life, but promoted by these kingdoms. The important city of trade and the seat of scholarship, Algiers, Constantine, and Tlemcen's influence extended to Southern Europe and beyond in the Islamic world.

Berber dynasties

Berber dynasties could shape vast areas and establish their strong states, therefore helping to shape the history of North Africa. Founded in the eleventh century were the Almoravids. They left a long legacy in Islamic Spain by uniting most of the Maghreb and, in many cases, beyond into Al-Andalus. 

Following them and expanding, the Almohads confirmed Berber supremacy, strengthened their own, rich, sophisticated intellectual and cultural environment, producing mathematical, philosophical, and architectural successes. The Berber customs kept by the Marinid and Zayyanid dynasties occasionally changed, responding creatively to nearby areas.  

Maghrawa Dynasty 

Among the strongest of the Berber kingdoms, the Maghrawa dynasty essentially altered the path of the Maghreb. Originally a member of the Zenata Berber confederation, the Maghrawa fully fledged in the 10th century and first controlled regions of present-day Algeria and Morocco. Renowned for their ties to the Ummayyads of Córdoba or, subsequently, their allies, the Fatmids, the Maghrawa negotiated the complex political maelstrom of the area. 

Zirid Dynasty  

Established by the Banu Ifran Berber tribe in the tenth century, the Zirid dynasty held immense might over North Africa.  Originally from Tunisia, nowadays, their stronghold would also include Algeria and other areas of modern Libya.  Using what would have been crack soldiers, Zirids were subordinates of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Fatimid Empire, therefore establishing control over trade routes and vital cities.  

Hammadid Dynasty 

Eventually, it also developed into the Hammadid Dynasty. Hamad ibn Buluggin formed the Hammadids, members of a branch of the Zirid Dynasty, declaring their independence from this dynasty in 1014. About Qal'at Bani Hammad, they found their power in the city with its architectural beauty and a strategic location in the Maghreb, with a good reputation. Aiming to enhance regional trade and cultural development, the Hammadid Dynasty endured longer than its forebears. However, they also faced challenges from competing dynasties and internal struggle, and finally fell to be absorbed into the expanding Almohad Empire during the 12th century. 

Almohad Caliphate

Under a Berber ruler in the early 12th century, the Almohad Caliphate was first a fleeting phase in North African history. Rising to occupy Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Spain, the Almohads founded a Muslim country. They zealously fostered intellectual curiosity and education, and Marrakesh's capital developed into an artistic, literary, and scientific hive. Many outstanding architectural monuments were raised in North Africa and Al-Andalus under their control. 

Origins

The ideas of the Berber leader Ibn Tumart, who advocated a puritanical kind of Islam and unity under the same religious and political philosophy, affected the Almohad movement. Like the Almohads, the Restoration witnessed reformists and revivalists of Islamic society close to simplicity. Strongly anti-colonial in language, they attracted support from underprivileged groups in North Africa as they became robust.

Legacy 

Unlikely to have governed for over a few decades, the Almohad Caliphate significantly impacted North Africa's future. If their architectural legacy has been limited to a few surviving magnificent buildings that can be appreciated for their unique Andalusian, Berber, and Arabic styles, their attitude on education and intellectually related matters advanced the advancements in a few circles, for example, philosophy, mathematics, and medicine. The Almohad Caliphate, a massive power we can still sense in modern laws and customs as well as in the cultural and political identity of North Africa and the surrounding areas, played another crucial part in forming these identities. 

Zayyanid Dynasty 

Living first in what is now Algeria and some of Tunisia, the Berber tribe established the Zayyanid Empire.  Rising to be a potent force in the 13th century, they toppled the Almohad Caliphate and controlled major cities such as Tlemcen, Constantine, and Algiers. Still, the Zayyanids supported research, cultural interchange, and made unique contributions to architecture and literature. 

Merinid Dynasty

The Merinid dynasty was also a Berber monarchy spanning centuries over North Africa. Initially, from what is now Morocco, the Marinid tribe rose to be powerful in the 13th century and governed most of the Maghreb, including areas of Algeria, Tunisia, and Spain. Renowned artists and builders, the Merinids developed Fes, their city, a major centre of Islamic knowledge and artistic inspiration . Like many dynasties before them, however, they were finally toppled by internal power conflicts and outside invasions by surrounding kingdoms. 

French Colonization

France colonised Algeria in the 19th century and ruled over the territory for almost 130 years. These were the years the Algerian people battled French control on their path to independence. The French mistreated Algerian people with prejudice and used their resources during that period. Notable Algerians such as Emir Abdelkader and Ahmed Bey joined many others to start a revolution. However, Algeria would just tally its 1962 emancipation from France.

Regency of Algiers 

Originally founded at the end of the 16th century, the Regency of Algiers preceded French colonialism in Ottoman territory. It was run under Ottoman suzerainty, under a dynasty of Ottoman administrators known as days, and possessed semi-autonomous state status. Prominent for Mediterranean trade, the regency was well-known for its strong navy, which engaged in privateering and piracy. The area's stability was brought about throughout this age, although it also saw wars involving European states and internal conflicts for dominance. Ottoman power fell; Europe grew more powerful until the French invaded Algeria in 1830, therefore ending Algiers' Regency.

Political Turmoil (1659-1713) 

The Regency of Algiers saw particularly severe political unrest from 1659 to 1713. The region's governance was often split into factional rivalries among the Janissaries, tribal leaders, and Corsaire captains. As power generally lay with local military leaders of the day, who had a significant influence, Ottoman-appointed governors, or pashas, had severe difficulty maintaining control in the region. These internal conflicts undermined the central power, and periods of lawlessness and vulnerability to the most outside threats resulted. Notwithstanding all this, Algiers remained a major Mediterranean commerce and privateering actor during the stormy age and preserved its economic survival. North Africa has, nevertheless, generally had a history of several kingdoms, empires, and colonial powers. North Africa has been resilient, from Islamic caliphates to ancient civilisations like Egypt and Carthage, modern countries, and a historically rich area with a large culture and legacy.

After Bouteflika (2019-2024)

Abdelaziz Bouteflika's 2019 retirement made Algerian history. Still, the Hirak Movement, which had mostly driven the campaign for Bouteflika's exit, supported general political and economic transformation. Fixing such issues as corruption, generating more employment, and diversifying the economy from its dependence on oil and gas took the front stage. Although there was uneven progress, new leadership was rebuilding confidence, and modernising the ingrained institutional changes proved difficult. Indeed, the years following Bouteflika highlighted the challenges of guiding toward a more open and democratically inclusive governance vision in a nation acclimated to decades of political rule.

Independent Algeria 

Algeria had to rebuild and come to define itself as a people after winning freedom. The first president of the country, Ahmed Ben Bella, concentrated on social and economic transformation designed to help the Algerian people. Demand for democratic changes set Algeria's political and social scene ablaze in the late 1980s. Over the almost ten-year civil struggle, thousands of people perished. Arabs, Berbers, and other ethnic minorities make up Algeria's multiethnic republic. Among the several natural resources the nation has at hand to strengthen its economy are gas and oil.