ALGERIA

ExpeditionaryCulture

FieldGuide

Oran

Annaba

Constantine

Batna

ElOued

Tlemcen

Béchar

Tindouf

Timimoun

Ghardaia

Tamanrasset

Laghouat

TASSILIN'AJJER

NATIONALPARK

Algiers

Algeria
This guide is designed to help prepare you for deployment to 

culturally complex environments and successfully achieve 

mission objectives. The fundamental information it contains will 

help you understand the decisive cultural dimension of your 

assigned location and gain necessary skills to achieve mission 

success.

The guide consists of 

two parts: 

Part 1: Introduces 

“Culture General,” the 

foundational knowledge 

you need to operate

effectively in any global

environment. 

Part 2: Presents 

“Culture Specific” Algeria, focusing on unique cultural features 

of Algerian society and is designed to complement other predeployment training. It 

applies culture-general 

concepts to help

increase your 

knowledge of your 

assigned deployment 

location (Photo courtesy 

of Wikimedia).

For further information, 

visit the Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC)

website at https://wwwmil.maxwell.af.mil/afclc or contact 

AFCLC’s Region Team at AFCLC.Region@us.af.mil.

Disclaimer: All text is the property of the AFCLC and may not 

be modified by a change in title, content, or labeling. It may be 

reproduced in its current format with the expressed permission 

of the AFCLC. All photography is provided as a courtesy of the 

US government, Wikimedia, and other sources as indicated.

About this Guide

ECFG Algeria
What is Culture?

Fundamental to all aspects of human existence, culture shapes 

the way humans view life and functions as a tool we use to 

adapt to our social and physical environments. A culture is the 

sum of all of the beliefs, values, behaviors, and symbols that 

have meaning for a society. All human beings have culture, 

and individuals within a culture share a general set of beliefs 

and values. 

Members of a culture also 

usually assign the same 

meanings to the symbols in 

that culture. A symbol is 

when one thing – an image, 

word, object, idea, or story –

represents another thing. 

For example, the American 

flag is a physical and visual 

symbol of a core American value – freedom. At the same time, 

the story of George Washington admitting to having chopped 

down a cherry tree is also symbolic, representing the 

importance Americans place on personal honesty and 

leadership integrity. 

Force Multiplier

The military services have learned through experience the 

importance of understanding other cultures. Unlike the 20thcentury bipolar world order that dominated US strategy for 

nearly half a century, today the US military is operating in what 

we classify as asymmetric or irregular conflict zones where the 

notion of cross-cultural interactions is on the leading edge of 

our engagement strategies. 

We have come to view the people themselves, rather than the 

political system or physical environment, as the decisive 

feature in conflict areas. Our primary objective hinges on 

influencing constructive change through peaceful means where 

possible. We achieve this endeavor by encouraging local 

nationals to focus on developing stable political, social, and 

PART 1 – CULTURE GENERAL

GENERAL GENERAL

CULTURE CULTURE 
economic institutions that reflect their cultural beliefs and 

traditions.

Therefore, understanding the basic concepts of culture serves 

as a force multiplier. Achieving an awareness and respect of a 

society’s values and beliefs enables deploying forces to build

relationships with people from other cultures, positively 

influence their actions, and ultimately achieve mission success.

Cultural Domains

Culture is not just represented by the beliefs we carry 

internally, but also by our behaviors and by the systems 

members of a culture create to organize their lives. These 

systems, such as political or educational institutions, help us to 

live in a manner that is appropriate to our culture and

encourages us to perpetuate that culture into the future. 

We can organize these behaviors and systems into categories 

– what the Air Force refers to as “cultural domains” – in order to 

better understand the primary values and characteristics of a 

society. A cross-culturally competent military member can use 

these domains – which include kinship, language and 

communication, and social and political systems among others

(see chart on next page) – as tools for understanding and 

adapting to any culture. For example, by understanding the 

ways different cultures define family or kinship, a deployed 

military member can more effectively interact with members of 

that culture.

Social Behaviors Across Cultures

While humankind shares basic behaviors, various groups enact 

or even group those behaviors differently across cultural 

boundaries. For example, 

all societies obtain food for 

survival, although agrarian 

societies generally produce

their own food for limited

consumption using very 

basic techniques.

Conversely, industrialized 

nations have more 

sophisticated market economies, producing foodstuffs for 

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CULTURE 
universal consumption. Likewise, all cultures value history and 

tradition, although they represent these concepts through a 

variety of unique forms of symbolism. While the dominant world 

religions share the belief in one God, their worship practices 

vary with their traditional historical development. Similarly, in 

many kin-based cultures where familial bonds are foundational 

to social identity, it is customary for family or friends to serve as 

godparents, while for other societies this practice is nearly nonexistent.

Worldview

One of our basic human behaviors is the tendency to classify 

others as similar or different according to our cultural standard. 

As depicted in the chart 

below, we can apply the 12 

cultural domains to help us 

compare similarities and 

differences across 

cultures. We evaluate 

others’ behavior to 

determine if they are 

“people like me” or “people 

not like me.” Consequently,

we assume that individuals falling into the “like me” category 

share our perspectives and values. 

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This collective perspective forms our worldview– how we see 

the world and understand our place in it. Your worldview 

functions as a lens through which you see and understand the 

world. It helps you to interpret your experiences and the values 

and behaviors of other people that you encounter. Consider 

your worldview as a way of framing behavior, providing an 

accountability standard for our actions and a logical 

explanation of why we individually or collectively act in a certain 

manner. 

Cultural Belief System

An important component of a worldview is our belief system. A 

community’s belief system sets its universal standards of what 

is good and bad, defines right and wrong behavior, and assigns 

a value of meaningful or meaningless. Our beliefs form the 

fundamental values we hold to be true – regardless of whether 

there is physical evidence to support these ideas. Beliefs are a 

central facet of human culture. They are shared views about 

world order and how the universe was physically and socially 

constructed. 

While all people have beliefs, their specific components tend to 

vary depending upon respective world views. What people 

classify as good or bad, right or wrong depends on our deeplyheld beliefs we started developing early in life that have help 

shape our characters. Likewise, 

these values are ingrained in our 

personalities and shape our 

behavior patterns and our selfidentities. Because cultural beliefs 

are intensely held, they are 

difficult, though not impossible, to 

change. 

Core Beliefs

Core beliefs shape and influence 

certain behaviors and also serve 

to rationalize those behaviors. 

Therefore, knowledge of individual 

or group beliefs can be useful in 

comprehending or making sense of their activities. We will use 

the iceberg model for classifying culture to illustrate two levels 

of meaning, as depicted. Beliefs and values, portrayed by the 

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CULTURE 

RAL
deeper and greater level of the submerged iceberg, are seldom 

visible, but are indicated / hinted at / referenced by our 

behaviors and symbols (top level). It is important to recognize, 

though, that the parts of culture that are not visible (under the 

waterline) are informing and shaping what is being made 

visible (above the waterline). 

In many cases, different worldviews may present behaviors 

that are contrary to our own beliefs, particularly in many 

regions where US forces deploy. Your ability to suspend 

judgment in order to understand another perspective is 

essential to establishing relationships with your host-nation

counterparts. The ability to withhold your opinion and strive to 

understand a culture from a member of that culture’s 

perspective is known as cultural relativism. It often involves 

taking an alternate perspective when interpreting others’ 

behaviors and is critical to your ability to achieve mission 

success. 

As you travel throughout the African Continent, you will 

encounter cultural patterns of meaning that are common

among most African countries. What follows is a general 

description of 12 cultural domains which are used to frame 

those commonalities. 

1. History and Myth

History and myth are related concepts. History is a record of 

the past that is based on verifiable facts and events. Myth can 

act as a type of historical record, 

although it is usually a story which 

members of a culture use to explain 

community origins or important events 

that are not verifiable or which occurred 

prior to written language. 

Africa has a history that spans the

entire existence of humankind. In 

ancient times prior to the emergence of 

written languages, history and wisdom 

were preserved across generations 

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CULTURE 

CULTURAL DOMAINS
and ethnic boundaries through oral folk legends or myths. Most 

early human evolution began as hunting and gathering cultures 

in East and South Africa, with countries such as Ethiopia, 

Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa renowned for their early 

human sites. In the last several millennia, the development of 

agriculture and pastoralism (animal herding) replaced hunting 

and gathering lifestyles (Photo: Kutubiyya Mosque courtesy of 

CultureGrams, ProQuest, 2013).

Ancient civilizations evolved in all corners of Africa, inspired in 

part by peoples from the Middle East bringing trade, beliefs, 

customs, language, and on occasion, colonization. Far from 

being isolated empires, the African civilizations were intimately 

connected by commerce and marriage throughout various 

regions of the continent, and when confronted by outsiders, 

managed to adapt to their influences. Eventually, Arab traders 

introduced Islam to Africa and also instituted the TransSaharan African slave trade that lasted from the 7th to 19th 

Centuries. 

The “golden age” of European exploration, which lasted from 

the 18th to mid-20th century, prompted the wholesale 

exploitation of Africans resources – first human assets through 

slavery, followed by natural resources such as minerals, 

precious gems and 

metals, and wildlife, 

thereby diminishing most 

of what was traditional 

and African. 

The introduction of the 

European Trans-Atlantic 

Slave Trade altered the 

slave trade through both 

the sheer number of 

Africans enslaved and

through the cementing of a racist ideology of Black inferiority to 

legitimize the institution of slavery. Slavery decimated the 

African continent for over 400 years through the forced 

relocation of an estimated 25 to 30 million Africans worldwide. 

This figure does not include those Africans who died aboard 

ships or during capture. While abolition of the slave trade 

dissolved the institution of slavery, it did not end the European 

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CULTURE 
presence on the African continent nor did it drastically alter 

their attitudes towards Africans.

Starting in the mid-19th century, European colonialism served 

to redefine African ethnic relations on a large scale; however,

as African societies began to resist colonial rule and seek their

independence, widespread ethnic conflict and genocide

occurred. Sustained westernization and globalization continue

to shape the continent through poverty, disease, and social 

reform. A history still to be recorded, Africa’s future identity 

faces many challenges in critical areas such as environmental 

change, ethnic strife, women’s health and security, and 

education. 

2. Political and Social Relations

Political relations are the ways in which members of a 

community organize leadership, power, and authority. Social 

relations are all of the ways in which individuals are linked to 

others in their community. 

Traditional African political 

organizations in the form 

of bands, tribes, and 

chiefdoms have existed 

for several millennia and 

continue to influence 

contemporary African 

governments. Uncommon 

in modern society, bands 

are limited to hunting and gathering economies, such as the

!Kung of the southern African Kalahari Desert and foragers of 

central African forests. 

Tribes are still represented today across the African political 

landscape, although the use of the word “tribe” is sometimes 

misinterpreted due to its western notion of “primitiveness” and 

oftentimes substituted with the term “ethnic group.” Lacking 

centralized authority, tribes are organized around segmented 

descent groups or in some cases age groups. 

Everyday governance is discharged through councils of 

respected elders and sanctioned through ritual and other 

means. East African pastoralist groups such as the Maasai, 

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CULTURE 
along with some West African tribes and the Berbers in North

Africa, represent this type of organization. 

Chiefdoms or kingdoms are ruled by kings or queens from a 

royal clan and generally incorporate millions of subjects. 

Kingdoms such as the Zulu or Swazi in southern Africa 

developed through conquest, while others like Ghana’s 

Ashante developed through an association of related traditional 

states. However, colonialism eventually diluted the power and 

reach of these empires, 

whose leaders were often 

retained as indirect rulers 

or figureheads. 

Today, all three of these 

political organizations still 

exist, although in the 

confines of modern African 

nation-states created by 

colonial powers who had little regard or understanding of 

African cultures. This juxtaposition of modernity with tradition 

has caused severe conflict throughout the continent. 

Challenged to construct their respective “national” identities, 

regional leaders attempt to do so by diluting the traditionally 

cohesive power of ancestry. These national ruling elites, who 

derive their power from wealth and commerce rather than tribal 

affiliation, feel threatened by loyalty to these traditional 

organizations, labeling their rule as “tribalism.” 

This “class versus descent” scrimmage for power has resulted 

in conflicts across the continent and a dramatic divergence of 

interests. As a means to overcome these and other issues on 

the continent, a 53-nation federation, the African Union (AU), 

was formed in 2002. AU’s charter is to promote “greater unity 

and solidarity between African countries and peoples” by

building partnerships in all segments of “civil society.”

3. Religion and Spirituality

Religion is a cultural belief system that provides meaning to 

members of a community. Religious and spiritual beliefs help 

preserve the social order by defining proper behavior. They 

also create social unity by defining shared identity, offer 

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CULTURE 
individuals peace of mind, and explain the causes of events in 

a society. Prior to the arrival of Islam and Christianity, the 

African continent consisted of orally transmitted indigenous

religious practices. As in many societies, African indigenous 

beliefs influenced diet, subsistence patterns, family structures, 

marriage practices, and healing and burial processes. In 

essence, Africans constructed their worldview through their 

indigenous religions. 

Today, the African continent

is primarily either Muslim or 

Christian. Other faiths such 

as Judaism and Hinduism 

exist as pockets in different

regions of the continent, 

primarily in urban areas. The 

historical trajectories of 

Islamic and Christian 

expansion in Africa offer intriguing commonalities in how 

Africans across the continent initially reacted to the introduction 

of each of those religions. For example, it is common 

throughout the continent to find a blending of many elements of 

indigenous religious practices with local Islam and Christianity

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia).

Consequently, many African native religions share similarities 

with religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in their 

understanding of God as the creator 

and ruler of all life, although He is 

considered untouchable by humans. 

However, unlike Christianity and 

Islam, many African indigenous 

religions believe that God is not 

directly involved in people's lives. To 

them there is a spirit world 

populated with former good and bad 

human beings. The good spirits 

intercede with God on behalf of their 

living families to whom they then 

relay God's will through dreams and acquired possessions. 

The bad spirits work to bring misfortune through sickness, 

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CULTURE 
death, or natural disasters to those who behave 

inappropriately. 

Many indigenous African religions revere "nature" spirits living 

in the sky, water, and forests. These impersonal spirits help 

protect people from harm and provide them with life’s essential 

ingredients such as water, sun, and wildlife. This belief system 

is commonly referred to as animism.

Just as spirits mediate relations between God and humans,

religious specialists act as mediators between spirits and 

humans to provide protection from harm. 

4. Family and Kinship 

The domain of family and kinship refers to groups of people 

related through blood ties, marriage, or through strong 

emotional bonds that influence them to treat each other like 

family members (often called “fictive kin”).The traditional 

African family with respect to marriage, family structure, and 

descent is a much 

different arrangement

than is found in most 

American families. 

Likewise, there are 

several components of 

the traditional African 

family that are common 

to all African cultures. 

First, perhaps the most 

difficult feature to 

reconcile to Americans 

is that of polygyny – the practice of a husband having more 

than one wife. A benefit of this arrangement is that it promotes

societal alliances through marriage, procreation, and family 

wealth through female labor. 

Second, due to polygyny, the family in most African cultures 

has historically consisted of an expanded set of kin or relatives 

that extends well beyond the American notion of a nuclear 

family. This arrangement created a family environment where 

children considered all siblings as “brothers and sisters” and all 

of the wives/mothers as “mother.” 

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Third, the extended African family traces descent through 

either the male or female side of the family, a practice which 

differs considerably from the American family. Patrilineal 

descent (through the male side of the family) is the more 

common approach and usually features polygyny. The

matrilineal (through the female bloodline) marriage pattern is 

more uncommon and almost always features monogamy – it is 

rare to encounter a wife having more than one husband. 

Lastly, it is common for two or more blood lines (lineages) to 

share a common ancestor and collectively form a clan, which is 

the largest social unit. Clans do not have formal leaders or 

organizational structures. Membership is transferred from 

father to child and cuts across ethnic and social boundaries. 

The dramatic social changes in Africa during and after 

colonialism in the last 4 decades have obviously affected the 

traditional family, and variations on these 3 features can be 

found across the continent.

5. Sex and Gender

Sex refers to the biological/reproductive differences between 

males and females, while gender is a more flexible concept 

that refers to a culture’s categorizing of masculine and feminine 

behaviors, symbols, and social roles. Gender roles in Africa 

follow no single model nor is there a generalized concept of 

sex and common standard of sexual behavior. 

Prehistorically, gender role differentiation in Africa’s hunting 

and gathering cultures was based on a division of labor 

featuring different, yet complementary, sets of responsibilities 

for males and females, adults and children. Females gathered 

over half the caloric 

needs from natural 

vegetation, while also 

reproducing and raising 

offspring. Males were 

primarily hunters but also 

assisted with gathering. 

These gender patterns 

continued as agricultural 

practices advanced. 

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Females shared in farming while continuing to provide for the 

family’s subsistence, and males produced the cash crops. 

Pastoralists like the Maasai of Kenya traditionally have featured 

males involved in cattle-raising and females in food production. 

The 19th-century European colonial period introduced a cash 

economy into Africa, with female labor used to produce the 

cash crops. By inserting male authority over females, colonial 

administrators disrupted the distinct yet complementary 

male/female relationship that had been traditionally African. 

More recently, western influence across the continent has 

dramatically altered the traditional gender roles. Educational 

and professional opportunities for females, along with 

increased family migrations to urban areas, have radically

altered traditional male and female gender roles. 

Likewise, the number of singles parents and even child- or 

other relative-led families has increased with the predominance 

of HIV/AIDS-related deaths and warfare, further altering 

traditional gender responsibilities. Additionally, ethnic conflicts 

involving abuse of women are prevalent in many unstable 

countries, and while the rubric of traditional African gender 

generally remains, the forces of change are gradually ripping it 

away.

6. Language and Communication

Language is a system for sharing information symbolically, 

whereby words are used to represent ideas. Communication is 

defined as the cultural 

practice of sharing 

meaning in interaction, 

both verbally and nonverbally. America is 

predominantly a 

monolingual society, 

where traditionally, 

fluency in a second 

language has been 

considered a luxury 

rather than a necessity. 

Conversely, national survival for many societies in Africa 

required them throughout their existence to adopt multilingual 

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practices, if for no other reason than to preserve their native 

heritage. 

You may find it challenging to comprehend the scope of 

Africa’s linguistic diversity. There are over 2,000 African 

languages (many spoken-only) from 6 major language families, 

and perhaps 100 of these languages are used to communicate 

among the more dominant ethnic groups such as Berber, 

Swahili, Yoruba, and others. 

Official languages of African nation-states are few, yet the 

linguistic diversity expressed across the continent (Nigeria has 

250 languages) has prompted an awareness of the value of 

Africa’s linguistic traditions. While most areas of the continent 

speak the adopted language of their colonial past – such as 

French and Portuguese in West Africa, French and Arabic in 

Morocco, and English in Kenya and South Africa – the majority 

of people also speak one or more traditional “indigenous” 

languages of their and other ethnic groups. As African 

independence spread throughout the continent, ethnic groups 

continued to depend on their indigenous identifiers, such as 

language, to celebrate their “release” from colonial rule and to 

preserve a sense of 

indigenous identity. 

While communication 

styles tend to vary by 

ethnic or social groups, 

Africans generally are 

friendly and outgoing 

people although they 

tend to communicate 

with reserve to avoid 

confrontation. As in most kin-based societies, Africans believe 

that saving face or protecting one’s honor and dignity are of 

utmost importance; therefore, they avoid public criticism and 

controversial topics at all costs – even to the extent of 

withholding their honest opinion or modifying the truth. 

Africans admire and even expect extended greetings and small 

talk, and to attempt to rush or avoid social graces is considered 

disrespectful. Similarly, Africans avoid direct eye contact when 

communicating with new acquaintances and people of status, 

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particularly elders. They also are fond of non-verbal gestures, 

and it is common throughout African societies for members of 

the same gender to hold hands or touch while conversing.

7. Learning and Knowledge

All cultures require that the older generation transmit important 

information to the younger generation. This information can be 

strictly factual (for example, how to fulfill subsistence and 

health requirements) and culturally traditional (the beliefs, 

behaviors, and symbols that have meaning to the community). 

This knowledge transfer may occur through structured, 

formalized systems such as 

schools or through informal

learning by watching adults 

or peers.

The contemporary African 

educational system hardly 

resembles the traditional precolonial structure, whereby 

community elders were primarily responsible for preparing 

youth for adulthood. Their instruction included fundamentals of 

ethnic ritual and ceremony, along with customary protocol for 

their distinctive gender roles. A rite-of-passage commemorating 

their successful journey from childhood to adulthood served as 

a form of graduation.

European colonialism brought a more structured, formal 

educational system that catered to a small group of African 

elite who demonstrated potential to administer expanding 

colonial territories. Following independence, many African 

nations adopted the European system because they believed it 

would prepare them to be more competitive in intra-continental 

and global marketplaces, thereby enhancing their quality of life.

However, progress in developing and maintaining reliable 

educational institutions has been slow for a variety of reasons. 

Since most Africans live in rural environments, they continue to 

rely heavily on child labor for family survival, resulting in 

decreased school enrollments or early withdrawals. Likewise, 

widespread HIV/AIDS epidemics, ethnic conflict, teacher and 

resource deficits, and inaccessibility to remote rural areas also 

hamper progress. According to 2005 statistics, only half of the 

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continent’s children were enrolled in primary school, leaving 

over 40 million African children without any schooling at all. 

8. Time and Space

In every society, people occupy space and time in ways that 

are not directly linked to physical survival. In low-context 

western cultures, people tend to be preoccupied with strict time 

management, devoting less effort to relationship-building. 

Conversely, most African cultures are traditionally high-context 

societies, whereby people center their activities on socializing 

and establishing close associations, having little regard for the 

passage-of-time. 

Only after establishing trust and honor will your typical African 

counterpart agreeably proceed with business. In his worldview, 

time is a precious commodity used to establish relationships 

and form alliances. Any 

attempt to accelerate the 

tempo at the expense of 

social pleasantries will 

likely result in deadlock. 

To an African, close 

physical proximity between 

individuals encourages 

cooperative trust, and for 

centuries they have 

viewed human linkage as 

a core element to survival. This closeness is best represented 

in a traditional African village where strong kinship connections

are evidenced by a display of close interpersonal relations 

among family members. 

While conventional African concepts of time and space remain 

intact, throughout the continent western influence and 

globalization have stepped up the pace of African living, mostly 

in urban areas. Consequently, rural-to-urban migrations have 

reshaped traditional social and subsistence patterns. 

9. Aesthetics and Recreation

Every culture has its own forms of creative expression that are 

guided by aesthetic principles of imagination, beauty, skill and 

style. Prior to 19th-century European colonization of Africa, 

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recreation served a vital subsistence role, whereby adolescents 

and adults alike participated in intellectually stimulating 

leisurely activities that concurrently served to develop essential 

hunting and pastoral skills.

Games of chance and skill were important to early childhood 

development, providing social outlets within and outside their 

community. Featuring 

wrestling, jumping and 

running; traditional African 

sport was steeped in 

religious ritual.

Along with colonialism 

came the introduction to 

Africa of western sports 

such as soccer, cricket, 

rugby and track and field. This emphasis on western sport 

continued to thrive with African independence and 

globalization, as seen in sporting events such as the Olympics 

and the World Cup. 

Leaders such as Nelson Mandela skillfully employed sport to 

promote a unified South African nation. Importing the 

predominantly “white” game of rugby, Mandela used it to fuse a 

racially divided country following his election in 1992. This 

event is the theme of the motion picture “Invictus,” exemplifying 

how sport can serve to create national identities and overcome 

ethnic division. His efforts 

have inspired many other 

African nations to follow 

suit.

Likewise, East African 

countries such as Kenya 

and Ethiopia have 

produced the world’s 

dominant male and 

female distance runners, 

and South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria emerged as strong 

contenders in the 2010 World Cup. African nations are now 

competing in leagues such as the International Basketball 

Association (FIBA) World Championships, and there is also a 

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growing number of African basketball players on US college 

campuses and in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

10. Sustenance and Health

Societies have different methods of transforming natural 

resources into food. These methods can shape residence 

patterns, family structures and economics. Theories of disease 

and healing practices exist in all cultures and serve as adaptive 

responses to disease and illness. 

Despite having only 11% of the global population, Africa is a 

victim of many of the world’s debilitating health disorders. 

According to the World 

Health Organization, 60% of 

the global HIV/AIDS cases 

and 90% of malarial 

diseases occur in Africa. 

These and other medical 

conditions are attributed 

primarily to viral infection 

and widespread poverty 

caused by extreme climatic 

conditions and civil unrest, coupled with inadequate 

preventative measures. While extensive drought generates 

widespread famine, civil disturbances generate millions of 

displaced persons. Likewise, with only 58% of the SubSaharan African population having access to safe drinking 

water, water-born bacterial diseases 

such as cholera and schistosomiasis

are common.

Many people in Africa lack access to 

western medicine, and as a result 

depend on traditional health 

practices to combat disease. In 

addition, some traditional beliefs run 

counter to western medical practice

and perhaps discourage individuals 

from utilizing those services even 

when they are available. This 

problem is further intensified by lack of federal regulatory 

healthcare management. 

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While modern healthcare procedures are more common in 

urban areas, many rural people rely on traditional practitioners 

who use a variety of plants and herbs to treat patients. 

Similarly, many families have their own secret remedies. While 

in some cases traditional medicine proves effective with fewer 

side effects than modern drugs, traditional practices do not 

adequately treat many of the more serious conditions.

On a positive note, western influence has stimulated some 

progress in combating Africa’s health crisis. More resources 

are devoted to achieving basic human security by assessing

disease symptoms early and with scientific accuracy. 

11. Economics and Resources

This domain refers to beliefs regarding appropriate ways for a 

society to produce, distribute, and consume goods and 

services. Traditionally having an agrarian-based economy, 

Africa today remains predominantly agricultural, featuring less 

industrialization than 

most other parts of the 

world. Post-colonial 

adversities such as 

civil war, disease, 

poverty, and unstable 

dictatorships posed 

unusual hardship on

several young African 

nations; however, 

Africa currently stands 

at the cross-roads of economic development with many nations 

becoming some of fastest growing regions in the world. 

Colonialism institutionalized the exploitation of Africa’s mineral 

resources, resulting in today’s oil industry dominating the 

economic market in several coastal regions. A surge in global 

oil prices; a growing African middle class; and reduction in civil 

wars, foreign aid, and inflation collectively promise a more 

positive outlook for the future.

Countries such as Botswana, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and 

South Africa are economically the wealthiest on the continent, 

with regions such as East Africa showing signs of economic 

stability. Despite the economic upswing, much of sub-Saharan 

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Africa’s future economic prosperity is held hostage by 

devastating diseases such as AIDS, particularly in areas of 

southern Africa, and the growing effects of climate change and 

man-made environmental degradation throughout the 

subcontinent. 

12. Technology and Material

Societies use technology to transform their physical world, and 

culture heavily influences the development and use of 

technology. Africa lags far behind most of the world in 

manufacturing capacity and output. Even the more 

economically-developed nations such as South Africa are 

competitively weak when compared to non-African 

industrialized nations. During the 1970s and 1980s, Africa 

experienced some growth in raw exports although this increase 

did little to boost long-term manufacturing capacity. 

Today, Africa is experiencing an actual decline in 

manufacturing capacity due primarily to a lull in the global 

economy, along with other indigenous issues such as 

environmental stress, poor physical and organizational

infrastructure, and a 

shortage of skilled 

personnel. Likewise, 

African manufacturing 

capacity is no match 

against global powers 

such as China and 

significant Southeast 

Asian markets. 

International aid from 

both governmental and non-governmental organizations has 

helped African nations establish preliminary economic 

footholds. For example, many of them have dedicated 

industrial developmental zones to attract foreign investment 

and increase export-related manufacturing capacity, although 

Africa is far removed from having a significant role in the global 

marketplace in the foreseeable future. 

Now that we have introduced general concepts that

characterize African society at large, we will now focus on 

specific features of Algerian society.

GENERAL

CULTURE 
HISTORY &

MYTH

Overview

Shaped by waves of foreign influences, Algeria is a rich and 

vibrant society of both cultural and geographic contrasts. 

Bloodshed has marked much of Algeria’s modern history, 

although the fear of renewed violence, coupled with promises 

of reforms, have thus far helped to insulate Algeria from the 

political changes sweeping other parts of the Middle East.

Early History

Algeria has been populated for over 200,000 years. While the 

earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, later people 

transitioned to a more settled cattle-herding lifestyle as 

depicted in cave paintings crafted about 8,000 years ago at 

Tassili n'Ajjer in southeastern Algeria (pictured). Other 

paintings show the crocodiles, 

rhinoceroses, and other animals that lived 

in the once-lush Sahara. These ancestors

of today’s Berber population wore woven 

clothes, made pottery, and domesticated 

dogs before the Sahara became desert 

around 3000 BC. 

The Influence of Regional Empires

Carthage: Phoenicians from the eastern 

Mediterranean established Carthage in present-day Tunisia by 

800 BC, creating trade links with Berber populations throughout 

Algeria (see Political and Social Relations). The Berbers were 

largely subservient to the Phoenicians: some were enslaved or

forced to fight in the military, while others were obliged to pay 

tribute to Carthage. After a war between Rome and Carthage, 

Berber soldiers revolted around 240 BC and helped to diminish 

Carthagian control in the region. 

Numidians: Between 202 and 25 BC, a particularly strong 

indigenous Berber kingdom called Numidia existed in northern 

PART 2 – CULTURE SPECIFIC

1. HISTORY AND MYTH
HISTORY &

MYTH

Algeria. The kingdom was historically divided, with the eastern 

portion allied with Carthage and the western portion allied with 

Rome. When King Masinissa assumed leadership in the East, 

he switched his allegiance to Rome and was subsequently 

rewarded with leadership of both halves of Numidia and 

hundreds of new Roman colonies in his territory.

Romans: Algeria proved difficult 

to rule despite the fact that it

provided significant amounts of 

grain to the Roman Empire during 

4 centuries of Roman domination. 

Between the 2nd and 4th 

centuries AD, much of Algeria 

was Christianized while several 

Jewish communities—composed 

of Berber converts, exiles from Palestine, and other settlers—

flourished (see Religion and Spirituality). Berber rebellions 

against Roman rule were ongoing and especially vigorous in 

the 4th century (Pictured: Roman Arc of Trajan in Algeria).

Vandals and Byzantines: In 429 AD, Germanic Vandals 

defeated Rome to establish a short-lived coastal kingdom. As 

the Roman Empire’s successor, the Byzantine Empire defeated 

the Vandals in 533 AD and gained control of eastern Algeria. 

Byzantine’s disinterest and poor governance, coupled with 

indigenous Berber groups’ ongoing opposition, gave the 

Berbers considerable autonomy during this time.

Advent of Islam

Desiring to spread their new religion, early Muslim converts 

from the Arabian Peninsula invaded Algeria around 642 AD, 

beginning nearly 1,200 years of uninterrupted Islamic rule that 

would leave an indelible imprint on Algerian society (see 

Religion and Spirituality). While some nomadic Berber groups 

embraced the new religion and facilitated further Arab 

conquests, other Berber groups, including some Christian and 

Jewish groups, initially resisted in defense of their lifestyles.

While early Arab invaders were self-governed, the Umayyad 

caliphate from Syria moved in once it recognized the benefits 

of controlling the Mediterranean Sea. Many Berbers converted 

en masse in the face of this organized might. Berbers often 
HISTORY &

MYTH

accepted Islam while rejecting Arabization, the process by 

which non-Arab people adopt Arabic language and cultural 

customs in place of their own. Many Berber narratives today 

reflect pride in Berbers’ Islamic faith, while indicating their 

preference for their own traditions over Arabic ones. 

Dihya al-Kahina: Between History and Myth

In contrast to history, which is intended to serve as

an objective record of the past based on verifiable 

facts, myths embody cultural values and often 

explain the origins of humans and the natural world. 

Myths are important because they provide a sense 

of unique heritage and identity. 

The Algerian myth of Dihya al-Kahina is based on a 

real person who lived in the Aures Mountains of 

Algeria in the 700s AD and fought Muslim invaders. 

Sources variously describe her as a queen of the 

Berbers, Jewess, female warrior, despot, bird 

enthusiast, and sorceress. Other sources describe 

her as pagan or Christian because she carried icons 

into battle, while still others dispute that she was not

a woman at all. Kahina is a title that some critics use 

mockingly to suggest she could tell the future, which 

is forbidden in Islam, while others suggest this name 

alludes to her membership in a priestly Jewish tribe. 

Although the historical truth remains murky, different 

Algerian groups have borrowed aspects of the Dihya 

legends to fit their own narratives. Muslim 

commentators suggest Dihya represented 

everything wrong with pre-Islamic Algeria, while 

exalting virtuous Arab conquerors. Berbers celebrate 

her fierce independence in the wake of Arabization 

and use her name proudly. The French even 

referred to this myth to emphasize that Arab and 

Muslim cultures were once foreign invaders, too. 
HISTORY &

MYTH

Islamic Rule

Different Islamic groups governed Algeria from the late 7th to 

the 13th centuries with varying degrees of indigenous support.

Although militarily weak, Sunni Rustimid rule allowed a 

renaissance of arts and sciences from 761 to 909. Shia 

Fatimids governed next but then outsourced their rule to the 

Berber Zirids in 972 who returned Algeria to Sunnism (see 

Religion and Spirituality). Tired of Berber intransigence and 

angered by the reversion to Sunnism, the Fatimids sent the 

Arab Banu Hilal tribe to 

suppress the Berbers in the 

1050s, which accelerated

Arabization (Pictured: The Sidi 

Uqba Mosque circa 1890).

An Islamic Berber dynasty 

called the Almoravids then 

conquered Algiers, Algeria, and 

parts of Spain from its capital in 

Marrakesh, Morocco. In 1151, the Almohads, followers of the 

Maliki school of Sunni Islam (still predominant today),

supplanted the Almoravids (see Religion and Spirituality). By

the 13th century, Algeria was split again with the Hafsids 

governing eastern Algeria from Tunis, Tunisia and the Zianides 

controlling western Algeria from Tlemcen, Algeria.

Spain, Red Beard, and the Ottoman Empire

Spain’s unification under Christian control in 1492 produced

two key consequences for Algeria—Spain began to vie for 

naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, while Jews and 

Muslims who had been exiled from Spain fled to Algeria.

Spain’s maneuverings made Algeria strategically important and

vulnerable to Spanish attacks. By the early 1500s, Spain 

controlled several Algerian coastal cities. Desperate, Algeria 

appealed to the Ottoman Empire centered in Istanbul, Turkey

for help to fend off Spanish incursions.

In 1516, Muslim pirate Khayr ad-Din, known as Red Beard, 

established a base at Algiers to protect Algeria from Spanish 

assaults, and in turn, counterattack and plunder Spain. Khayr 

ad-Din eventually became an Ottoman provincial governor and 

thus helped establish Ottoman rule in Algeria. 
HISTORY &

MYTH

Ottoman provincial governors had lifetime appointments but 

were later replaced by pashas who ruled for 3-year terms with 

the help of elite soldiers (janissaries) from around the Empire. 

Ottoman rule excluded Arabic-speaking and Berber peoples

from positions of leadership: natives became second-class 

citizens in their own lands. By the mid-1600s, the poorly paid 

janissaries rebelled, establishing a different ruling structure led 

by a dey. Although deys ruled from 1671 to 1830, centralized

Turkish control gradually diminished. 

France Invades

To salvage his rule at home and protest mistreatment of a 

French diplomat to Algeria, French King Charles X blockaded 

Algerian ports beginning in 1827, executing a French invasion 

of Algiers on July 5, 1830. French troops raped locals, 

desecrated religious sites, and plundered the treasury. While

Charles X abdicated his throne a month later, French 

parliamentarians voted to keep Algeria to preserve national 

prestige. By the 1940s French, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese 

settlers known as colons or pied noirs (colonists or black feet) 

began colonization in earnest. In 1848 Algeria was designated

an integral part of France, although parts of the Sahara were 

not conquered until 1920.

Abd al-Qadir: Algerians challenged French domination from 

the beginning. Leveraging religious and tribal networks for 

support, Abd al-Qadir (pictured) set up 

a viable Muslim state in 1832. By 1839, 

it encompassed two-thirds of Algeria 

and blocked French territorial 

expansion into the interior. A series of 

battles with French forces—interrupted 

briefly by a 1837 treaty—ended in Abd 

al-Qadir’s defeat in 1847. Abd al-Qadir 

surrendered on the condition that he 

would not be incarcerated or forced into 

exile, although the French reneged and 

imprisoned him until 1852. Once free, Abd al-Qadir moved to

Damascus, Syria where he thwarted a massacre of Christians,

including the French consul, for which the French honored him. 

Although he never returned to Algeria, Abd al-Qadir became an 

enduring symbol of resistance.
HISTORY &

MYTH

Impact of French colonization

In 2012 French President François Hollande acknowledged 

that for 132 years “Algeria was subjected to a brutal and unfair 

system: colonization.” Indeed, French colonial leaders had 

done little to improve the lives of indigenous Algerians and also 

treated poor European settlers badly. Although the French had 

established new health services, infrastructure, and agricultural 

methods, these projects were undertaken largely to enhance

Algeria’s value to France and encourage European settlement.

French colonial authorities subjected Algerians to heavy tax 

burdens and land confiscations. By the early 1900s, nonEuropean indigenous Algerians comprised 90% of the 

population and paid 70% of taxes, although they generated a 

mere 20% of national income. Despite their contributions, most 

Algerians were denied French citizenship and viewed merely 

as subjects with limited rights.

French colonial policies also eroded traditional religious 

education, while French attempts at bicultural instruction failed

(see Learning and Knowledge). On the eve of independence, 

only 10% of Algerians could read, as French education chiefly 

benefitted colons and Algerian elites. Frustrated by the 

injustice of colonial policies, a handful of French-educated 

Muslim Algerians—called évolués or evolved ones—began

advocating for greater equality and 

Algerian nationalism (Photo: An 

Algerian market in 1899). 

Growing Nationalism 

The 1920s and 1930s saw an 

increase in national consciousness 

and the founding of several proindependence groups. Although Algerian Muslims fought and 

died alongside French soldiers during World War II, they were 

still denied the equal rights requested in a 1943 manifesto. As 

the war ended, Algerian nationalists, encouraged by global 

anti-colonial movements, pressed for independence. 

In May 1945, the French brutally crushed peaceful 

independence demonstrations in the towns of Sétif and 

Guelma. Algerians killed over 100 colons in response, inciting

French reprisals that resulted in the deaths of over 8,000 
HISTORY &

MYTH

Algerians. This calamity further tainted French and Muslim 

relations, substantiating some nationalists’ beliefs that Algerian

sovereignty would require armed struggle. 

The War for Independence 

The Algerian struggles came to head on November 1, 1954

when members of the new pro-independence National 

Liberation Front (FLN) attacked police, military, and other 

public colon institutions. Refusing to negotiate with what 

French Minister of the Interior François Mitterrand called 

“enemies of the homeland,” the French authorities responded 

with more force and escalated violence on both sides. 

Lopsided death totals like those from the 1955 Battle of 

Philippeville—in which 123 colons versus 12,000 Algerians

died—helped persuade Algerians who were initially reluctant to 

support independence.

All-out war commenced shortly thereafter. Colons formed 

vigilante groups to conduct ratonades (literally “rat hunts”) 

against Algerians, while FLN 

guerilla attacks targeted colon

civilians and Algerian 

collaborators (Photo: FLN 

leaders in 1962). 

The Battle of Algiers, a

centerpiece of the urban 

insurgency, began on

September 30, 1956 with female revolutionaries bombing 

downtown sites. Some 400,000 French troops were deployed 

to quell the rebellion as local civilian French leadership 

abdicated control to the military. Although the battle was a 

tactical success for France, its sheer force and ethically

questionable means repulsed many in France and inspired 

Algerian revolutionaries to fight harder. Conflicts continued for 

several more years.

Referendum: In 1958, French prime minister Charles De 

Gaulle claimed Algeria would always be French territory but 

began making concessions in the attempt to reduce further 

resistance. FLN leaders rejected promises of voting rights and 

greater autonomy and stepped up their attacks. A ceasefire 

declared in March 1962 afforded Algeria the right to self-
HISTORY &

MYTH

determination and also asserted the rights of colons. In a July 

1962 referendum, Algerians voted overwhelmingly for 

independence (Pictured: Referendum ballot). About 1 million 

Algerians died in the struggle, 

while 1 million colons returned to

France.

Post-Independence

After independence, the FLN 

transitioned from a violent 

opposition group to a governing 

power. Algeria’s first President, 

pro-Socialist FLN leader Ahmed Ben Bella, inherited a scarred 

country with 70% unemployment and damaged infrastructure. 

He implemented an ineffective policy of autogestion, or selfmanagement, in which factory and agricultural workers took

control of vacant enterprises. In 1965, defense minister and 

FLN Chief of Staff Colonel Houari Boumedienne ousted Bella,

citing his unsuccessful policies and personal eccentricities.

Boumedienne defended army interests and helped to 

modernize Algeria. Under his authoritarian watch, life 

expectancy and literacy rates improved, industrialization 

began, agriculture was collectivized, and the oil industry was 

nationalized. The 1976 constitution enshrined socialism and 

Islam as the nation’s building blocks and made the FLN the 

only permissible political party. After Boumedienne’s December 

1978 death, Chadli Bendjedid assumed the Presidency. 

Discontent and Democracy: During the 1980s, Algeria 

simmered with unrest. Berbers protested Arabization, while

Islamists protested concessions to the Berbers and creeping 

“indecent” secular mores. The government walked a fine line 

between courting Islamists to bolster its religious credentials 

and cracking down on them with police violence.

Soaring inflation, high unemployment, unfavorable oil prices, 

and other economic woes prompted anti-government protests

in the late 1980s. In reaction to severe riots in October 1988, 

the government changed the constitution to allow opposition 

political parties. One of the over 20 new parties, the Islamic 

Salvation Front (FIS), proclaimed that a vote for it was a vote 

for God and that anything else was blasphemy. 
HISTORY &

MYTH

After the FIS party’s local electoral success in 1990, the FLN 

government jailed FIS leaders and imposed electoral 

constraints. Nevertheless, the FIS won 188 of 430 seats 

outright in the December 1991 general elections (to the FLN’s 

15 seats) and seemed poised to win enough seats in a second 

round of voting to amend the constitution in its favor. 

Civil War

In January 1992 the military stepped in to prevent the second 

round of voting, dissolved Parliament, and forced Bendjedid to 

resign, ushering in a 5-member High State Council (HCS) 

chaired by Mohamed Boudiaf. Boudiaf outlawed the FIS in 

March, sparking clashes between government security forces 

and FIS activists. A bodyguard with alleged Islamist ties 

assassinated Boudiaf in June 1992. These incidents 

precipitated the civil war that Algerians call the “Dark Decade.”

Multiple Islamist armed groups emerged, targeting government 

officials and security forces, journalists, and intellectuals. They 

also fought among themselves and by late 1993 had attacked 

foreigners and civilians as well. The Islamic Armed Movement 

(MIA) regrouped into the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the 

military wing of the FIS. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) battled

the FIS and then splintered to form the Salafist Group for 

Preaching and Combat (GSPC). The government responded 

with extrajudicial killings and aerial bombings. An estimated

200,000 people died and over 6,000 disappeared in the war.

In the midst of the violence, former HCS 

chair Liamine Zeroual won a 5-year 

presidential term in 1995, and 1997

parliamentary elections brought the 

newly-formed Democratic National Rally 

and moderate Islamist Movement of 

Society for Peace to power. In 1999,

military-backed candidate Abdelaziz 

Bouteflika (pictured) was elected 

President. 

Approved by 98% of voters, the 1999 Civil Concord law 

pardoned thousands of fighters. This accord halted the conflict

and disbanded AIS, but some groups continued their attacks.
HISTORY &

MYTH

Post-Civil War Developments

As Algeria emerged from the violence of the civil war, some 

Berber groups called for greater autonomy and cultural 

recognition in 2001, resulting in clashes with government 

security forces. Bouteflika promised greater investment in the 

Berber regions and acknowledged the Berber language as a 

national language (see Language and Communication).

Algerian voters re-elected Bouteflika in 2004 amid claims of 

voting fraud. Attempting to heal societal wounds, legislators 

passed the 2005 Civil Harmony Act and Charter for Peace and 

National Reconciliation, granting amnesty for most crimes 

committed during the war 

and the release of some 

prisoners. 

Rejecting several amnesty 

offers, GSPC fighters never

disbanded. Instead, GSPC 

had transformed into alQaeda in the Islamic 

Maghreb (AQIM) by 2007. 

Initially organized to overthrow governments in the region and 

establish Islamic states, AQIM carried out multiple bombings in 

the capital city of Algiers in 2007 and 2008, killing dozens and 

leading the Algerian military to assume a more active role in 

countering terrorism (see Political and Social Relations).

Algeria Amidst Arab Spring Uprisings

After removing constitutional barriers to his re-election, 

Bouteflika was elected to a third term in 2009 in the midst of

major challenges. Inspired by Arab Spring uprisings (series of 

political protest and civil war in parts of North Africa) in 

neighboring Tunisia, Algerians protested high unemployment 

and food prices in early 2011. Although Algerian grievances 

resemble those of Tunisia and Egypt, where their governments

were overthrown, Algerian protests have been less severe for 

fear of renewed bloodshed. As of early 2013, Algerian leaders 

have pursued minor reforms, lifted emergency laws, and 

increased wages and subsidies. While small demonstrations 

are likely to continue, a full-scale revolution is unlikely, in part

because Algerians are tired of instability and violence.
Official Name

People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

Al Jumhuriyah al Jaza’iriyah ad Dimugratiyah ash Sha’biyah

(Arabic)

République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire (French)

Tagduda Tamegdayt Tayerfant Tazzayrit (Tamazight)

Political Borders

Tunisia: 500 mi

Libya: 610 mi

Niger: 594 mi

Mali: 855 mi 

Mauritania: 288 mi

Western Sahara: 26 mi

Morocco: 969 mi

Coastline: 620 mi

Capital

Algiers

Demographics

Algeria’s population of 37.4 million is growing at slightly less 

than 2% per year. As of 2010, 66% of Algerians live in urban 

areas primarily in the North where the population density is 215 

people per sq km. Only 34% of Algerians live in the South, 

which has a population density of less than 1 person per sq 

km. Nearly 3 million people 

live in Algiers, the largest city.

Flag

The Algerian flag consists of 

two equal vertical bands of 

green (hoist side) and white 

with a red crescent and star in 

the center. Green symbolizes

Islam and nature, white is for

peace and purity, and red for liberty. The crescent and star

symbols represent Islam. The extra-long crescent horns are 

associated with happiness in Algeria.

2. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONS

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
Geography

With an area of 919,595 square miles, Algeria is the largest 

country in Africa by territorial size and is almost 3.5 times the 

size of Texas. Situated in North Africa, Algeria borders Tunisia 

and Libya to the East; Niger, Mali, and Mauritania to the South;

and Morocco and Western Sahara to the West. Algeria has an 

extended northern coastline along the Mediterranean Sea. 

Algeria has 3 distinct geographic regions: the coastline and 

northern mountains—collectively referred to as the Tell—the

high plateau, and the Sahara Desert. The Sahara covers over 

80% of Algeria and includes a variety of desert landscapes.

The Tell and highlands represent 4% and 9% of Algeria’s total 

area respectively. Only 3% of 

Algerian land today is arable, and 

less than 0.3% of land is devoted 

to permanent crop cultivation.

Algeria has two mountain ranges: 

the Tell Atlas in the North along 

the coast and the Ahaggar in the 

desertous Southwest. Algeria’s highest point is Mount Tahat

(pictured), a 9,852-ft peak in southern Algeria that is also the 

tallest in the Ahaggar range. The lowest point is Chott Melrhir, 

a salt lake in the Northeast 131 ft below sea level. The Tell 

Atlas Mountains contain the only rivers that remain wet all year, 

while the high plateau has salty marshes and shallow lakes.

Groundwater resources are limited and depend on erratic rains.

Climate

Algeria’s 3 regions have distinct climates. The Tell has a mild, 

temperate climate similar to southern California, characterized 

by warm summers and cool, wet winters. While summer

temperatures average in the 90s°F, winter temperatures 

usually hover in the 50s°F. In the mountains, annual rainfall 

totals approach 30 inches, and snow is usual. Largely barren 

and arid, the high plateau experiences hot summers and cold, 

sometimes freezing winters. This region receives most of its 

annual 10 to 20 inches of rain in winter and spring.

The world’s largest subtropical desert, the Sahara, receives

infrequent precipitation: some parts do not see rain for up to 20 

years. Temperatures can reach 130°F in the shade in May, the 

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
hottest month, although evening temperatures drop 

dramatically. Sirocco winds carry dust and sand from the 

Sahara across Algeria in the summer.

Natural Hazards

Floods, earthquakes, fires, and mudslides are common natural 

hazards in northern Algeria, threatening most of the country’s 

population and critical infrastructure. Algeria had 36 floods

between 1980 and 2010, while earthquakes in 1980 and 2003 

killed over 2,000 people each and caused extensive damage. 

Government

Although recognized as a democracy, the President and an 

unelected and unaccountable group of military and intelligence 

officials known as the le Pouvoir (“the power” in French) hold 

the real power in the republic. The country is divided 

administratively into 48 wilayat (“provinces” in Arabic).

Executive Branch

Elected by popular vote, the President serves as head-of-state 

and Minister of National Defense. Current President Abdelaziz 

Bouteflika, first elected in 1999, successfully removed the 

constitutional two-term limit in 2008 and was elected to a third 

term in 2009. The President appoints provincial governors, 

certain legislators, cabinet officials, and the Prime Minister. 

The Prime Minister has far less power than the President. As 

head-of-government, he advises the President on 

appointments and presents the government’s program in the 

legislature. Current Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal was 

appointed in September 2012.

Legislative Branch

Officially, legislative authority rests with a two-chamber

Parliament, composed of the 144-member upper Council of the 

Nation and the 462-member lower National People’s Assembly

(pictured). The President 

selects 48 Council of the 

Nation representatives, while

local assemblies select 

another 96 members to serve 

6-year terms. National 

People’s Assembly members

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
are popularly elected to 5-year terms; 8 seats are reserved for 

Algerians living abroad. In the May 2012 legislative elections, 

the President’s National Liberation Front (FLN) won 221 of 462 

lower house seats, while the National Rally for Democracy 

party received 70 seats. In total, 24 parties are represented.

Judicial Branch

Algeria’s legal code is a mix of French civil and shari’a or 

Islamic law elements. Constitutionally upheld as the state 

religion, Islam informs judicial matters on family, personal 

status, and inheritance (see Family and Kinship). Civil and 

criminal cases are first tried in one of the 218 sub-provincial

courts. Cases may be elevated to provincial level courts or the 

Supreme Court for appeal. Heavy case loads, inadequate rule 

of law, and low judicial salaries contribute to courts’ corruption.

Political Climate

Algerian laws and organizational structures limit democracy.

Although Algerians hold strong political opinions and try to stay 

informed, they are unable to influence political outcomes. 

Despite 40 registered political parties, there is little meaningful 

political expression or accountability. Election fraud, from 

meddling to outright violence, is routine. Worse, the underlying 

circumstances that led to Civil War in the 1990s have not been 

resolved (see History and 

Myth). Many Islamic parties 

remain outlawed, and the 

military would likely step in 

again if it believed electoral 

outcomes threatened its power

(Photo: The Central Military 

Museum in Algiers, Algeria).

Despite the nominal independence of the executive, legislative, 

and judicial branches, le Pouvoir and the President dominate 

the Algerian government. Potential successors to President 

Bouteflika, who is unlikely to seek another term in 2014 due to 

poor health, are jockeying for position. However, observers 

speculate that the real decision-making will take place behind 

closed doors rather than in a democratic process.

Many political leaders have access to Algeria’s petroleum

wealth, which accounts for 66% of government revenues (see 

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
Economics and Resources). Amidst protests against rising food 

prices, unemployment, housing shortages, and inadequate 

political freedoms, these revenues have helped regime 

members stay in power. Since the Arab Spring uprisings (see 

History and Myth), Algeria’s leaders have enacted some

reforms, thereby ending the state of emergency that had been 

in place since 1992. Nevertheless, there has been little change 

in the political system as a whole. 

Defense

Algeria is a regional military and intelligence powerhouse. Its 

military, the People’s National Army (ANP), comprises the Land 

Forces, the Navy of the Republic of Algeria, the Air Force, and 

the Territorial Air Defense Forces. Before 1988’s shift to a 

multi-party system, the military was a conscription-based force. 

Today, the Algerian military is a 

well-trained professional force, 

receiving most of its military 

equipment from Russia and China.

Algeria spent nearly $8.2 billion on 

military expenses in 2011, up from 

$5.7 billion in 2010. In 2011, active 

armed forces personnel numbered 

over 435,000 and comprised 4% of 

the labor force. Male Algerians 

between the ages of 19 and 30 must complete 18 months of 

military service (Photo: Then-US Air Forces in Europe 

Commander General Tom Hobbins in Algeria in 2006).

Algeria’s armed forces have adapted to increased internal 

security threats since the 1990s. Algeria has augmented its 

counter-terrorism (CT) and anti-insurgency capabilities and 

collaborates with regional partners to reduce terrorist threats.

Algeria’s peacekeeping activities have been limited to Africa.

Air Force and Territorial Air Defense Force: Internally 

focused, the Air Force’s principal tasks are to support antiterrorist operations, bolster land and maritime reconnaissance 

and surveillance, and provide airlift support. Separated from 

the Air Force in 1988, the Territorial Air Defense Force defends 

Algerian air space and controls general air traffic. As of mid2011, the Air Force counted 241 combat aircraft, 46 transport 

POLITICAL & 

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RELATIONS
planes, 183 helicopters, and 14,000 personnel. Russia is the 

Air Force’s most important supplier, although Algeria has

considered US, French, and Swedish bids to support new 

combat aircraft and airborne early warning and control 

capabilities.

Land Forces: Algeria’s largest service, the Land Forces,

developed out of the President’s FLN’s armed wing. Today, its 

mission centers on protecting Algeria from external threats and 

maintaining internal security, often by providing artillery and air 

support to security force operations. Land Forces counted 

107,000 personnel and another 150,000 reserves in 2011. 

Navy: Algerian sailors (pictured) 

safeguard the country’s coastline, 

harbors, territorial waters, and sea 

lines of communication from 5 naval 

bases on the Mediterranean Sea. The 

Navy focuses on conventional sea 

challenges. This orientation, coupled 

with a relatively small budget, makes

it difficult to combat the less 

traditional naval challenges it faces, 

including migration, smuggling, and 

terrorism at sea. Modernization is slowly underway through 

refurbishments and procurements of submarines, missiles, 

corvettes, and more. To fulfill its CT support role, the Navy 

employs 3 Rais-class frigates that could serve as amphibious 

operations platforms. As of 2010, there were 6,600 Algerian 

naval personnel.

Paramilitary Forces and National Police: The National 

Gendarmerie and National Police share responsibility for 

internal security and CT operations. With its 70,000 members, 

the National Gendarmerie serves as a rural paramilitary police 

force, answering directly to the President. The 30,000-strong 

National Police keeps order in urban areas and reports to the 

Minister of the Interior. Both groups have been accused of 

human rights violations such as harassing journalists and

torturing CT suspects. Another 1,200 elite Republican Guard 

corps and 16,000 internal security forces report to the General 

Directorate of National Security and the Ministry of Interior. 

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RELATIONS
POLITICAL & 

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Security Issues

Terrorism: Terrorism is Algeria’s chief security threat. From its

bases in the Kabyle region and neighboring Mali, al-Qaeda in 

the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM - see History and Myth) remains

the most active insurgent group threatening regional stability.

AQIM has bombed, assassinated, and ambushed foreigners 

and members of the Algerian government, military, and police. 

While al-Qaeda may not maintain centralized control over 

AQIM, it continues to influence and encourage AQIM and 

similar groups’ terrorist acts. AQIM is also involved in criminal 

enterprises to fund its activities. Kidnapping is a significant 

moneymaker in spite of Algerian efforts to dissuade other 

countries from paying ransoms for their citizens. In January 

2013, 30 hostages taken from a southeastern Algerian oil plant 

were killed during an Algerian raid to rescue them from an 

AQIM-associated group called the Battalion of Blood.

Trafficking and Refugees: Because of its porous borders and 

location between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, Algeria is a 

country of origin and transit point for human-trafficking. The 

Algerian government does not comply with the minimum 

standards for eliminating labor and sex-trafficking, achieving

negligible efforts to solve the problem. This disinterest, plus 

ongoing civil unrest, poverty, and lack of employment

opportunities, has allowed criminal syndicates to expand their 

trafficking and smuggling operations.

Algeria hosts over 94,000 refugees, most of whom are fleeing 

instability in other parts of Africa. Refugees from Western 

Sahara (pictured) live in camps controlled by Western Sahara’s 

chief organization fighting for independence from Morocco,

posing a point of contention in 

Morocco-Algerian relations. In 

addition to the over 4,000 

Palestinian refugees present in 

the country, Algeria houses a 

number of other Arabs—Iraqis, 

Libyans, and Syrians—who are 

attempting to escape unrest in 

their home countries. 

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
Foreign Relations

Algeria’s fierce fight for independence helped to steer its early 

foreign policy toward the Non-Aligned Movement, a bloc of 

developing countries favoring Third World solidarity over 

imperialism or alignment with either the US or USSR during the 

Cold War. This course led Algeria to form ties with nonWestern states, including Indonesia and Vietnam, which

shared similar independence experiences. Algeria actively 

promoted these ideas until the 1990s. 

In recent years and under Bouteflika’s tenure, Algeria has 

moderated its revolutionary rhetoric to build more constructive 

relationships with the US and Europe but remains skeptical of 

Western interference in the region. Most recently, Algeria 

criticized NATO’s operation in Libya, offering sanctuary to 

members of Muammar Gadhafi’s fallen regime. 

Algeria-US Relations: Many older 

Algerians fondly remember US

support during their struggle against 

France, even when the US and 

Algeria were estranged during the 

Cold War. Relations improved as 

the US sought CT support after 

9/11. Today, security issues and 

trade are the primary areas of 

cooperation in Algerian-US 

relations. US desires for greater 

political openness in Algeria and Algerian suspicions about US 

regional aims temper the prospect of a deeper partnership.

US and Algerian forces have conducted joint military exercises, 

launched a Joint Military Dialogue, and conducted high-ranking 

personnel visits. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 

(pictured with Bouteflika above) visited Algeria in October 2012 

to urge Algerian support for efforts to combat AQIM. Algeria is 

also part of US-led Trans Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership 

(TSCTP), which facilitates CT cooperation among Algeria, 

Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, and 

Tunisia. The TSCTP is designed to build these countries’ 

capacity to deny terrorists safe haven and free movement and 

reduce illicit activities in the sparsely populated Sahara. 

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
Algeria-Morocco Relations: Revolutionary Algeria and 

monarchical Morocco are regional rivals representing divergent

paths away from colonialism. Their competition led to a brief 

war in 1963, an unresolved border dispute and the closing of 

their land border, and then the 1975 to 1991 Western Sahara 

War. Morocco considers Western Sahara its territory, while

Algeria views Western Saharan independence as the only 

appropriate post-colonial step. Despite strained relations, some 

official bilateral visits occur, along with low-level cooperation on 

trade, tourism, and intelligence sharing.

Algeria-France Relations: Despite lukewarm diplomatic 

relations, France and Algeria have a close trade relationship. 

Today, France is Algeria’s leading import partner, accepting

15% of Algerian exports (see Economics and Resources).

Ethnic Groups

Nearly all Algerians are ethnically 

Berber or of mixed Arab-Berber (or 

Arabized Berber) descent. Most

Algerians identify themselves as 

Arabs, meaning that they (or their 

ancestors) adopted Arab culture and 

language as their primary identity

despite Berber ethnic roots. A 

significant minority self-identify as 

Berber, which manifests in the continued use of Berber 

languages and cultural traditions. Both groups share the 

Islamic faith and emphasize hospitality. Differences between 

the two groups are more aptly described as cultural identity 

preferences rather than racial or ethnic markers.

Arab Algerians 

Arab Algerians, sometimes also referred to as Arab- or 

Arabized Berbers, speak Arabic as their primary language and 

follow Arab cultural customs, which link them to Islamic and 

Arabic history and the larger Arab Middle East. Approximately 

84% of Algerians consider themselves Arab, many of whom 

claim ancestry from Arab settlers.

Berbers

Rejecting the disparaging ancient Greek nickname for their 

people from which the term “Berber” derives, today’s Berbers

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
as a group often refer to themselves as Imazighen or “free or 

noble men” (singular Amazigh). Algerians who embrace their 

Berber identity usually speak a Berber language and refer to 

Berber historic and cultural narratives (see History and Myth). 

Many live in Berber-majority communities. Berbers comprise

about 15% of the population, although exact numbers are hard 

to determine since the census does not count them separately.

The waves of Arabization from the 7th through the present 

centuries have included periods of discrimination against 

Berbers, their languages, and their traditions. In recent 

decades, Berbers have lobbied for greater national recognition 

and resources with some success. In 2002 the government 

recognized the Berber language, Tamazight, as a national 

language (see Language and Communication).

There is considerable diversity 

in customs, language, and 

lifestyles among Algeria’s

Berber groups. The Kabyle 

Imazighen, who reside in the

Kabylie Mountains east of 

Algiers, form the largest 

Berber group. Other groups include the Chaouias of the Aures 

Mountains, the M’zabite near the Sahara’s northern edge, and 

the Tuareg of the Sahara (pictured). While some traditional 

Berber communities in the South tend livestock and live as 

nomads, many Berbers lead modern urban lifestyles 

indistinguishable from their Arabized countrymen.

Other Groups

Groups that have neither Berber nor Arab ancestry comprise

roughly 1% of Algeria’s population. The ancestors of most nonBerber Algerians arrived from France, Spain, Italy, Malta, or 

Corsica during colonization (see History and Myth).

Social Relations

Because Algeria has been at the crossroads of many 

civilizations (see History and Myth), many Algerians have 

mixed ancestry. For example, a sizeable percentage of 

Algerians have some Turkish or European heritage, a fact that 

helps to account for the diversity of skin tones and features in 

the population. Physical differences alone have little bearing on 

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
social status. Instead, other factors, such as employment, 

wealth, age, educational attainment, and the extended family’s

social standing, more strongly correlate with social status.

Algeria’s gap between rich and poor has a significant impact on 

social relations. In 2010, nearly 23% of Algerians lived in

poverty, while living standards and job prospects have 

continued to decrease in recent years. The political and military 

elite, established wealthy families, while top businessmen form 

the upper tier of Algerian society. These elites are usually

urban Arab Algerians who intermarry, have access to the best 

education, and often marginalize countrymen they consider 

“provincial” due to accent or lifestyle. 

Algeria is a status-conscious society in which salary and job 

title matter. Thus, un- and under- employment are serious 

social problems, particularly for the 70% of Algerians under 30. 

This lack of opportunity creates a sense of hopelessness about 

the future. Urban young men without prospects are called 

Hittists (“those who hold up the walls” in Arabic) because they 

have little better to do than lean against walls. The inability to 

find suitable work forces young people to delay marriage and 

procreation, depriving them of the elevated social status that 

accompanies those milestones (see Family and Kinship). 

Algerian social relations revolve 

around personal relationships, 

particularly those within the 

extended family (pictured), and 

the construct of honor. For 

families, honor implies 

maintaining the collective family’s 

good reputation. Failing to do so 

brings serious consequences, 

depending on the severity of the 

misconduct and the family’s 

strictness. Individuals are 

expected to uphold the family’s interests over their own even 

when personal concerns conflict with the family’s. This sacrifice 

is not completely selfless, as family members in good standing 

expect to benefit from relatives’ wasta, or connections, clout, or 

influence. 

POLITICAL & 

SOCIAL 

RELATIONS
Overview

Sunni Islam is the state religion of Algeria, and today, 99% of 

Algerians identify themselves as Muslim. The remaining 1% of 

the population are Christian, while Algeria’s formerly large 

Jewish population has dwindled significantly to fewer than 100. 

Although not always strictly 

enforced, restrictions on 

religious freedom include the 

prohibition of proselytizing by 

non-Muslims, strict controls on 

the import of religious 

materials, and limits on public 

assembly by non-Muslims. In 

an effort to prevent Islamic 

extremism, the government also prohibits Muslim literature that 

promotes violence and monitors activities at religious schools 

and mosques (Photo: The Great Mosque in Algiers, which

dates to the 11th century).

Muslim Faith

Origins of Islam

Islam dates to the 6th century when Muhammad, whom 

Muslims consider God’s final Prophet, was born in Mecca in 

what is today Saudi Arabia. Muslims believe that while 

Muhammad was meditating in the desert, the Archangel 

Gabriel visited him over a 23-year period, revealing the Qur’an, 

or Holy Book, to guide their lives and shape their values. 

Meaning of Islam

Islam is a way of life to its adherents. The term Islam literally 

means submission to the will of God, and a Muslim is “a person 

who submits to God.”

Muslim Sects

Islam is divided into two sects: Sunni and Shi’a. Sunnis are 

distinguished by their belief that the leader (Caliph) of the 

Muslim community (Ummah) should be elected. Conversely, 

Shi’a Muslims believe the religious leader should be a direct 

3. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. As elsewhere in the 

Maghreb (area encompassing northwestern Africa), almost all 

of Algeria’s Muslims belong to the Maliki school of the Sunni 

sect, a generally tolerant school of Islamic thought that 

preaches the primacy of the Qur’an over later teachings, 

predominates.

Five Pillars of Islam

There are 5 basic principles of the Islamic faith. 

• Profession of Faith (Shahada): “There is no god but God,

and Muhammad is His Messenger.”

• Prayer (Salat): Pray 5 times a day while facing the Ka’aba in 

Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Ka’aba is considered the center of 

the Muslim world and a 

unifying focal point for 

Islamic worship (Photo: US 

Marine at the Ka’aba in 

2012).

• Charity (Zakat): Donate a 

percentage of one’s income

to the poor or needy. 

• Fasting (Sawm): Abstain from food, drink, and sexual 

relations from sunrise to sunset during the holy month of 

Ramadan.

• Pilgrimage to Mecca (The Hajj): Perform the pilgrimage to 

Mecca once in a lifetime. 

Shared Perspectives

Many Islamic tenets parallel those of Judaism and Christianity. 

In fact, Muslims consider Christians and Jews “people of the 

Book,” referring to biblical scriptures, because they also believe 

in one God. 

Abraham: All 3 faiths trace their lineage to Abraham, known as 

Ibrahim in Islam. However, Christians and Jews trace their 

descent to Abraham, his wife Sarah, and their son Isaac; while 

Muslims trace theirs to Abraham and his Egyptian concubine, 

Hagar, and their son Ishmael.

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
Scriptures: Much of the 

content of the Qur’an is similar 

to teachings and stories found 

in the Christian Bible’s Old and 

New Testaments. Likewise, 

Muslims view Islam as a 

completion of previous 

revelations to Jewish and 

Christian prophets. However, 

Muslims believe Jews and

Christians altered God’s word

and that Muhammad received the true revelation of God 

(Pictured: Qur’an page from 8th century North Africa).

Jesus: The 3 religions differ significantly in their understanding 

of the role of Jesus. While Christians consider him the divine 

Messiah who fulfills Jewish Scriptures, Jews are still waiting for 

the Messiah to come. Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet

but do not acknowledge his divinity or the Christian trinity.

View of Death: Muslims believe that God determines the time 

of death and birth. While people grieve the loss of family 

members or friends, they do not view death itself as a negative 

event, as Muslims believe that a person who lived a good life 

goes on to live in Heaven.

Concept of Jihad

The concept of jihad, or inner striving, is a fundamental 

element within Islam. Traditionally, it is the principled and moral 

pursuit of God’s command to lead a virtuous life. It should not 

be confused with the publicized violence often associated with

jihad. Most Muslims are strongly opposed to terrorism and 

consider it contrary to Islamic beliefs. 

Ramadan

Ramadan is a month-long time for inner reflection, self-control,

and focus on God. During this time, Muslims who are physically 

able are required to fast from dawn to sunset. Many Muslims 

believe that denying their hunger helps them to learn selfcontrol, appreciate the difficulties of the poor, and gain spiritual 

renewal—by fasting, a Muslim learns to appreciate the good in 

life. It is common for Muslims to break their fast at sunset with a 

light snack followed by prayer and then dinner. Ramadan is 

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
observed during the 9th month of the Islamic calendar (see 

Time and Space) and 

includes 3 holy days.

• Lailat al-Qadr: Known as

“The Night of Power,” this

day marks Muhammad’s 

receipt of the first verses 

of the Qur’an. 

• Eid al-Adha: This day is 

the “Festival of Sacrifice” 

and commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his 

son, Ishmael, as proof of his loyalty to God. It is celebrated 

on the day the Hajj ends. 

• Eid al-Fitr: It is a 3-day “Festival of Fast-Breaking” 

celebrated at Ramadan’s end (Photo: The Abd al-Qadir 

Mosque in Constantine, Algeria).

Sufi Tradition: Characterized by mysticism and ritualistic 

prayer, the Sufi tradition of Islam was important in Algeria’s 

past. Marabouts, Islamic teachers believed to hold special 

powers, were venerated as spiritual guides and healers. During 

the colonial period, Sufi brotherhoods promoted Islam as a way 

to reject French cultural influences. Since independence and 

the proclamation of Sunni Islam as the state religion, 

membership in such brotherhoods has decreased significantly.

The Introduction of Organized Religion

Judaism

Judaism was the first “foreign” religion to come to the region 

when Jewish traders began arriving in the 9th century BC. By 

Roman times (see History and Myth), many towns had 

substantial Jewish populations which included a number of

indigenous Berber tribesmen who had converted to Judaism. 

Later, large numbers of Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Spain 

arrived in the 15th century. Under France’s colonial 

administration, Jewish Algerians were naturalized as French 

citizens by 1870, which afforded them more rights than Muslim 

Algerians (see History and Myth). 

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
By 1941, Algeria’s Jewish population numbered about 111,000

and was largely assimilated into French Algerian society and 

culture. Although spared the deportation to concentration 

camps that their colleagues in Europe suffered, Algeria’s Jews 

experienced political and legal discrimination, and in some 

cases, incarceration during World War II. 

Broad anti-Semitism in French colonial 

society supported the implementation of 

anti-Jewish laws and encouraged Muslim 

acts against Jews and Jewish businesses

(Photo: The Oran synagogue in the early 

20th century now used as a mosque). 

Although they were welcomed in the 

nationalist movement against the French

after World War II, most of Algeria’s Jews 

left the country following independence in 1962 when they 

were denied Algerian citizenship. More left in the 1990s to 

escape acts of terrorism against them.

Christianity

Christianity arrived in Algeria during the 2nd century AD, and 

by the end of the 4th century, most settled areas in the coastal 

plains had been Christianized. Saint Augustine was an Algerian

who served as Bishop of Hippo (now Annaba) in the 5th

century. Very influential and well-known in the early Church, 

Augustine was among the first philosophers to espouse the 

idea of a just war. Christianity retreated gradually after the Arab 

invasions of the 7th century (see History and Myth).

Christianity was re-introduced during the French colonial 

period, and the Roman Catholic diocese of Algiers was 

established in 1838. Few conversions of the Muslim population 

occurred, so Christian organizations in the French colony, such 

as White Fathers, instead concentrated on education and 

charitable work. By the early 1980s, the Roman Catholic 

population numbered about 45,000. During the civil war of the 

1990s, most Christians were concentrated in the cities (see 

History and Myth).

Islam

Unlike the arrival of Judaism and Christianity, the arrival of 

Islam had pervasive and long-lasting effects on the region. 

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
Both Islamization and Arabization resulted in the displacement 

of native social, political, and educational structures (see 

History and Myth). 

Introduction of Islam: After Muhammad’s death, Islam spread 

as conquering armies moved out of Arabia. In the 7th century, 

Arab armies began their sweep across northern Africa. Many 

Berbers converted to Islam, although this conversion did not 

necessarily translate into support for Arabs. The ruling Arabs 

tended to treat Berbers as second-class Muslims, taxing them 

heavily, even enslaving them, and provoking many Berber 

tribes to revolt. The most famous Berber leader who resisted 

Arab expansion was a woman known as Dihya al-Kahina, said 

to have died fighting the Arabs in 702 (see History and Myth). 

The Arabs’ progression across the region was irregular, both 

militarily and in number of converts. There was substantial 

conflict as the leaders of different Islamic movements battled 

for power and control in the region (see History and Myth). By

the 12th century, most inhabitants had converted to Sunni 

Islam, with a few tribes converting to Shi’a Islam. Generally, it 

took far longer for Islam to spread to the South: a number of

Tuareg Berbers converted to Islam only in the 15th century

(see Political and Social Relations).

During the 11th and 12th centuries, Spanish Muslims were a 

great source of artistic and intellectual inspiration (see History 

and Myth), influencing the construction of many elaborate 

mosques that still stand today. Also during this period, 

marabouts wandered the rural regions, 

drawing many followers. Believed to 

possess divine grace and the ability to 

perform miracles, marabouts offered 

spiritual guidance and often held political 

power. After their deaths, marabouts’

followers often built large tombs that 

became pilgrimage sites (Pictured: 

Funerary stele with ancient Arabic script 

from 1308).

Islam in the French Colony: In 1830 

invading French troops defeated the Muslim Ottoman Turks

who had ruled the region since the early 16th century (see 

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
History and Myth). According to Islam, a Muslim society ruled 

by non-Muslims is unacceptable. As a result, Islam provided an 

important basis from which to resist French colonialism and 

cultural influences throughout the years of French occupation.

Since French citizenship meant Muslims had to be governed by 

civil rather than Islamic law, few Muslims chose to become

French citizens during the colonial period. Algerian Muslims

bitterly resented the inequality and were further enraged and 

alienated when (see History and Myth) Algerian Jews were 

granted full citizenship. The French installed a particularly 

stringent penal code applied solely to Muslims, which along 

with other unfair and repressive 

French policies provoked the 

emergence of a class of 

nationalist Muslim leaders in the 

1920s and 1930s (Photo: The 

Grand Mosque of Algiers in 

2009). 

Islam and Independence: The 

ensuing struggle for independence was linked with the 

country’s Islamic history, beliefs, and values. Some nationalist 

fighters called themselves mujahedin (warriors of jihad), and,

in its 1954 proclamation, the National Liberation Front (FLN)

sought support by calling for the restoration of the Algerian 

state within the principles of Islam (see History and Myth).

Islam in the Post-Independence Period: After independence, 

the Algerian government asserted control over religious 

activities, with Islam becoming the religion of the state. Some 

Algerians protested that Western practices still dominated 

social and cultural life and used Islamic narratives to frame 

their resistance to Western practices. Militant Islamic 

movements appeared, and violence flared in the 1980s, 

erupting in full force in the 1990s (see History and Myth).

Religion Today 

Islam provides Algerian society with its central cultural identity,

providing individuals moral and ethical guidelines for living. The 

number of strict adherents to Islam is, however, smaller than 

the number who identify as Muslim. Regardless, Islam remains

a significant part of Algerian identity. Even those who do not 

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
practice the religion the rest of the year typically fast for 

Ramadan, just as many non-religious people in the US 

celebrate Christmas. Conventional Muslims consume neither 

alcohol nor pork (see Sustenance and Health).

Both Muslim leaders and the government publicly criticize acts 

of violence committed in the name of Islam. Despite this 

stance, violent extremists continue to pose a significant 

security threat to the country. They commit acts of violence 

against what they consider to be an illegitimate government 

and those who do not share their interpretation of Islam.

Although Algerian society generally tolerates foreigners and 

citizens who practice religions other than Islam, some local 

converts to Christianity keep a low profile to avoid potential 

conflict. While conversion itself is not illegal, proselytization is a 

criminal offense. Although the government periodically restricts 

the importation of non-Islamic religious texts, such texts are 

readily available in Algiers, while government-owned radio 

stations broadcast Christmas and Easter services in French.

Islam: The government continues to fund mosques, imams

(worship leaders), and the study of Islam in public schools (see 

Learning and Knowledge). The state hires and trains all imams, 

and only government-designated imams may preach in 

mosques. All Muslim services, except for daily prayers, may

only be performed in state-sanctioned mosques. The 

government usually provides preapproved sermon topics and 

reserves the right to review Friday 

sermons before they are delivered.

Christianity: Due to conversion to 

Islam (see Introduction to Islam 

above), there are probably fewer than 

5,000 Christians remaining in Algeria

today (exact numbers are unknown),

many of whom are evangelical 

Christians living in the northern 

Kabylie region. Other denominations 

include Methodists and other 

Protestants, Roman Catholics, and 

Egyptian Coptic Christians (Pictured: The Algiers cathedral in 

1899).

RELIGION & 

SPIRITUALITY
Overview

Algerian society centers on the family. Individuals are generally 

expected to subordinate their own desires to those of their 

extended families, thereby respecting and honoring familial 

unity. To do otherwise would bring shame upon the group.

Family Structure

Algerian families are typically multigenerational and patriarchal, 

meaning the father is considered the authoritative head of the 

extended-family household. Single dwellings, particularly in the 

South and in rural areas, often include not only a father, 

mother, and several children (nuclear family) but also 

grandparents, aunts, and single adult daughters.

Men hold most familial power and serve as economic 

providers, while women of all generations are responsible for 

raising children and attending to domestic chores. Despite the 

importance of the extended family, the institution began to 

weaken following independence (see History and Myth) in favor 

of single- or nuclear-family units.

Polygyny: Polygyny, the practice of men having multiple wives 

at the same time, is legal but rare. In accordance with shari’a

(Islamic) law, Algerian men may have up to 4 wives. However, 

Algerian civil law requires men to demonstrate a reason for 

taking multiple wives, proof that he can support them, and the 

consent of a man’s first wife, which limits 

the practice.

Children: Children are considered a 

blessing from God, and families typically

include 4 or 5 offspring. Children are 

expected to obey their parents and care 

for them in their old age. Since males are 

afforded more status than females, many 

mothers cultivate closer relationships with 

their sons, allowing them to play and 

explore freely. By contrast, daughters do a 

larger share of household chores to prepare them for 

womanhood (see Sex and Gender).

4. FAMILY AND KINSHIP

KINSHIP

FAMILY &
Residence

Residences vary in Algeria, 

ranging from apartments and 

houses to tents. In both urban 

and rural areas, Algerian homes 

tend to consist of bedrooms, a 

receiving room, a dining room, 

a kitchen, and a bathroom. 

Many homes have a central courtyard and are surrounded by 

high walls to maintain security and privacy. In the years since 

independence, the housing supply has failed to keep pace with 

population growth, leading to the development of shantytowns 

near major cities. To accommodate their semi-nomadic 

lifestyle, some Berbers in the South live in tents woven from 

grass, wool, and goat hair.

Rites of Passage

Algerians commemorate the 3 major stages of life—birth, 

adulthood, and death—with the commemorative ceremonies.

Birth and Naming: The first rite of passage that Algerian 

children undergo is a naming ceremony, which typically occurs

a week after birth. During this ceremony, the newborn child is 

given a name formally and presented to the community. 

Friends and relatives offer gifts to the infant’s family. 

Circumcision: For boys circumcision may be conducted

during the naming ceremony. Although Islamic tradition 

requires that the procedure be performed the first, second, or 

third week after birth, many urban families tend to conduct the 

procedure later. In Berber communities, circumcision generally 

occurs around age 2. Although common among a number of 

African countries, female circumcision is rare in Algeria.

Dating

Algerians rarely date openly due to strict Islamic customs that 

limit interaction between unrelated, unmarried members of the 

opposite sex. Nevertheless, it is relatively common in urban 

areas for young women, including those who wear the Islamic 

veil (see Aesthetics and Recreation), to flirt or hold hands with 

young men. Moreover, some Western courting practices, such 

as Internet dating and celebrating Valentine’s Day, have begun 

to filter into Algerian society. 

KINSHIP

FAMILY &
Marriage

Algerians view marriage as a lasting bond between two people 

and two families. For women especially, marriage confers new 

social status within the family and community. Accordingly, 

matchmaking is a family affair, and many parents screen 

potential marriage partners for their children based on wealth, 

social standing, and a variety of other factors.

In traditional families, parents usually make the final choice of a 

marriage partner with the consent of their daughter or son. 

Algerian parents with a more modern sensibility may allow their 

children to select a spouse on their own, although those 

parents typically still offer advice and reserve the right to reject 

an unsuitable match. In both cases, love is viewed more as a 

consequence of marriage than as a motivation for it. As 

women’s roles have expanded beyond the home, the practice 

of arranged marriage has become less common (see Sex and 

Gender). Breaking with the tradition of marrying young, the 

average age of marriage has risen to 29, driven in part by

pervasively high unemployment that renders marriage 

financially difficult (see Political and Social Relations). 

Wedding Arrangements: When a man and his family identify 

a suitable potential wife, his family visits her family to ask for 

her hand in marriage. Once an offer is accepted, the families 

decide upon a wedding date and begin making arrangements

and negotiation of a customary bride price. This tradition refers 

to a compensation from the prospective groom to the bride’s 

family for loss of her and her forthcoming children’s labor.

Weddings: Although practices vary 

by region, weddings are a time of 

celebration for all Algerians and can

last as long as 3 days. Traditional 

weddings consist of the lehlal, or the 

signing of the marriage contract, 

followed by the reception. In modern 

weddings, these parts often are 

combined into a single ceremony.

On the day of the wedding, the bride is accompanied by close 

female relatives to a hammam, or Turkish bath, after which 

she returns home and has her hands and feet decorated with 

KINSHIP

FAMILY &
henna (pictured), a reddish brown dye made from the henna 

plant. Typically, she dons an extravagant dress and jewelry, 

which usually are gifts from her future husband. She joins him

at the wedding reception, where the couple sits together in 

throne-like chairs as well-wishers dine, dance, and celebrate.

Death

According to Islamic tradition, Algerian funerals and burial 

typically occur within 24 hours of death. The deceased is 

washed, wrapped in white cloth shroud, and then carried to a 

mosque where mourners offer prayers prior to burial. The body 

is buried without a casket and with the head pointing towards 

the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia (see Religion and 

Spirituality). Once 3 days have passed since the death, friends 

and family members of the deceased gather to pray and read 

from the Qur’an. The mourners hold a second prayer session 

after 40 days. Algerians also honor the deceased through their 

celebration of Ashura, a holiday on which Sunni Muslims visit

the graves of their relatives.

Code de Famille

The Code de Famille, or Family Code, is a set of 

laws enacted in 1984 to regulate Algerian marriage in 

accordance with shari’a or Islamic law. In its original 

form, the Code included a number of provisions that 

discriminated against women. For example, an article 

required that women obey their husbands, while 

another provision required that women have a wali, 

or male guardian, to execute her marriage contract.

Many discriminatory provisions were revoked when 

the Code was amended in 2005. While women still 

are required to have a wali, he is now a purely 

symbolic figure that the woman chooses freely. 

Another notable change to the Code permits women 

to initiate a divorce, while still retaining custody over 

the couple’s children and her bride price—a 

precedent uncommon in many Muslim societies. 

KINSHIP

FAMILY &
Overview

Through legal reforms and government-sponsored programs, 

Algeria has become a regional leader in gender equality in 

recent years. Nevertheless, laws and social attitudes continue 

to place women in a subordinate position to men.

Gender Roles and Work

In traditional Algerian society, men are expected to act as 

strong and faithful providers for both their immediate and 

extended families, while women are 

expected to function as modest and 

responsible keepers of the 

household. Accordingly, few 

Algerian women held jobs outside 

the home before Algeria attained its 

independence in 1963. In recent 

years, women have assumed an 

increasingly prominent role in the 

workplace due to their expanded 

access to education and their 

families’ need for multiple incomes. 

In the traditional Algerian society 

that still prevails in many rural areas, women are responsible 

for childcare and other domestic tasks such as cooking, 

cleaning, and fetching water. Men are responsible for 

generating income by cultivating cash crops, herding livestock, 

or producing handicrafts such as carpets, baskets, and pottery.

Despite this traditional division, many rural women have begun 

to function as providers as men increasingly have moved to 

cities in search of work.

Men still dominate the formal labor force, at a rate more than 

twice that of women (80% vs. 37%). Although women have 

recently expanded their presence in the formal economy, most 

employed women still perform service sector jobs that replicate 

their domestic roles. Expanded educational opportunities 

enable some women to seek vocations in education, medicine, 

and law (see Learning and Knowledge).

5. SEX AND GENDER

SEX &

GENDER
Gender and Politics

Since independence, women have been legally entitled to 

participate in political life on an equal basis with men. Despite

the benefit of political equality, Algerian women have been 

underrepresented in government. In an effort to address this 

disparity, the government in 2012 created a quota that requires 

a certain percentage of women to represent each party. In the 

first election after the creation of the quota, female 

representation in Algeria’s National People’s Assembly jumped 

from 8% to 32%—higher than the US House of 

Representatives rate (Photo: Maram Abdelhamid, an ArabAmerican political consultant, discusses politics with Algerians).

Women are even better represented in 

the judicial branch, where they account 

for 45% of magistrates, although they 

have yet to gain much representation 

in the executive branch. There were no 

women in the Algerian Cabinet until 

1985, and even today women account 

for only 3 of 36 Cabinet posts.

Gender and Education

There are strong educational disparities between the sexes in 

Algeria, where the male literacy rate is 33% higher than that for 

female. This trend is strongest in rural areas, where twice as 

many women as men are illiterate. Since the introduction of 

compulsory primary school for all children, literacy and postprimary enrollment rates have improved. Females now account 

for a majority of post-primary students (see Learning and 

Knowledge).

Rape and Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

The Algerian penal code establishes rape as a criminal 

offense, describing it as an “attack on the honor” of the victim 

and her family. Due to their esteemed social status (see Family 

and Kinship), men often escape legal punishment even when 

there is clear evidence that they have committed sexual 

assault. In the rare cases in which a man is prosecuted, he can 

avoid all punishment by marrying his victim. Algeria has no 

laws that specifically criminalize spousal rape or domestic 

violence.

SEX &

GENDER
Tuareg Women

In southern Algeria, Tuareg society is unique for its 

other Algerian counterparts in that it is matrilineal, 

meaning that both honor and descent are traced 

through the female line (see Political and Social 

Relations).

The prominence of Tuareg women is not limited to 

their role in defining lineage. Tuaregs hold women in 

high regard, and their society has a long history of 

female rulers. Moreover, women play a vital economic 

role in Tuareg society, as most landowners are 

female. Finally, men rather than women wear the veil 

in Tuareg society as a rite of passage into manhood 

and as protection from the elements. 

Sex and Procreation

Algerian families tend to be large, with couples in both rural 

and urban areas having several children (see Family and 

Kinship). Since 2006 the government has promoted condom 

use both for birth control and for halting the spread of 

HIV/AIDS. In 2010 62% of women regularly used at least one 

form of contraception. Consequently, birthrates are on the 

decline as demonstrated by Algeria’s total 2011 fertility rate at 

an estimated 2.2 children per woman, down from 6.8 just 30 

years earlier. It is legal to buy and sell contraceptives, although

it is socially unacceptable for women to buy them alone. 

Homosexuality

Both Islam and the Algerian constitution forbid homosexuality, 

which is punishable by fines and up to 3 years imprisonment. 

Since overt homosexuality circumvents traditionally acceptable 

family functions and structures, most Algerians have a negative 

view of both homosexuals and those who support homosexual

practices. Some Algerians even consider homosexuality as an 

affront to family honor, which has inspired the occurrence of

some honor killings.

SEX &

GENDER
Language Overview

The primary languages spoken in Algeria are Arabic, Berber, 

and French. During the colonial period when France attempted 

to supplant local culture, French became the primary language 

of Algeria especially in formal contexts such as business, 

government, and education. After independence, the 

government began to pursue Arabization, a policy designed to 

undo colonial influence by replacing French language and 

culture with Arabic equivalents (see History and Myth).

Although Arabization has achieved many of its aims, it has had 

several side effects. The policy has succeeded, for example, in 

making young Algerians more proficient in Arabic than older 

Algerians, who prefer French. Similarly, Arabization has 

marginalized Berber speakers and suppressed the use of their 

languages. Furthermore, some observers claim that the Middle 

Eastern instructors hired to teach Arabic in Algeria have 

increased Islamic extremism among Algeria’s youth.

Arabic

Spoken by about 80% of the population, Arabic is the official 

language of Algeria. Algerians use different forms of Arabic for 

different purposes. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a version 

of the language used across the Arabicspeaking world in written and formally

spoken contexts, is used in Algeria for 

education, media, and government. 

Algerian Arabic, or darija, a local, 

colloquial form of the language, is used in 

most other contexts, including casual 

conversation (Pictured: An Algerian stamp 

with Arabic writing).

Due to the historical influence of Berber, 

French, and Turkish, Algerian Arabic 

differs substantially from MSA. In addition to having a distinct 

vowel system, Algerian Arabic is pronounced differently. 

Although speakers of related “Maghreb” (northwestern Africa) 

Arabic dialects generally understand Algerian Arabic, the 

6. LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE &
language can be difficult for Middle Eastern Arabic speakers to 

understand.

Berber Languages

About 15% of the Algerian population speaks one of the Berber 

or Amazigh languages, a closely related group of languages 

spoken most extensively in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Morocco, and 

Niger. Berber languages are sometimes referred to collectively 

as Tamazight, which the Algerian government recognized as a 

national—but not official—language in 

2002. There is an ancient Berber 

alphabet known as tifinagh, although

relatively few speakers can read or write 

their Berber language.

Four main Berber languages are used in 

Algeria. Kabyle or Taqbaylit is the most 

widely spoken and is used mainly in the 

mountainous coastal region of Kabylie. 

The remaining Berber languages in

Algeria are Chaouia, M’zab, and Tuareg. 

These languages are spoken collectively 

by fewer than 2 million Algerians and are confined mostly to the 

Aures Mountains, the northern Sahara, and the southeastern 

Sahara, respectively (Photo: Tuareg men).

French

Spoken primarily as a second language by around 20% of the 

Algerian population, French was the colonial language of 

Algeria. Despite decades of government efforts to discourage 

its use, French continues to be popular in Algeria as a second 

language and language of business. Many French words and 

phrases are used in Algerian Arabic.

Communication Overview

Communicating effectively with Algerians requires not just the 

ability to speak Arabic, French, or a Berber language, but also 

the ability to interact in culturally competent ways. 

Communication competence includes paralanguage (speech, 

volume, rate, and intonation), nonverbal communication 

(personal space, touch, and gestures), and interaction 

management (conversation initiation, turn-taking, and 

termination). When used properly, these aspects of 

COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE &
communication ensure that statements are interpreted as the 

speaker intends.

Communication Style

Algerians typically are warm and friendly with relatives and 

friends, although they may be reticent toward and even 

distrustful of strangers. Although Algerians often express their 

views openly and directly, they do so with care, as it is impolite 

to embarrass another person in public. Partly for this reason, 

Algerians are reluctant to confront 

interpersonal problems directly. Instead, 

they use nonverbal cues to express 

dissatisfaction or concern.

Greetings

When greeting people, Algerians typically 

shake hands for a prolonged period of 

time and inquire about topics such as 

health and work. Some Algerians also 

maintain the French custom of Faire la 

Bise, in which close friends or relatives

touch cheeks and make kissing noises. In contrast to some 

Islamic countries, it is acceptable in Algeria for unrelated men 

and women to shake hands, although a man typically waits for 

the woman to initiate the handshake. When women do not 

proffer, they usually are not trying to be rude but are displaying

modesty (Photo: President Bouteflika greets US Deputy 

Secretary of State William J. Burns).

Forms of Address

Algerians generally address strangers and new acquaintances 

by their title and last name. In most cases, first names are used 

only between relatives and close friends. In French language 

contexts, the formal version of “you” (vous) is used with new 

acquaintances and superiors. Often, the less formal version of 

“you” (tu) will be used as acquaintances become more familiar.

Algerians who are familiar but unrelated may address one 

another as “brother” or “sister,” sometimes in combination with 

a last name. Similarly, Algerians may address an unrelated 

older person as “uncle” or “aunt.” Berbers show respect for all 

elders by using the terms dada (male) or nana (female). Agma, 

the Berber word for “brother,” is used to mean “man” or “dude.”

COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE &
Conversational Topics

Appropriate conversational topics in 

Algeria vary depending on the gender 

of the people conversing. For example, 

although it is rude for a man to ask 

another man about his wife, it is 

perfectly acceptable for him to ask a 

woman about her husband. Art, sports, 

travel, and work are appropriate for 

conversations with all people. 

Knowledge about Algeria’s soccer teams will impress many

Algerians (see Aesthetics and Recreation) (Photo: US 

Ambassador Henry Ensher conversing with Algerians).

Algerians do not customarily discuss potentially contentious 

personal opinions in public, while foreign nationals should 

avoid topics that could escalate to heated debates. Therefore,

religion and sexuality are generally inappropriate for social 

conversation. If such topics are raised, the discussion should 

be devoid of ridicule and remain neutral to diffuse tensions.

Gestures

Like most people, Algerians use various gestures to emphasize 

or substitute for spoken words. For example, two Algerians can

greet one another at a distance by clasping their hands in front 

of their chests. Similarly, they can show thanks or appreciation 

by pressing their right hands flat against their chests. An 

Algerian man can slap another man on the palm to compliment 

a clever or humorous remark. Likewise, he can request another 

person’s patience by joining the fingers of his upturned right 

hand and then moving the hand up and down slightly.

Although extending the index finger is an acceptable way to 

issue a warning in Algeria, it is impolite to use the same 

gesture to indicate direction. Similarly, it is rude to summon a 

person by moving the index finger back and forth over an 

upturned palm. To summon appropriately, turn the palm 

downward and then wave either the fingers or the whole hand.

Language Training Resources

Please view the Air Force Culture and Language Center 

website at http://culture.af.mil/resources/index.aspx for 

language training resources.

COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE &
Arabic Pronunciation and Transliteration

Transliteration is the process of spelling out Arabic words using 

the Roman (Latin) alphabet. Although Arabic dialects generally 

are consistent in the way words are spelled and pronounced 

using Arabic script, there are many different ways of converting 

Arabic sounds into the Roman alphabet. Countries like Algeria 

that were under French rule also spell words differently. Some

common differences in consonants are summarized below. 

Common English 

Transliteration

Common French 

Transliteration Romanized Arabic

S or ss C

Nasser vs. Nacer 

(name of former 

Egyptian leader)

Sh Ch

Shab vs. Cheb 

(word for “young 

man”)

J Dj

Ben/Bin Jedid vs. 

Bendjedid (name of 

former Algerian 

President) 

Since Arabic words often include sounds or letters for which 

there is no equivalent in the Roman alphabet, the following 

symbols and letters are used to represent those sounds and 

letters when they are transliterated into the Roman alphabet.

Letters or Symbol Description Example

gh Like the guttural 

French “r”

Paris (as 

pronounced by a 

French person)

Kh or x Strong “h”

loch (as 

pronounced by a 

Scottish person)

H Whispered “h” hoot

dH Soft “th” this

‘ Glottal stop Pause in the middle 

of “uh-oh”

q

“k” sound from the 

throat; “g”; or glottal 

stop

cough; golf; pause 

in the middle of “uhoh”

COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE &
Useful Translations

English French Romanized Arabic

Yes Oui Eyh

No Non Laa-la

Please S’il vous plaît OoRaasek

Thank you Merci SaHa

You are welcome De rien Bilaa mzeeya

Hello Bonjour Ah-laa

Goodbye Au revoir Tibqa ‘ala KhayR

Do you speak 

English?

Parlez-vous 

anglais?

tah-daR alingleezeeya?

I do not speak 

Algerian Arabic

Je ne parle pas 

l’arabe algérien

Maa-nah-daRsh addarija 

I understand Je comprends

Rani faahem 

(male)/faahema 

(female)

I do not understand Je ne comprends 

pas

Ma raneesh faahem 

(male)/faahema 

(female)

How are you? Comment allezvous? WashRakk?

I am fine, thank you. 

And you?

Bien, merci, et 

vous?

Laa-baas SaHa, 

wanteya (to a 

male)/wantiya (to a 

female)?

What is your name? Comment vous 

appelez vous? Wismek?

My name is ___ Je m’appelle ___ Wasimnee ___

Pleased to meet you Enchanté MitshaRfeen

I am here to help you Je suis ici pour 

vous aidez

Raanee hnaa baash 

n’aawnek

I need help J’ai besoin d’aide NisHaq m’aawna

I need the police J’ai besoin de la 

police NisHaq la polees

Repeat it Répétez ‘Aawid-haa

Straight ahead Droit DeeRekt

Right À droite LeesaaR

Left À gauche Yeemeen

COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE &
Literacy

• Total population over age 15 who can read and write: 70%

• Male: 80%

• Female: 60% (2002 estimate)

Islamic Education

Islam arrived in what is now Algeria 

less than a century after Islam’s

founding in 622 (see Religion and 

Spirituality), and Islamic education 

came soon thereafter. Within a few 

centuries, Algerian cities such as 

Algiers, Béjaïa, and Tlemcen had 

become centers of Islamic study,

hosting Muslim academics like 

notable historian Ibn Khaldun. During 

this time, Islamic scholarship divided into several schools of 

thought with distinct views on 6 main topics: religion, politics, 

astronomy, geography, vocational training, and natural science. 

Algeria was home to an especially diverse collection of 

perspectives on theology and legal philosophy.

Apart from the activities of Islamic intellectuals, however, the 

goal of most Islamic education was simply to help Muslims 

read and memorize the Qur’an (see Religion and Spirituality). 

Accordingly, lessons focused on learning about the prophet 

Muhammad, studying the Arabic language, and reciting verses 

from the Qur’an. Although early Islamic education took place 

mostly in mosques and private homes, instruction was 

eventually offered in learning centers known as kuttab.

Islamic Education in Berber Communities

After the introduction of Islam, Berber communities traditionally 

hired an imam or fqih (Islamic scholar) to lead prayers at the 

local mosque, deliver sermons each Friday (Muslim holy day), 

and train young men to recite the Qur’an. In addition, the fqih

was responsible for providing the community with charms 

bearing Qur’anic verses to bring good fortune and defend 

against disease. 

7. LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE

KNOWLEDGE

LEARNING &
Colonial Era Education

After the French conquered Algeria in 1830, they tried to use 

the educational system to assimilate indigenous Algerians into 

French society (see History and Myth). By using a Frenchlanguage curriculum, the French colonizers hoped to replace 

local values with their own (see 

Language and Communication). 

Nevertheless, relatively few Algerians 

attended and therefore were not

exposed to the French educational

system. Consequently, literacy rates 

and enrollment in formal schools 

plummeted among Algerians during the 

19th century (Photo: Algerians in 1899).

In the early 20th century, the situation

began to shift. In 1917, for example, the 

French instituted a policy of universal, compulsory primary 

education for Muslim boys. Around the same time, Algerians 

who had worked abroad during World War I began returning 

home with a greater appreciation for a French education and 

less of a resolute opposition to anything French. Consequently,

the French integrated the previously segregated French and 

Muslim schools in 1949, although only 12% of Algerian children 

were enrolled in school by 1958.

Education after Independence

At independence the country’s schools still catered mostly to 

the privileged, French-speaking elite. In an effort to reverse this 

trend, the new government pursued a policy of mass 

education, hoping to bolster the economy and promote national 

pride. It guaranteed free, universal, and compulsory education 

to all Algerians, sought to improve teacher quality, and 

emphasized technical, scientific, and vocational education. 

Finally, the government instituted a policy of Arabization 

designed to undo French influence by replacing French 

language and curriculum with Arabic and Afro-Arab instruction 

(see Language and Communication).

Modern Education System

Despite Algeria’s post-independence education reforms, the 

system remains old-fashioned and betrays many hallmarks of 

KNOWLEDGE

LEARNING & LEARNING &
its French roots. For example, instruction emphasizes learning 

facts by rote memorization and scoring well on cumulative 

examinations. Although the language of instruction is Arabic, 

French and English are studied as foreign languages. Algeria 

uses the 6+3+3 model, which signifies 6 years of primary 

school, 3 years of lower secondary school, and 3 years of 

upper secondary school. Although the first 9 years are 

compulsory, many children, especially girls, drop out earlier 

because they must work to support their families.

Basic (6+3): A basic education in Algeria consists of 9 years of 

schooling that divide into 3 equal cycles. The first cycle 

includes manual work to develop motor skills, while the second 

cycle introduces topics from language, mathematics, religion, 

national studies, and environmental studies. The third cycle 

builds on the first two cycles and also includes lessons about 

social and cultural topics. At the conclusion of the 9th year, 

students must pass the Brevet d’Enseignement Fondamental, 

a final examination, to continue to upper secondary school.

Secondary (+3): Upper secondary school students join either 

the “general” or the “technical” streams. The purpose of the 

general stream is to prepare students for post-secondary study, 

while the technical stream is designed

to prepare students for a career. 

There are 11 séries, or 

concentrations, within the two broad 

streams, as well as 4 concentrations 

that combine the two streams.

During the first year of upper 

secondary school, students from both 

streams take the same core 

curriculum, which includes Arabic, 

English, French, history, geography, 

physical science, and Islamic studies. The second year is 

similar but includes courses tailored more narrowly to each 

student’s stream. In the third year, students specialize in their 

streams.

Post-Secondary: As of 2006, 27 universities, 13 university 

centers, 6 national schools, 6 national institutes, 4 teacher 

training institutes, and two university annexes provide postKNO

LEARNING &

WLEDGE
secondary education in Algeria. Concentrated mostly in the 

northern part of the country, universities provide the most 

general option for post-secondary study. They encompass a 

broad range of faculties that are further subdivided into 

departments. University centers are similar but in most cases 

are smaller, more remote, and limited in their offerings.

In contrast to the general options offered by universities and 

university centers, national schools and national institutes offer 

specialized coursework. National schools, which are open only 

to the best qualified graduates of technical secondary streams, 

specialize in theoretical and applied 

science, while national institutes 

focus on specialized training 

programs intended to prepare 

students for specific technical 

careers.

Vocational Education

Vocational education historically has 

had a negative reputation in Algeria. 

The French channeled many 

Algerians into low-quality vocational 

schools during the colonial era, 

while the general stream became

the more prestigious path to 

government employment. Since the early 1980s, the Algerian 

government has implemented programs to expand and 

improve vocational education to address the economic need for 

more skilled, technical workers.

Challenges to the Education System

Algeria’s education system faces a number of difficulties. The 

amount of funding available for education varies due to 

fluctuations in the oil markets upon which the government 

depends for much of its revenue (see Economics and 

Resources). Consequently, resources such as instructional 

materials and equipment are often in short supply. In addition, 

teachers are often underpaid, which provides less of an 

incentive for the brightest students to become teachers. 

Besides overcrowded facilities, periodic teacher strikes often 

limit class hours.

KNOWLEDGE

LEARNING &
Concept of Time

As members of a diverse society, Algerians experience time in 

different ways. Although many urban Algerians subscribe to the 

Western notion of time as a finite resource, rural Algerians take 

a relaxed view of time that accommodates meaningful personal 

interaction, such as frequent, unplanned social visits.

Time and Work

Algerians generally work from 8:00am12:00pm, take a two hour lunch break, 

and then continue working from about 

2:00pm-5:30pm. Banking hours usually 

run from 9:00am-3:00pm, sometimes 

with a break for lunch. For some 

Algerians, the workday is punctuated by 

salat, which consists of 5 daily prayers

(see Religion and Spirituality). After 

independence, the government defined 

the weekend as Thursday and Friday to 

accommodate the Muslim day of worship each Friday. In 2009,

the government shifted the weekend to Friday and Saturday to 

align Algeria’s work week more closely with global markets.

Punctuality

Although punctuality is not especially important in Algeria, it is 

appreciated and encouraged, particularly in business contexts. 

Foreign nationals are advised to arrive on time for 

appointments, although expect their Algerian counterparts to

be late. Consequently, patience is essential in professional

settings. Appointments typically are confirmed 1 or 2 days in 

advance.

Negotiations

Personal relationships and local character references are 

helpful for negotiating and conducting business in Algeria. 

Trust is indispensable, whether it comes from a prior 

relationship or is built through a series of interactions. For this 

reason, foreign nationals should take the time to build rapport

with Algerians before “getting down to business.”

8. TIME AND SPACE

SPACE

TIME &
Lunar Islamic Calendar

Most Algerians schedule daily routine events using the

Western calendar. Muslim holidays align with the Islamic 

calendar, which is a lunar calendar also containing 12 months, 

although it is 11 days shorter than the Western calendar. Days 

begin at sunset on what the Western calendar would define as 

the previous day. Consequently, each new week begins at 

sunset on Saturday, while the Muslim holy day of Friday begins 

on Thursday evening.

Personal Space

Algerians tend to converse at short distances, although usually 

not closer than 2.5 ft. Although Algerian men often hold each 

other’s arms while talking, they never do the same when talking 

to Algerian women in order to avoid the perception of being

flirtatious or disrespectful. Foreign nationals are advised to limit 

or avoid conversational touching with an Algerian counterpart

until a close relationship has been established. 

Holidays

National Holidays

National holidays occur on fixed dates:

• January 1: New Year’s Day

• May 1: Labor Day

• June 19: Overthrow of Ahmed Ben Bella

• July 5: Independence Day

• November 1: National Day (Revolution Day)

Religious Months and Holidays

Religious holidays occur on variable dates set by the 

Islamic calendar (see “Lunar Islamic Calendar”):

• First of Muharram: Islamic New Year

• Ashura: 10th day of Muharram

• Mawlid: Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad

• Eid al-Fitr: End of Ramadan

• Eid al-Adha: The Festival of the Sacrifice

SPACE

TIME &
Public Space: Many Algerians engage in behaviors in public 

spaces that may seem unfamiliar to foreign nationals. For 

example, Algerians do not typically form lines when waiting, so 

people generally must politely assert themselves to be noticed 

and attended to in Algerian establishments. Another example 

has to do with cleanliness. Although Algerians typically keep 

their homes and other private spaces spotlessly clean, many 

Algerian cities experience large amounts of litter, and public 

restrooms are typically dirty. Finally, due to widespread use of 

smokeless tobacco products, Algerian men sometimes spit in 

public – a behavior usually not intended to be disrespectful.

Eye Contact: The customs surrounding eye contact in Algeria 

are complex. Eye contact during conversation is appropriate 

between men, as insufficient eye contact conveys a sense that 

the conversation is unimportant. However, staring is avoided, 

as is prolonged eye contact between 

unrelated men and women. In addition, 

it usually is considered respectful for 

children to avoid eye contact when 

interacting with their elders.

Physical Taboos

Like people from many cultures 

throughout Africa, the Middle East, and 

Asia, Algerians reserve the left hand 

for personal hygiene and consider it 

unclean. They typically use the right or 

both hands when eating, gesturing, 

accepting items, or greeting another person. Foreign nationals 

should behave likewise to avoid offense. Algerians also may 

take offense if a person’s index finger or the sole of his foot is 

pointed at them.

Photographs

Many Algerians are open to being photographed and 

appreciate the opportunity to see themselves in a picture. It is 

always best to request permission before taking a photograph

of Algerians, especially in rural areas. A photographer should 

know the Algerian women personally before requesting to 

photograph them. Photographing military, gendarme, or 

government personnel or installations is prohibited. 

SPACE

TIME &
Overview

Algerian clothing, games, music, and artwork reflect a variety of 

cultural influences from Berber, Arab, and European sources. 

Algerian aesthetic and recreational preferences demonstrate 

Algerians’ interests in globalization and modernity as well as 

their pride in uniquely Algerian and Islamic traditions.

Dress

Standards of dress in Algeria are less strict than those in many 

other Islamic countries. For example, female foreign nationals 

are not expected to wear head coverings for modesty. 

Nevertheless, both male and female visitors to Algeria are 

advised to dress conservatively—even in extreme heat—and to 

avoid wearing sleeveless tops and short pants/skirts.

Urban: Most urban Algerians have adopted modern, Westernstyle dress. Men typically wear suits and ties in business and 

other formal situations, while most women wear modest 

dresses or long-sleeved blouses and skirts that fall below the 

knee. Despite their relatively liberal 

approach to attire, many urban women 

wear a hijab, or head scarf. In some 

cases, this decision is driven as much 

by fashion as by religious devotion.

Rural: Rural Algerians are more likely 

to wear traditional Algerian clothing, 

although some dress in Western-style 

jeans and T-shirts. For men, traditional 

clothing often consists of a long cotton 

shirt worn under a white wool cloak 

known as a gondoura. Men also 

sometimes wear a bornou (pictured), a type of cape made 

either from linen (for summer wear) or wool (for winter wear). 

The traditional male headwear is a short, round, usually red 

cap known as a fez (also pictured).

Islamic custom has retained a pronounced influence on the 

traditional attire of rural women, which typically varies by 

region. Most of them wear a hijab outside the home, while 

9. AESTHETICS AND RECREATION

AESTHETICS &

RECREATION
some women dress even more conservatively by wearing a 

haik, a dress that, like the burqa of Afghanistan, covers the 

body from head to toe. 

Recreation

The ability to entertain guests is important and highly valued in 

Algerian society. Algerians enjoy spending time with friends 

and relatives in a variety of social settings. Women often gather 

in their homes, while men tend 

to frequent cafés where they 

meet friends to drink tea and 

play cards, dominoes, 

checkers, or backgammon.

Sports

Sports are important in

Algerian society, where men 

value physical fitness. Many 

Algerians devote significant 

time to playing recreational sports, and an even larger number 

follow professional sports teams. The most popular sports are 

soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, martial arts, tennis, and 

track and field.

Schools place great emphasis on physical education, where

both boys and girls participate equally in athletics at a young 

age. As girls mature, physical fitness becomes less of a priority

than for boys, whereby athletics tends to become maledominated. Still, some women continue to participate in track 

and field events, which are considered most suitable for 

women, some of whom have even won Olympic medals. 

Soccer: Soccer, or “football” as it is known to many Africans, is 

the most popular sport in Algeria. Males of all ages either 

watch or participate in pick-up games that occur on streets and 

in parks. Moreover, the Algerian national team, Les Fennecs 

(the Desert Foxes), is a major source of national pride to 

Algerians. Following back-to-back FIFA World Cup 

appearances in the 1980s, Les Fennecs have had mixed 

success. Since winning the Africa Cup of Nations in 1990, the 

team qualified for the World Cup in 2010 only to be defeated in 

early rounds. As of early 2013, Les Fennecs were ranked 22nd

worldwide.

AESTHETICS &

RECREATION
Music

Raï: Popular music in Algeria is dominated by raï, which 

means “opinion” in Arabic. Initially, raï was a women’s genre 

used to express taboo topics of love, emotion, and sexuality. 

Now, men are known to sing raï, which is considered an urban 

genre, although its themes are now typically less explicit and 

directed to a general audience. Raï has absorbed influences 

ranging from American disco to Moroccan wedding songs. 

Chaabi: Another popular music genre called chaabi (popular) 

typically explores moral themes and includes traditional 

Algerian, Spanish, and Jewish stylistic influences. The most 

common instruments include the oud, a stringed instrument 

similar to a lute; the rhita, a type of reed flute; and various 

small drums. 

Other Music: Other common genres in Algeria include Kabyle 

music and pan-Arab pop. With its roots in the northern Berber 

region, Kabyle music provided the soundtrack for postindependence political protest and growing Berber cultural 

consciousness (see Political and Social Relations).

Literature and Folklore

Literature generally has been 

vital to the decolonization 

process for many Algerians. 

Notable essayists, novelists, 

playwrights, and poets and 

authors include Kateb Yacine 

(pictured), Assia Djebar (who 

used the pen name FatimaZohra Imalayen), and 

Mohammed Dib. These and 

many other authors wrote about 

Algeria’s struggle to escape

from colonial rule and establish 

a national identity amid social 

unrest and government upheaval. While Algeria produces 

modern literature in both French and Arabic, Algerian literature 

takes its cues on style and subject matter predominantly from 

French literature (see Language and Communication). 

AESTHETICS &

RECREATION
Most Algerian folklore is based on local traditions and religious 

history. Stories about the life of the prophet Muhammad and 

legends about Muslim leaders who defied Christian Crusaders 

and French colonists are especially popular. Algerian tales 

about marabouts, Sufi Muslim leaders of the past who were 

thought to be blessed with divine grace, are also widely told 

(see Religion and Spirituality). 

Cinema and Theater

Although some Algerians during 

the French colonial period viewed

theater as a Western imposition, 

others co-opted French theatrical

culture for their own artistic 

expression, establishing acting 

troupes as early as the 1920s. 

While some troupes performed 

modern plays, others staged

morality plays intended to inspire

their audiences to live within Islamic values. Today, Algerian 

theater is thriving and has produced a number of famous 

playwrights. Many Algerian cities have beautiful theaters dating 

to the colonial era that are used to entertain Algerian audiences 

with contemporary performances of both Algerian and 

international works (Pictured: The theater of Algiers in 1913).

Although Algeria has a handful of cinemas, they do not enjoy 

broad popularity because pirated DVDs are widely available. 

Since many of the cinemas that do exist primarily show adult 

movies, Algerians typically watch standard movies at home.

For a country with little cinematic output, Algeria has produced 

several notable directors, including Mohammed LakhdarHamina and Bourlem Guerdjou.

Arts and Crafts

Islamic and Berber influence is evident in many of Algeria’s arts 

and crafts. Typical design elements, such as geometric shapes 

and patterns and calligraphy, decorate buildings, rugs, pottery, 

metalwork, and basketry. The Algerian craft industry was 

estimated to employ around 200,000 people in 2006 and has 

continued to grow due to government programs that promote 

Algerian handicrafts in global markets.

AESTHETICS &

RECREATION
Sustenance Overview

Algerian cuisine includes a complex blend of flavors shaped by 

Berber, Arab, French, Turkish, Spanish, and even Roman 

influences. Although it consists of herbs and spices such as 

mint, coriander, parsley, and garlic, Algerian cuisine is typically

blander than that of other North African countries.

Dining Customs

Although dining customs vary by region and family, a typical 

meal in Algeria is eaten from a low table known as tbla or 

mida. Urban Algerian families usually eat together at Westernstyle dining tables, while some rural families tend to eat at 

gender-specific tables. Food is eaten either with utensils or with 

the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger of the right hand (see 

“Physical Taboos” section in Time and Space).

Algerians consider it rude and gluttonous for a guest to pick up 

food with more than 3 fingers or to request more food than was 

offered initially. It is considered polite in Algeria for guests to 

leave a small amount of food on the plate to indicate that they 

are finished. As in many cultures, it is considered unacceptable 

to slurp or use a sleeve as a napkin. Although Algerians do not 

usually eat or drink in public except in restaurants, it is 

acceptable to consume non-alcoholic beverages while strolling

on a hot day.

Diet

The core of the Algerian 

diet is couscous

(pictured), a type of pasta 

made from small pieces 

of semolina (high protein 

durum wheat). Other 

common staples include 

barley, corn, and rice. 

Bread, which Algerians use to scoop food from the plate and to 

absorb sauces and stews, also accompanies many meals. 

Nuts and dried fruits are common in Algeria – figs, dates, and 

almonds are particularly popular. 

10. SUSTENANCE AND HEALTH

SUSTENANCE

& HEALTH
Meat: The most popular types of meat in Algeria are chicken, 

turkey, and mutton (mature sheep). Beef is relatively rare, while 

pork is essentially unavailable due to Islamic dietary restrictions 

(see below). Since Algerians generally try to consume as much 

of the slaughtered animal as possible, they commonly eat 

dishes featuring eyes, testicles, and various internal organs.

Popular Dishes: Algerian meals typically consist of couscous

with vegetables and lamb, chicken, or fish. Couscous is often 

paired with tagine, a popular stew of meat and vegetables 

named after the pot in which it is made. Algerians sometimes 

make sweet couscous by preparing it with raisins and sugar.

In rural areas, popular dishes include mechoui, or fire-roasted 

lamb served with bread, vegetables, and dried fruit, as well as 

chakhchoukha, which is made by combining shredded

noodles with chickpeas, vegetables, beef, pepper, and tomato 

sauce. Families often eat chorba, a soup made from lamb, 

grains, chickpeas, tomato sauce, and cinnamon, lemon, or 

coriander after sunset during Ramadan to break their fast (see 

Religion and Spirituality). 

Beverages: Coffee and tea 

are Algeria’s most popular 

beverages. Northern Algerians 

tend to prefer coffee, while 

southern Algerians favor tea. 

Compared to Western 

versions, Algerian coffee and 

tea are strong and bitter. 

Coffee and tea consumption 

carry important social 

connotations in Algeria. For 

example, an offer of mint tea should not be refused in an 

Algerian’s home. Guests must drink at least 3 small cups of tea 

to be polite. Soft drinks also are popular, as is sharbat

(pictured center), a drink made from milk and fruit juice.

Islamic Dietary Restrictions: In accordance with Islamic law, 

observant Algerian Muslims do not consume pork products or 

alcoholic beverages. In addition, almost all Algerians fast from 

sunrise until sunset during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan

(see Religion and Spirituality).

SUSTENANCE

& HEALTH
Water

Algeria has an outdated water infrastructure and scarce 

water. As of 2010, 85% of urban dwellers and 79% of 

rural people had access to clean water. Roughly 98% of 

the urban population has access to sanitation versus 

88% of rural dwellers. Public restroom facilities and 

many homes lack running water. Water rationing and 

the use of bottled water are common during shortages.

Health Overview

The Algerian healthcare system consists of private facilities, 

public hospitals, and public clinics. Although the government 

has provided free healthcare to poor citizens and at graduated 

rates for higher-income citizens since 1975, Algerians often 

prefer private facilities because public facilities are typically 

overburdened. Since the public system changed its focus to 

disease prevention in 1984, the 

government has emphasized the 

development of rural clinics over larger, 

more advanced hospitals. Nevertheless, 

the remoteness of rural clinics renders

them inaccessible for many Algerians 

(Photo: Algerian-American Dr. Elias

Zerhouni visiting Algeria in 2010).

By African standards, Algeria is a 

relatively healthy country. At 73 years, 

life expectancy in 2010 was slightly higher than the Middle East 

and North African average and 19 years higher than that of 

sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, Algeria’s HIV/AIDS prevalence 

rate is among the lowest in the world at 0.1%. 

Health Challenges: Algeria faces several health issues, 

including poor sanitation, various communicable diseases, and 

an upward trend in non-communicable disease. Since many 

rural Algerians do not have access to sanitation and clean 

water, diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, and cholera are 

common. Furthermore, hepatitis, malaria, tuberculosis, and 

trachoma remain prevalent. Finally, increasingly sedentary 

lifestyles have caused a rise in hypertension, diabetes, and 

respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

SUSTENANCE

& HEALTH
Overview

Prior to independence, the economy of Algeria was based on 

agriculture. Since the mid-1950s, it increasingly has relied upon 

exports of oil and natural gas. Although this change brought a 

large amount of wealth to Algeria, it also has led to several 

problems that have yet to be fully addressed.

One issue, for example, is Algeria’s heavy dependence upon 

imported food, a consequence of concentrating resources on

oil and natural gas extraction in lieu of agricultural production. 

Similarly, the volatile global oil and natural gas markets make it 

difficult to plan for a fiscally sustainable future. Moreover, many 

young Algerians are unemployed because the oil and gas 

industries can be sustained by a 

small number of workers having 

specific technical skills. (Photo: 

Algiers skyline).

Demographic trends suggest that 

these problems may intensify in the 

future. As drought increasingly 

drives farmers to abandon their 

farms, the demand for already 

scarce jobs will increase. Similarly, public social services will 

have to stretch an uncertain budget to cope with new 

schoolchildren and hospital patients. Finally, inequality of 

income and living standards will widen as the ranks of the 

unemployed—about 80% of whom are under age 30—expand

(see Political and Social Relations).

Industry

Accounting for about 62% of gross domestic product (GDP)

alhough just 13% of the labor force, industrial activities 

comprise the largest component of Algeria’s economy. Like the 

Algerian economy as a whole, the industrial sector is 

dominated by the extraction, processing, and export of oil and 

natural gas (often referred to collectively as “hydrocarbons,” a 

term for the group of compounds composed entirely of 

hydrogen and carbon).

11. ECONOMICS AND RESOURCES

ECONOMICS & 

RESOURCES
Oil: First discovered in Algeria 

in the mid-1950s in the desert 

town of Hassi Messaoud, oil 

was first extracted in Algeria in 

1958 (Photo: The first well at 

Hassi Messaoud—a water well 

built in 1917). Since that time, 

Hassi Messaoud has become

the center of the Algerian oil 

industry, with most oil companies operating in Algeria 

maintaining their local headquarters in the town. As with natural 

gas, the exploration, transport, and marketing of Algerian oil 

products is the responsibility of Sonatrach, a state-owned firm.

As of 2011, Algeria was the second largest oil producer in 

Africa and the 16th largest in the world, with 12.2 billion barrels 

of proven reserves and daily production of 1.88 million barrels. 

The main oil fields are located in the deserts of eastern Algeria 

near the Libyan border, while the largest of the country’s 4 oil 

refineries is located in the port city of Skikda.

Natural Gas: First discovered in Algeria in 1956 at the central 

Algerian town of Hassi R’mel, natural gas (often simply called 

“gas”) is Algeria’s other primary export. Although oil historically 

has been more important than gas to the Algerian economy, 

the country’s oil reserves are expected to be exhausted in the 

next few decades. Consequently, gas is poised to become the 

predominant Algerian export. As of 2010, Algeria was the 

largest natural gas producer in Africa and the 11th largest in 

the world, with 4.5 trillion cubic meters of proven reserves and 

annual production of 84.6 billion cubic meters. 

Non-Hydrocarbon Mining: Although Algerian mining focuses 

on hydrocarbons, there is limited extraction of several other 

minerals, including gold, silver, iron ore, and phosphates. Most 

mining occurs in northeastern Algeria near the Tunisian border. 

Manufacturing: Although manufacturing is declining, Algeria 

produces petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, building materials,

processed food, and leather goods on a relatively limited scale. 

The most significant manufactured goods are petrochemicals, 

which include ammonia, fertilizers, resins, and plastics. There 

is also a steel plant located in Annaba.

ECONOMICS & 

RESOURCES
Services

Although services comprises just 29% of GDP, this sector—

including construction, public works, trade, and government 

service—accounts for 73% of employment in Algeria. The 

government creates and directly funds almost half of the

employment in the services sector.

Tourism: Tourism is still a relatively minor industry in Algeria, 

especially when compared to the neighboring countries of 

Morocco and Tunisia. Although about 2 million people visit 

Algeria each year, the majority of them are expatriate Algerians 

returning to visit home. Nevertheless, Algeria has many

attractions to support a tourist industry. Some of the most 

notable attractions are the Casbah, Algiers’ historic citadel; the 

beaches of its northern coastline; the volcanoes of the Ahaggar 

Mountains; and southern desert cities like Tamanrasset and 

Timimoun.

Agriculture

Accounting for 9% of GDP and 14% of employment, activities 

in the agricultural sector constitute the smallest component of 

the Algerian economy. The small size of the agricultural sector 

is due primarily to the fact that only 3.2% of Algeria’s land is 

arable, and only 7% of that land (or 0.02% of the country’s total 

land area) is irrigated.

Most of Algeria’s agricultural 

production consists of staples, 

including wheat, lentils, oats, 

and potatoes; and cash crops, 

including dates, grapes, citrus 

fruits, and olives (Photo: The 

flowers of the Deglet Noor date 

palm, which is believed to have 

originated in Algeria).

About 13% of Algerian territory is suitable for grazing, most of 

which is located in the steppes of northwestern Algeria. The 

most common types of livestock are cattle, chickens, goats,

and sheep. Despite Algeria’s long coastline, fishing is limited to 

small family fishing businesses which harvest sardines, 

mackerel, anchovies, and shellfish.

ECONOMICS & 

RESOURCES
Currency

The currency of Algeria is the Algerian dinar (DA). The DA is 

issued in 5 banknotes (DA 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000) and 7 

coins (DA 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100). Since the dinar floats freely 

against major currencies, its value fluctuates. In June 2013, $1 

was worth DA 79.7, about 10% more than the average for the 

previous decade. Although the dinar subdivides into 100 

santeem, banknotes and coins are no longer denominated in

santeem. Nevertheless, Algerians frequently quote prices in 

thousands of santeem. For example, a vendor might say “100” 

to indicate a price of 100,000 santeem or DA 1,000.

Foreign Trade

Algeria’s exports, which totaled $76.8 billion in 2012, consisted 

almost entirely of hydrocarbons. The country’s most important 

export partners in 2011 were the US (21%), Italy (14%), Spain 

(10%), and France (9%). Imports, totaling $47.5 billion in 2012, 

consisted of food, beverages, and a variety of equipment like

trucks and machinery. Algeria’s largest import partners in 2011 

were France (15%), China (10%), 

and Italy (10%).

Since 1969, Algeria has been a 

member of the Organization of 

Petroleum Exporting Countries 

(OPEC), an intergovernmental 

organization that coordinates oil 

production levels between its 12 member countries and thereby 

steers world oil prices (Photo: OPEC headquarters in Vienna, 

Austria). Algeria has explored creating a similar group for 

natural gas with Qatar and Russia.

Foreign Aid

In 2011, Algeria received approximately $213 million of official 

development assistance from single-country donors. The most 

generous by far was France, which contributed 66% of the 

total. Other significant donors included Spain (13%), Germany 

(5%), and the US (5%). In the same year, Algeria received 

approximately $103 million from multilateral organizations. 

Almost all (91%) multilateral assistance came from the 

European Union and related agencies, while much of the 

remainder came from various United Nations agencies.

ECONOMICS & 

RESOURCES
Overview

Although the French built an advanced infrastructure in parts of 

Algeria during the colonial era, many of the country’s ports, 

roadways, and railways fell into disrepair following 

independence. In recent years, the government has pursued 

major projects to repair and expand its infrastructure.

Transportation

Although some Algerians own private cars, most people use 

buses, hired vehicles, or public transportation. Buses are used 

primarily for travel between cities, especially in northern 

Algeria, though some routes extend as far as 1,000 mi south of 

Algiers to the oasis city of Tamanrasset. Hired vehicles are 

more popular than buses and tend to be more expensive. In 

the South, trucks and other 4-wheel drive vehicles are the most 

commonly hired vehicles, while taxis collectifs, or shared

taxis, are typical in the North. 

Most shared taxis depart when full 

and do not operate on a fixed 

schedule.

Roadways: Algeria has over 

70,600 mi of roadways, of which 

more than half are paved. Most 

roads in northern Algeria are 

adequate, although rural roads tend to be substandard. Travel 

by road in Algeria is generally dangerous because many 

drivers are poorly trained and many roads are too narrow for 

high-volume traffic. Bandits are active on desert roads.

The Algerian government has instituted several policies aimed 

at improving its roadways and safety record. In 2010 it passed 

a law that promises stiff penalties for offenses such as 

speeding or talking on a cellular phone while driving. To 

improve efficiency, the government has undertaken projects 

such as the 6-lane, 756-mi East-West Highway, which is under 

construction and eventually will stretch across northern Algeria 

between the country’s Moroccan and Tunisian borders.

12. TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIAL

TECHNOLOGY

& MATERIAL
Railways: Although train service has improved between select 

major cities, many of Algeria’s 2,468 mi of railways suffer from 

a combination of outdated equipment and high demand. A 

single main line runs from the Moroccan to the Tunisian border 

and connects the cities of Oran, Algiers, Constantine, and 

Annaba. Smaller lines split from the main line to connect with 

the main port cities, the mining and date-producing regions, 

and the plateaus of northwestern Algeria. In 2010, Algiers 

opened the country’s first subway system.

Ports and Waterways: Approximately 90% of Algerian exports 

travel through the country’s 9 major ports, which are located at 

Algiers, Annaba, Arzew, Béjaïa, Djen Djen, Jijel, Mostaganem, 

Oran, and Skikda. The most important of these ports is Algiers, 

which handles 60% of the country’s container traffic. Arzew is 

also important because it processes 40% of Algeria’s oil and 

gas exports (see Economics and Resources). 

Airways: Of the 142 airports in Algeria, 60 have paved 

runways, while 7 handle international traffic. Houari 

Boumediene International Airport (ALG), which is located 12 mi 

southeast of Algiers, is the country’s primary air transit hub. 

Secondary airports are 

located at Algiers, Annaba, 

Constantine, Oran, Tlemcen, 

and Ghardaïa.

The largest domestic airlines 

are Air Algérie, the stateowned national airline, and 

Tassili Airlines, a private venture that operates both charters 

and scheduled flights. Air Algérie offers service from Algiers to 

domestic locations, such as Tamanrasset and Ghardaïa; to 

regional cities, including Casablanca, Dakar, and Tripoli; and to 

global destinations, such as Paris, Dubai, and London. Algiers 

also is served by foreign carriers, including Air France, British 

Airways, and Turkish Airlines. 

Energy

In 2010, 98.6% of Algerians had access to electricity. The 

government plans to supply electricity to more than 200,000 

additional homes by 2014, thereby raising the electrification

rate to 99%. Algeria’s large reserves of hydrocarbons enable it

TECHNOLOGY

& MATERIAL
to generate almost all (93% as of 2010) of its domestic energy 

supply from natural gas.

Media

Although general media censorship is not supported by

Algerian law, particular laws do prohibit defamation of 

government officials. These laws, plus the government’s stake 

in many of Algeria’s primary media outlets, provide Algerian 

journalists strong incentives to censor themselves.

Radio and TV: The state-owned 

Enterprise Nationale de Television

(ENTV) operates Algeria’s national 

broadcast TV stations, offering a 

blend of news and light entertainment 

in Arabic, Berber, and French. The 

Enterprise National de Radiodiffusion 

Sonore, also state-owned, operates 3 

radio stations that broadcast in 

Arabic, Berber, and French. Although the Algerian government 

controls and operates all of the country’s public radio and TV 

stations, many Algerians can and do access uncensored 

international TV programming through rooftop satellite dishes 

(pictured). Some Algerians have multiple dishes so they can 

receive both European and Arabic channels.

Print Media: There are about 45 French- or Arabic-language 

daily newspapers published in Algeria with a collective

circulation of 1.5 million. Although the Algerian government 

publishes two Arabic newspapers (El-Chaab and El-Massa) 

and two French newspapers (El-Moudjahid and Horizons), 

private publications, such as El Khabar, Le Quotidien d’Oran, 

Liberté, and El Watan, have the highest circulation rates.

Telecommunications

Cellular phones are much more popular than fixed-line phones 

among both business and private customers. There were more 

than 10 times as many cellular subscriptions (32.8 million) as 

fixed-line subscriptions (3.1 million) in 2011. Texting and 

smartphones are increasingly popular in urban areas. Due to 

the high cost of personal computers and Internet access, only 

about 14% of Algerians used the Internet in 2011, although

rates of Internet use are much higher in urban areas.

TECHNOLOGY

& MATERIAL
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