All You’ve ever wanted to know about; Algeria

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Introduction Algeria is the largest of the three countries (including Morocco and Tunisia) which form the region of Western North Africa, know traditionally as Al Maghrib (“the west”). It is also the second largest country in Africa, and the tenth largest country in the world in terms of land area, equal in size to Western Europe.

What about the weather.. It has summers averaging at 25 ‘C, and rainy winters averaging at 11’C. A hot, dry wind blowing north from Sahara during the summer season brings blinding sand and dust storms to the coastal region.

Population 31,193,017 (estimate of July 2000) Age structure 0-14 years: 35% 15-64 years: 61% 65+: 4% This population explosion presents the country with a major crisis for the future, particularly since 92% of the population is confined to the fertile northern region of the country which covers only 14% of the land area. There are implications as the unemployment figures are now 21%.

Economy The government embarked on a major programme of industrialisation with the rising oil revenues throughout the 1960s and 1970s which transformed the economy. This made Algeria one of the wealthiest nations in Africa. Fuelled by oil revenues, Algeria's economy grew dramatically throughout this period. Declining oil prices during the 1980s drastically reduced economic growth of the now oil dependent country. Annual per capita income fell from $2,360 in 1988 to $1,541 in 19923.

What do they Trade… Agricultural products: Wheat, barley, oats, grapes, olives, citrus, fruits; sheep and cattle. Exports: $13.7 billion Commodities: Petroleum, natural gas and petroleum products. Imports: 9.3 billion Commodities: Capital goods, food and beverages, consumer goods.

Culture Arabic is the primary language of around 82% of the population. Most of the rest of the population speak various Berber dialects with Arabic as a second language. French colonialism left French as the second language of many educated Algerians; English is rarely spoken.

Religion Islam is Algeria’s official religion and the vast majority of Algerians are Muslim. Since the departure of the French, Christianity is a peripheral religion.

Someone else's empire? Algeria was part of the Roman empire until it declined and Roman army's were withdrawn from Algeria. It then become a short-lived independent state. It the became part of the French Colonisation (1830-1962), despite intense popular resistance. The French introduced a wide variety of measures to ‘modernise’ Algeria, imposing European style culture, infrastructure, economics, education, industries and government institutions on the country. The colonies exploited the country’s agricultural resources for the benefit of France. This period of early French influence over the country saw a huge drop in Algeria’s native population, as it fell from around 4 million in 1830, to only 2.5 million1890.

The End.