Algeria

People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
People's Democratic Republic of Algeria الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية (Arabic); "al-Jumhūriyya al-Jazāʾiriyya ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyya ash-Shaʿbiyya";
Flag	Emblem
	Motto: بالشّعب وللشّعب (Arabic); "S weɣref i weɣref" (Berber); "By the people and for the people"
	Anthem: ; "Kassaman"; "We Pledge";
Capital; (and largest city)	Algiers; 36°42′N 3°13′E / 36.7°N 3.217°E
Official language(s)	Arabic
National languages	Berber
Demonym	Algerian
Government	Semi-presidential republic
History
Area
Population
GDP (PPP)	2010 estimate
GDP (nominal)	2010 estimate
Gini (1995)	35.3 (medium)
HDI (2011)	▲ 0.698 (medium) (96th)
Currency	Algerian dinar (DZD)
Time zone	CET (UTC+01)
Drives on the	right
Internet TLD	.dz, الجزائر.
Calling code	213
	Modern Standard Arabic is the official language.; Tamazight is spoken by one third of the population and has been recognized as a "national language" by the constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. Algerian Arabic (or Darja) is the language used by the majority of the population. Although French has no official status, Algeria is the second Francophone country in the world in terms of speakers and French is still widely used in the government, the culture, the media (newspapers) and the education system (since primary school), due to Algeria's colonial history and can be regarded as the de facto co-official language of Algeria. The Kabyle language, the most-spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and is partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylia.

Algeria on a world map

The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: Algeria.

Algeria (official name: People's Democratic Republic of Algeria) is a country in the Western part of North Africa. The capital city is Algiers. It is the largest country in Africa. The name is from the city of Algiers.

[change] History

Algeria has had people since 10.000 BC. This can be seen in Tassili National Park. By 600-BC, Phoenician were at Tipasa. Muslim Arabs came to Algeria in the mid-7th century. Many people chose this religion.

The famous mathematician, Fibonacci (1170—1250) lived in Algeria as a teenager. This is where he learned the Hindu-Arabic number system and realized it was simpler to use.

In the 1500's and 1700's the Spanish Empire ruled a lot of Algeria. Algeria was made part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

Pirates worked from the Barbary Coast. They took people to sell as slaves.

France ruled Algeria starting in 1830. In 1954, the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale or FLN) wanted freedom from France. They fought a war. It became independent from France in July 5, 1962. In 1963 Ahmed Ben Bella became the first President of Algeria.

The Algerian Civil War started in 1991. It ended in 2002. After many people protested, like in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, the government stopped the state of emergency on 24 February 2011.

[change] Geography

A large part of southern Algeria is the Sahara Desert. The Aures and Nememcha mountain ranges are in the north. The highest point is Mount Tahat (3,003 m).