Algeria
Algeria (/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (About this soundlisten)
al-JEER-ee-ə), officially the People's Democratic Republic
of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North
Africa. The capital and most populous city is Algiers,
located in the far north of the country on the Mediterranean
coast. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595
sq mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world,
and the largest by area in the African Union and the Arab
world.[10] With an estimated population of over 44 million,
it is the eighth-most populous country in Africa.
Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east
by Libya, to the southeast by Niger, to the southwest by
Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Saharan territory, to the
west by Morocco, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.
The country has a semi-arid geography, with most of the
population living in the fertile north and the Sahara
dominating the geography of the south. This arid geography
makes the country very vulnerable to climate change[11] .
Pre-1962 Algeria has known many empires and dynasties,
including ancient Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians,
Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Idrisid,
Aghlabid, Rustamid, Fatimids, Zirid, Hammadids, Almoravids,
Almohads, Zayyanids, Spaniards, Ottomans and finally, the
French colonial empire. Most of the population is
Arab-Berber, practicing Islam and using the official
languages of Arabic and Berber. However, French serves as an
administrative and education language in some contexts, and
Algerian Arabic is the main spoken language.
Algeria has a semi-presidential republic, with local
constituencies consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes
(counties). Algeria is a regional and middle power. It has
the highest human development index of all non-island
African countries and one of the largest economies on the
continent, based largely on energy exports. Algeria has the
16th largest oil reserves in the world and the second
largest in Africa, while it has the ninth largest reserves
of natural gas. Sonatrach, the national oil company, is the
largest company in Africa, supplying large amounts of
natural gas to Europe. Algeria has one of the largest
militaries in Africa and the largest defence budget. It is a
member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC, the
United Nations, and the Arab Maghreb Union, of which it is a
founding member.
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