The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998/Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso/A/Algeria/INFOTEXT

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1. Democratic and Popular Republic of
(al-Jumhuriya al-Jazairiya ad-Dimuqratiya
ash-Shabiya) area 2,381,741 sq km/919,352 sq
mi capital al-Jazair (Algiers) towns
Qacentina/Constantine; ports are Ouahran/
Oran, Annaba physical coastal plains backed
by mountains in N; Sahara desert in S
features Atlas mountains, Barbary Coast,
Chott Melrhir depression, Hoggar mountains
head of state Benjedid Chadli from 1979
political system emergent democracy political
parties National Liberation Front (FLN),
nationalist socialist exports oil, natural
gas, iron, wine, olive oil currency dinar
(13.51 = 1 Mar 1989) population (1988 est)
23,850,000 (83% Arab, 17% Berber); annual
growth rate 3.0% life expectancy men 59,
women 62 language Arabic (official); Berber,
French religion Sunni Muslim literacy 63%
male/37% female (1985 est) GDP $58.0 bn
(1986); $2,645 per head of population
chronology 1954 War for independence from
France led by the FLN 1963 Independence
achieved from France. Ben Bella elected
president.
1965 Ben Bella deposed by military, led by
Col Houari Boumedienne.
1976 New constitution approved.
1978 Death of Boumedienne.
1979 Bendjedid Chadli elected president. Ben
Bella released from house arrest. FLN adopted
new party structure.
1981 Algeria helped in securing release of US
prisoners in Iran.
1983 Chadli re-elected.
1988 Riots in protest at government policies;
170 killed. Reform programme introduced.
Diplomatic relations with Egypt restored.
1989 Constitutional changes proposed, leading
to limited political pluralism.
1990 Fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front
win Algerian elections. Ben Bella returned.

2. Country in N Africa, bounded to the E by
Tunisia and Libya, to the SE by Niger, to the
SW by Mali, to the NW by Morocco, and to the
N by the Mediterranean Sea. government The
1976 constitution, amended 1979, created a
Socialist republic with Islam as the state
religion and Arabic the official language.
Algeria is a one-party state with ultimate
power held by the National Liberation Front
(FLN). The FLN nominates the president, who
is elected by universal suffrage for a
five-year term. The president chooses the
prime minister and the council of ministers
and is the effective head of government.
There is a single-chamber national people's
assembly of 295 deputies, all nominees of
FLN, elected for a five-year term. history
From the 9th century BC the area now known as
Algeria was ruled by Carthage, and
subsequently by Rome (2nd century BC-5th
century AD. St Augustine was bishop of Hippo
(now called Annaba) 396-430. The area was
invaded by the Vandals after the decline of
Roman rule and was ruled by Byzantium from
the 6th to the 8th century, after which the
Arabs invaded the region, introducing Islam
and Arabic. Islamic influence continued to
dominate, despite Spain's attempts to take
control in the 15th-16th centuries, and from
the 16th century Algeria was under Ottoman
rule and flourished as a centre for the slave
trade. However, the Sultan's rule was often
nominal, and in the 18th century Algeria
became a pirate state, preying on
Mediterranean shipping. European intervention
became inevitable, and in 1816 an Anglo-Dutch
force bombarded Algiers. In 1830 a French
army landed and seized Algiers; by 1847 the N
had been brought under French control, and in
1848 was formed into the departements of
Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. Many French
colonists settled in these departements,
which in 1881 were made part of Metropolitan
France. The mountainous region inland,
inhabited by the Kabyles, occupied 1850-70,
and the Sahara region, subdued 1900-09,
remained under military rule. After the
defeat of France 1940, Algeria came under the
control of the Vichy government until the
Allies landed in North Africa 1942. Post-war
hopes of integrating Algeria more closely
with France were frustrated by opposition in
Algeria from those of both non-French and
French origin. An embittered struggle for
independence from France continued 1954-62,
when referenda in both Algeria and France
resulted in 1963 in the recognition of
Algeria as an independent one-party republic
with Ben Bella as its first president. In
1965 Colonel Houari Boumedienne deposed Ben
Bella in a military coup, suspended the
constitution, and ruled through a
revolutionary council.In 1976 a new
constitution confirmed Algeria as an Islamic,
Socialist, one-party state. Boumedienne died
1978, and power was transferred to Bendjedid
Chadli, secretary-general of FLN. In 1979
Chadli released Ben Bella from the house
arrest imposed on him in the 1965 coup. In
the same year FLN adopted a new structure,
with a central committee nominating a party
leader who automatically becomes president.
Chadli was re-elected under this system 1983.
During Chadli's presidency, relations with
France and the USA improved, and there was
some progress in achieving greater
cooperation with neighbouring states, such as
Tunisia. In 1981 Algeria acted as an
intermediary in securing the release of the
US hostages in Iran. In 1987 a proposal by
Colonel Khaddhafi for political union with
Libya received a cool response. Following
public unrest in 1988, Chadli promised to
make the government more responsive to public
opinion. Algiers, (Arabic al-Jazair; French
Alger). Capital of Algeria, situated on the
narrow coastal plain between the Atlas
mountains and the Mediterranean; population
(1984) 2,442,300. Founded by the Arabs 935
AD, Algiers was taken by the Turks 1518 and
by the French 1830. The old town is
dominated by the Kasbah, the palace and
prison of the Turkish rulers. The new town,
constructed under French rule, is in European
style.