Kenwood Academy



419100019050000Algeria is a large, predominantly Muslim country of North Africa. It is a vast country—the largest in Africa and the 10th largest in the world. History, language, customs, and an Islamic heritage make Algeria an integral part of the larger Arab world. Once part of the Roman Empire, the territory now comprising Algeria was ruled by various dynasties from the 8th through the 16th century, when it became part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1827, Hussein Dey, the Ottoman governor of Algiers, swatted a French diplomat with a “fly whisk” (see below) during an argument over the repayment of a loan made to Napoleon almost thirty years earlier. Within three years, the two countries were at war.?By 1847 the French had largely suppressed Algerian resistance to the invasion and the following year made Algeria a département of France. French colonists modernized Algeria’s agricultural and commercial economy but lived apart from the Algerian majority, enjoying social and economic privileges extended to few non-Europeans. During this time, the French seized private and religious buildings, looted possessions mainly in and around Algiers. The following years were characterized by a tradition of violence and mutual incomprehension between the rulers and the ruled. Settler colonization was of mixed European origin—mainly Spanish in and around Oran (the second largest city in Algeria) and French, Italian, and Maltese in the centre and east.?-5238751079500It is difficult to gauge in human terms the losses suffered by Algerians during the early years of the French occupation. Estimates of the number of those dead from disease and starvation and as a direct result of warfare during the early years of colonization vary considerably, but the most reliable ones indicate that the native population of Algeria fell by nearly one-third in the years between the French invasion and the end of fighting in the mid-1870s.Gradually the European population established nearly total political, economic, and social domination over the country and its native inhabitants. At the same time, new lines of communication, hospitals and medical services, and educational facilities became more widely available to Europeans, though they were dispensed to a limited extent—and in the French language—to Algerians.Ethnic resentment, fueled by revolutionary politics introduced by Algerians who had lived and studied in France, led to a widespread nationalist movement in the mid-20th century. A fierce war of independence ensued from 1954–1962. After Algerian independence in 1962, most Europeans left the country. Although the influence of the French language and culture in Algeria remained strong, since independence the country consistently has sought to regain its Arab and Islamic heritage. At the same time, the development of oil and natural gas and other mineral deposits in the Algerian interior brought new wealth to the country and prompted a modest rise in the standard of living. In the early 21st century Algeria’s economy was among the largest in Africa.NOTE: An Arab person is from a culture of people who speak Hebrew or Arabic and are? originally from the Arabian peninsula and neighboring territories (much of the Middle East and North Africa- including Algeria).excerpted and modified from ................
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