Algeria Map

Description: This map shows governmental boundaries of countries, national capital, major cities and towns in Algeria.

Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Its capital and largest city is Algiers, located on the Mediterranean coast. With an area of about 2,381,741 square kilometres, Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the tenth-largest in the world. It borders Tunisia to the northeast, Libya to the east, Niger to the southeast, Mali and Mauritania to the southwest, Western Sahara and Morocco to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north.

People have lived in the territory of present-day Algeria since prehistoric times, as rock art in Tassili n'Ajjer shows. In antiquity, the region was home to the Berber kingdom of Numidia, which reached its height under King Massinissa in the 2nd century BC. It later came under Roman rule and became one of the empire's agricultural provinces. The Arab conquest in the 7th century brought Islam and the Arabic language to the region. Several dynasties followed, including the Rustamids, Fatimids, Zirids, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads and Zayyanids. In the 16th century, the Regency of Algiers was established under the nominal authority of the Ottoman Empire.

France invaded Algeria in 1830 and ruled it as a colony for more than a century. The Algerian War of Independence began in 1954 under the leadership of the National Liberation Front (FLN). It ended with the Évian Accords, and Algeria declared independence on 5 July 1962.

After independence, the FLN governed Algeria as a one-party state until a multi-party system was introduced in 1989. The army cancelled the 1991–1992 legislative elections, which led to a civil war that lasted for most of the decade. Abdelaziz Bouteflika served as president from 1999 until he resigned in 2019, after a mass protest movement known as the Hirak. Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president in December 2019 and re-elected in September 2024.

Algeria is a semi-presidential republic. Its bicameral parliament consists of the People's National Assembly and the Council of the Nation. The country is divided into provinces called wilayas.

More than 80 percent of Algeria's territory lies in the Sahara Desert. The north has a Mediterranean climate and contains most of the population, concentrated along the coast and in the Tell Atlas. The Saharan Atlas separates the high plateaus from the desert. The country's highest point is Mount Tahat, at 2,908 metres, in the Ahaggar Mountains in the south.

Algeria has a population of about 48 million. Most Algerians are of Arab and Berber descent, and the large majority practise Sunni Islam. Arabic and Amazigh (Berber) are the official languages. Tamazight was recognised as a national language in 2002 and as an official language in 2016. French is widely used in administration, business and higher education. Besides Algiers, the largest cities are Oran and Constantine.

The economy depends heavily on hydrocarbons, which make up most of the country's export earnings and a large share of state revenue. The state-owned company Sonatrach dominates the oil and gas sector. Algeria is one of the main suppliers of natural gas to Europe through pipelines to Spain and Italy, and it has been a member of OPEC since 1969. The national currency is the Algerian dinar.

Algeria is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League and OPEC. It has seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Kasbah of Algiers, the M'Zab Valley, Tassili n'Ajjer, Timgad, Djémila, Tipasa and Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad.