Algeria is a mix of Berber, French, Arab, Turkish, and
Spanish influence. It can be seen in its cuisine, in its music, in its
language, and in the people. While it has a long dichotomous history of being
conquered and independent, it is part of what has made its culture so rich.
Since South Sudan has become independent last summer,
Algeria is now the largest country in Africa (as far as area goes). It’s bordered by Tunisia, Libya, Niger,
Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, and the Mediterranean Sea. In fact,
it’s only about 100-150 miles across the Mediterranean to both Spain and Italy.
When it comes to biodiversity, there is a lot of variety.
The north of the country near the coast has the most fertile areas, where the
vast majority of the agriculture is. Ninety percent of the population lives in the northern
regions of the country. Rich in
natural resources, the Atlas Mountains (and its subranges: Tell Atlas, Saharan
Atlas and Aurès Mountains) spread across the northern areas of Algeria. South
of the Sahara Atlas Mountains lies the well-known and vast Sahara desert. It’s
actually spread across 12 different countries. To get a better idea of just how big the Sahara Desert is, it
would be more or less like cutting out the state of California and dumping sand
on the rest of the United States. There are areas that can have no rain for up
to 20-year periods of time! There are a few national parks and nature reserves
that are now popular destinations for wildlife tours.
The country is actually named after its capital, Algiers.
No, not the motel I stayed at when I took a vacation to Florida, but the port
city on the Mediterranean. The city metro area has about 5 million people;
that’s roughly the size of the entire state of Colorado. The next largest city
is Oran, an important city for commerce. It’s also the birthplace of raï music,
which we’ll get to in a couple of blogs.
Algeria’s official language is Arabic, but more recently is
acknowledging the Berber languages, spoken by the native Berbers who ethnically
make up the majority of Algerians today. French is still understood (leftover from the days when it
was ruled by the French) and since it is still taught in schools, many can read
and write in French. (I’ve been trying to learn French for several years now. The
key is that I took it off of my New Year Resolutions list, and voilà: I finally
made it through the Berlitz Basic French book.) English is taught in schools as
a secondary foreign language (behind French).
About 99% of Algerians are Muslim, with the remaining 1%
being Christian and Jewish. So, it’s not difficult to understand that Islam is
a major contributing factor in the everyday lives of Algerians. Since their
independence from France back in 1962, many Europeans have also flocked to
Algeria. And in more recent years, there have been a push towards a more
conservative society and that’s caused some fighting and issues between the
conservatives and the more secular movement of people.
Algeria is a complex country with a complex culture. I’m
really excited to delve into some of these cultural topics and its cuisine over
the next few blogs. Please keep reading; this should be good.
Up next: Holidays and Celebrations
Resources:
Wikipedia: “Algeria,” “Algiers,” “Oran,” “List of US Cities
by Population,” “Sahara Desert”
Algeria: www.algeria.com
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