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The name Algeria (in Northern Africa) is derived from the name of the country's oldest continuous settlement and modern capital, Algiers, a strategically located port city with access to both Europe and the Middle East.
Weekly News and Chronicle, March 11, 1854
London, United Kingdom
The Kabyles may be said to form the first strata of the Algerian population; the Arabs, who. probably drove them from the plains into the mountains, always the last refuge of the aborigines of a country form the second, and still occupy the position which the superiority of their cavalry won for them in the eighth century. On the subject of this interesting race our author's pages also contain much valuable information, for which we must refer our readers to the book itself. We cannot, however, take leave of this without finding room for one of those legends to which the Arab loves to listen, and which generally embody an amount of wisdom which ought not to be lost on the European mind either. The present legend owes its origin to Sidi-Mohamed-ou-Altai: —
One day Sidna-Aissa (our Lord Jesus Christ) met Chaytan (Satan), who was driving four asses before him, heavily laden, and said to him : "Chiaytan, why, thou art become a merchant, then?" " Yes, Lord; and I've so much business on hand, that I cannot do justice to it."
"What business do you carry on, then?" "Lord, an excellent business; just see. One of these asses—and I choose them amongst the strongest in Syria—is laden with injustices; who will buy them of me?—the sultans. The second ass is laden with envies; who will buy them of me?—the learned. The third is charged with thefts; who will purchase them?— the merchants. The fourth carries, together with perfidies and wiles, an assortment of seductions, which are related to all the vices; who will buy them?—the women."
"Wicked one, may God curse thee!" replied Sidna-Aissa "What is that to me, if I gain?" replied Chaytan.
The next day Sidna-Aissa, who was saying his prayers at the same spot, was disturbed by the swearing of a donkey driver, whose four asses, overwhelmed by their load, refused to go on; and he recognised Chayan by their load. "Thank God! Thou hast sold nothing," he said, addressing him. "Lord, an hour after you left me, all my panniers were empty but, as usual, I had difficulties about the payment."
"The Sultan caused me to be paid through his khalifa, who wanted to cheat me about the sum. The sages said they were poor. The merchants and I called each other thieves. The women alone paid me handsomely, without bargaining."
"And yet 1 see thy panniers still full," objected Sidna-Aissa. "They are full of money; and I am carrying it to the kadi (to justice)," replied Chaytan, driving on his assess. "O my brothers," added Sidi-Mouamed-ou-Allal, "the free man, it he is grasping, is a slave; the slave is free, if he lives on little. Choose tents to repose in, and for your last dwelling the cemeteries. Nourish yourselves with the produce of the earth, satisfly your thirst with the running water, and you will leave the world in peace."
Algeria borders Tunisia and Libya to the east, Niger, Mali, and Mauritana to the south; Morocco and Western Sahara to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Algeria is the second largest country in Africa (after Sudan), and the 11th largest in the world.
While the majority of the population who are Arab (or mixed Arab and Berber) identify with the common Algerian culture, the Berber tribes, particularly in the more isolated southern mountainous and desert regions, retain more of the indigenous Berber culture and identity.
As early as 1200 B.C.E., the Phoenicians invaded the Berber tribes of the area and began establishing ports along the Mediterranean. By 1510, Spain had seized important port cities such as Algiers and Oran. Ruins throughout the country include cave paintings, traces of Phoenicians, Roman ruins, remnants from the Ottoman Empire, the Spanish, Arabs, and the French, who invaded Algeria on June 14, 1830 with more than 600 French ships carrying 37,000 men and ruled through 1962.
