Algeria

I

Introduction

Algeria (in French, Algérie), officially People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, republic of western North Africa; bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea; to the east by Tunisia and Libya; to the south by Niger, Mali, and Mauritania; and to the west by Morocco. Its total area is 2,381,741 sq km (919,595 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Algiers.

II

Land and Resources

Algeria has four main physical regions, which extend east to west across the country in parallel zones. In the north, along the Mediterranean coast and extending inland for 80 to 190 km (50 to 118 mi), is the Tell. The region consists of a narrow and discontinuous coastal plain backed by the mountainous area of the Tell Atlas Mountains. The numerous valleys of this region contain most of Algeria’s arable land. South of the second region, the High Plateau, lie the mountains and massifs of the Saharan Atlas. The fourth region, comprising more than 90 per cent of the country’s total area, is the great expanse of the Algerian Sahara. Much of the terrain is covered by gravel, although the Great Eastern Erg and the Great Western Erg are vast regions of sand dunes. In the south, rising above the desert, are the Ahaggar Mountains, which culminate in Mount Tahat (3,003 m/9,852 ft), the highest peak in Algeria.

A

Rivers and Lakes

The country’s principal river, the Chelif (725 km/450 mi long), rises in the Tell Atlas and flows to the Mediterranean Sea; no permanent streams are found south of the Tell. The High Plateau, the region lying to the south and south-west, is a highland region of level terrain. Several basins here collect water during rainy periods, forming large, shallow lakes; as these dry they become salt flats, called chotts, or shotts.

B

Climate

The Tell region in the north has a typical Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. This is the most humid area of Algeria, with an annual precipitation ranging from 400 to 1,000 mm (16 to 39 in). The mean summer and winter temperatures are 25° C (77° F) and 11.1° C (52° F), respectively. During the summer an exceedingly hot, dry wind, the sirocco (known locally as the chehili), blows north from the Sahara. To the south the climate becomes increasingly dry. Annual precipitation in the High Plateau and Saharan Atlas ranges from about 200 to 400 mm (8 to 16 in). The Sahara region experiences daily temperature extremes, wind, and great aridity; annual rainfall is less than 130 mm (5 in) in all places.