History Struggle for Independence and Peace Algeria’s long history is marked by invasions As a result its boundaries have changed many times Algeria finally gained independence in 1962 For the last 50 years the country has experienced unrest because of conflicts over government and religion The original people The first inhabitants in the region of Algeria were called Berbers The Berbers were herders and hunters Over time the Sahara Desert expanded over the grassy herding areas The Berbers gradually moved north to the mountains and coastal region near the Mediterranean Sea Ancient conquerors Around 1100 BCE the first non-Berber people settled in North Africa These people came from Phoenicia an ancient land now known as Lebanon The Phoenicians subdued the Berbers taking many of them as slaves The conquerors built towns along the coast so they could trade goods with others by way of the sea In the 800s BCE the Algerian region came under the control of Carthage an ancient trading city Many Berbers were trained to fight in the Carthaginian army Over the next 600 years the Berbers sometimes
fought for Carthage and sometimes fought for another empire based in the city of Rome Rome defeated Carthage and took over North Africa in 105 BCE The Romans established farms that produced grains grapes beans and olive oil The Romans also brought Christianity to the region Christianity became the religion of about 30 percent of the people The ancient Romans built roads and aqueducts in the lands they invaded Remains of these structures still exist in Algeria
Some Berbers stayed in the mountain regions of Algeria through the invasions These Berbers preserved a unique ancient language and culture More invasions and the arrival of Islam Over time the Roman Empire weakened The Vandals a fierce tribe from Germany invaded Roman-occupied North Africa in 429 CE Troops from the Byzantine Empire then defeated the Vandals in 534 CE In the 600s Arab armies invaded North Africa The Arabs brought the religion of Islam with them Over the next 600 years most Berbers adopted Islam and Arab culture Berbers and Arabs often married each other Arabic became the shared language across North Africa
The Ottoman Empire In the early 1500s Christian troops from Spain captured Algeria’s coastal cities The Berber rulers feared that their Islamic way of life would end They asked for help from the Muslim Ottoman Empire The Ottomans based in present-day Turkey pushed the Spanish Christians out of North Africa As a result Ottoman governors called deys ruled Algeria from the 1500s to the early 1800s The deys allowed the Berber tribes in the mountains to govern themselves They also allowed North African pirates to attack and demand money from European traders in the Mediterranean Sea The pirates gave a portion of their money to the deys In 1529 Khayr al-Din led the capture of Algiers for the Ottoman Empire Europeans nicknamed him Barbarossa which means red beard in Italian
