ABSTRACT
Like almost all countries that were once subjected to colonization, Algeria has a rich, significant past inlaid with indelible traces, transcribed and recorded on its territory, of the geographical distribution of the population and urbanization that it experienced in each period of its colonial occupation. Algeria's strategic position and outstanding geographical situation – as a doorway to Africa and as landfall for many crossing the Mediterranean from the European continent – has made it, since Antiquity, coveted by numerous conquering peoples, mostly from the north or the northeast, starting with the Phoenicians, the Romans, then Arabs, and finally, with a long period of colonization, the French. These occupations resulted in the settlement of various foreign and allochtonous peoples, each occupation shaping the territory in its own way by creating its own human settlement patterns according to its needs, its culture, and its politics.
