ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that technological transformations which occurred in Algeria between 1880 and 1954 have in fact been relatively slow. This period is also characterized by a tendency towards the technical decline of traditional agriculture and small craft industries and by a regression in the global educational levels of the population. Only in 1954, because of the development of the petroleum sector and the beginning of industrialization, Algeria entered the era of modem techniques. Algeria appears as a pure consumer of techniques. After Independence, and particularly after 1966, the technical transformations can be considered as having taken on a new aspect through the intensity, rhythm and diversity. The transformations have been of the greatest importance, particularly in non-agricultural activities, but the same does not hold true for agriculture. Undeniably, the major weakness has been the technical stagnation of agriculture which, directly and indirectly, drastically affects technological development.
