ABSTRACT
The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria is located in the Maghreb region of North Africa; by total land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, and the Mediterranean Sea. As much as 90 percent of Algeria’s total area is covered by the Sahara Desert, leaving the population of 43.6 million to reside predominantly in the more fertile and habitable north. The capital, Algiers, is also located in the north, close to the Mediterranean coast. The population is 99 percent Arab-Berber in ethnic makeup and speaks mostly Arabic, French, Berber, or Tamazight, and several other dialects. Ninety-nine percent of the population identifies as Muslim.
