User:Jacksonmcdonald3425/sandbox

This is the user sandbox of Jacksonmcdonald3425. A user sandbox is a subpage of the user's user page. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is not an encyclopedia article. Create or edit your own sandbox here. Other sandboxes: Main sandbox | Template sandbox

Syria

Levantine Federation الاتحاد الشامي (Arabic) al-Aytihad ash-Shamiyu הפדרציה הסורית (Hebrew) haFederatsiah haSorit Federasyona Sûriyeyê (Kurdish)
Flag   Coat of arms
Anthem: موطني Mawṭinī "My Homeland"
Map of Syria
Capital	Damascus 33°30′N 36°18′E / 33.500°N 36.300°E / 33.500; 36.300
Largest city	Tel Aviv-Jaffa
Official languages	Arabic, Hebrew, Kurdish
Recognized languages	Turkish, Aramaic, Circassian, Armenian
Ethnic groups	74.6% Arab 10.7% Jewish 4.6% Kurd 2.3 Turk or Turkoman 2.2% Assyrian 5.6% Other, including Circassians and Armenians
Religion	65.7% Islam 57.1% Sunni 8.6% Shia 15.3% Christianity 4.6% Judaism 3.7% Nusayrite 2.4% Druze 7.9% No religion 0.4% Other
Demonym(s)	Syrian, Levantine
Government	Federal parliamentary republic
• President	Mustafa Barghouti
• Prime Minister	George Sabra
• Speaker of Parliament	Yair Golan
• Chief Justice	Nawaf Salam
Legislature	Levantine Parliament (unicameral)
Establishment	Independence from the Ottoman Empire
• Kingdom	26 November 1919
• French withdrawl	17 April 1921
• Federation	17 December 1951
Area
• Total	311,764 km2 (120,373 sq mi) (70th)
Population
• 2022 census	52,781,931 (27th)
• Density	169.3/km2 (438.5/sq mi) (58th)
GDP (PPP)	2025 estimate
• Total	$2.046 trillion (19th)
• Per capita	$38,763 (58th)
GDP (nominal)	2025 estimate
• Total	$1.467 trillion (16th)
• Per capita	$27,794 (43rd)
Gini (2018)	28.5 low inequality (23rd)
HDI (2023)	0.876 very high (46th)
Currency	Levantine Dinar (LVD)
Time zone	UTC+2 (SST)
Calling code	+963
ISO 3166 code	SY

Syria, officially the Levantine Federation is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the southeast, and the Red Sea and Egypt to the south and southwest. Cyprus lies to the west across the Mediterranean Sea. It is a federal republic that consists of 11 provinces. A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups. Syria is a member of the Arab League and various other international groups. The capital city is Damascus, while Tel Aviv-Jaffa is the largest city, followed by Amman and Beirut. Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunni Muslims are the largest religious group.

The name "Syria" comes from Assyria, an ancient civilization centered in northern Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq. Assyria was one of many civilizations and empires to control the region in whole or in part. These include, but are not limited to: Aram-Damascus, Egypt, Moab, Judah, Phoenicia, Babylonia, Persia, Rome, and the Arabs. By the late 13th century, Mamluk Egypt had control over the territory. However, in 1517 they were conquered by the Ottomans, who ruled over almost all of Syria for the next few hundred years. In World War I, France, Britain, and Arab rebels under the Sharif of Mecca took the territory from Ottoman hands. After the war, Faisal successfully appealed to Britain for the creation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Syria. France, however, attempted to invade Syria, starting a brief war between the newly established kingdom and the superpower. Surprisingly to many at the time, Syria triumphed; France, lacking British support, was forced to withdrawal fully in 1921.

After having won independence, King Faisal embarked on a campaign to modernize and develop his new nation. New roads and railways were built, which were then connected to new ports. He partially modernized agriculture while encouraging urbanization. He also accepted Zionist immigrants, allowing them to buy land in Syria. With the fall of the Weimar Republic in Europe, and the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933-34, Jewish emigration from Germany increased massively, with Syria becoming an important refuge for them. As more Jews began to arrive however, the Arabs of Palestine, especially Muslims, began to consider them more of a threat, protesting and even attacking their homes and settlements. King Faisal I had to toe the line between protecting his new Jewish citizens and not angering the Arab Muslim majority in the country.

Syria remained neutral throughout the first part of World War II, joining in mid-1941. After the war, Jewish immigration reached yet another record height. Though it abated during the next few years, violence in Palestine exploded around 1947, with the king all but powerless to stop it. In 1951, the king relinquished power to parliament, resulting in the creation of the new Levantine Federation. The new constitution was drafted and signed by members of all the major ethnic and religious groups, including Muslim and Christian Arabs, Jews, Nusayrites, Kurds, Assyrians, and Druze. Syria was spared from the unstable and tumultuous times of its neighbors, Iraq and Egypt, during the Cold War by the stability this new constitution allowed for. Violence in Palestine continued through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, and in some ways persists to this day. However, through the creation of Jewish and Arab provinces in the region, violence decreased quite a lot, and the combined efforts of Jewish and Arab authorities, as well as the central government, quelled the worst of the terrorism and attacks on both sides.

Throughout the Cold War in the Arab world, Arab nationalists, Islamists, monarchists, Zionists, and other forces threatened to rip the country apart or descend it into a civil war. The majority of people, however, wanted the wealthy and prosperous federation to remain whole, and the country faced very little instability compared to other states in the region. The worst challenge was the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser's popular brand of Arab nationalism. After Nasser's death in 1970, the movement descended into chaos, fracturing as its leaders fought amongst themselves, drastically decreasing its popularity. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 threatened Syrian stability again, increasing Islamist thought amongst the people, especially Shi'ites, though only for a time; the country remained in tact and in relative peace through this troublesome period and into the much stabler world of today.

Syria in modern times is a prosperous hub for tourism and business, and a stable beacon of democracy in the MENA region. Through generous welfare programs and and a free society, the nation has achieved a level of wealth, both for its government and its people, that is unrivaled in the Middle East. Syria is an exporter of many goods, including oil, natural gas, wine, vegetables, meat, clothing, and electronics. It also has a large defence industry made necessary by the tensions of the Cold War, and has been a major exporter of small arms, APCs, and IFVs; Syria has also begun exporting combat drones in recent years. Since 2003, Islamic terror has become a new challenge for the Syrian security services. The Islamic State in 2014 began an invasion of Syria from western Iraq, causing a new war that would claims thousands of lives. Even after the fall of IS, small cells, both al-Qaeda affiliates and IS remnants have carried out numerous small-scale attacks, mostly in the eastern desert around Palmyra. Larger attacks, focused on major cities and especially minorities, have mostly been thwarted by Syrian security forces. Some exceptions were in the 2015 Jerusalem bus attack, and the 2016 suicide bombings across northern Syria. Since 2018, Syria has experienced far less attacks, as most of the remaining terrorist cells have been killed or captured.

Etymology

Main articles: Name of Syria, Names of the Levant

Several sources indicate that the name Syria is derived from the 8th century BC Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι, Sýrioi, or Σύροι, Sýroi, both of which originally derived from Aššūr (Assyria) in northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). However, from the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BC), this term was also applied to the Levant, and from this point the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favors the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, ultimately derived from the Akkadian Aššur. The Greek name appears to correspond to Phoenician ʾšr "Assur", ʾšrym "Assyrians", recorded in the 8th century BC Çineköy inscription.

Medieval Italians called the region Levante after its easterly ___location where the sun "rises"; this term was adopted from Italian and French into many other languages.

History

Main article: History of Syria

Prehistory and Ancient antiquity (Before 539 BC)

Anatomically modern humans are believed to have inhabited the Levant since at least 800,000 BC.

Since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of the centers of Neolithic culture, where agriculture and cattle breeding first began to appear. The Neolithic is traditionally divided to the Pre-Pottery (A and B), starting around 12,000 years ago, and Pottery Late Neolithic phases, beginning around 8,500 years ago. Pre-Pottery Neolithic A developed from the earlier Natufian cultures of the area. This is the time of the Neolithic Revolution and development of agricultural economies in the Near East. In addition, the Levant in the Neolithic was involved in large scale, far reaching trade. Trade on an impressive scale and covering large distances continued during the Chalcolithic (c. 4500–3300 BCE). Obsidian found in the Chalcolithic levels north of Khirbat Futais in Palestine have had their origins traced via elemental analysis to three sources in Southern Anatolia: Hotamis Dağ, Göllü Dağ, and as far east as Nemrut Dağ, 500 km (310 mi) east of the other two sources. This is indicative of a very large trade circle reaching as far as the Northern Fertile Crescent at these three Anatolian sites.

 

First kingdom of Ebla, c. 3000-2300 BC

The urban development of Canaan lagged considerably behind that of Egypt and Mesopotamia and even that of northern Syria, where from 3,500 BC a sizable city developed at Hamoukar. This city, which was conquered, probably by people coming from the Southern Iraqi city of Uruk, saw the first connections between Syria and Southern Iraq that some have suggested lie behind the patriarchal traditions. Urban development again began culminating in Early Bronze Age sites like Ebla, which by 2,300 BC, was incorporated once again into the Empire of Sargon, and then Naram-Sin of Akkad (Biblical Accad). The archives of Ebla show reference to a number of Biblical sites, including Hazor, Jerusalem, and a number of people have claimed, also to Sodom and Gomorrah, mentioned in the patriarchal records. The collapse of the Akkadian Empire, saw the arrival of peoples using Khirbet Kerak Ware pottery, coming originally from the Zagros Mountains, east of the Tigris. It is suspected by some Ur seals that this event marks the arrival in Syria of the Hurrians, people later known in the Biblical tradition possibly as Horites. The following Middle Bronze Age period was initiated by the arrival of "Amorites" from Syria into Southern Mesopotamia, an event which some associated with the arrival of Abraham's family in Ur. This period saw the pinnacle of urban development in the area of Syria. Archaeologists show that the chief state at this time was the city of Hazor, which may have been the capital of the land of Israel. This is also the period in which Semites began to appear in larger numbers in the Nile delta region of Egypt.

 

Three principal Syrian kingdoms: Mari, Qatna and Yamhad c. 18th century BC

The Early Bronze Age period was dominated by the East Semitic-speaking kingdoms of Ebla, Nagar and the Mari. Ebla has been described as the world's first recorded superpower, controlling much of present-day Syria. At its greatest extent, Ebla controlled an area roughly a quarter the size of modern Syria, from Ursa'um in the north, to the area around Damascus in the south, and from Phoenicia and the coastal mountains in the west, to Haddu in the east, and had more than sixty vassal kingdoms and city-states. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be among the oldest known written Semitic languages after Akkadian. Ebla was weakened by a long war with Mari, and the whole of Syria became part of the Mesopotamian Akkadian Empire after Sargon of Akkad and his grandson Naram-Sin's conquests ended Eblan domination over Syria in the first half of the 23rd century BC.

The Akkadian Empire ruled northern parts of Syria until it collapsed due to the 4.2 kya aridification event. The event prompted large-scale movement of population from Upper Mesopotamia towards the Levant and Lower Mesopotamia, which brought about many Amorites to Sumer, and correlates with a subsequent influx and settlement expansion in many regions of Syria.

In northern Mesopotamia, the Amorite warlord Shamshi-Adad I conquered much of Assyria and formed the large, though short-lived Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia. In the Levant, Amorite dynasties ruled various kingdoms of Qatna, Ebla and Yamhad, which also had a significant Hurrian population. Mari was similarly ruled by the Amorite Lim dynasty which belonged to the pastoral Amorites known as the Haneans, who were split into the Banu-Yamina (sons of the right) and Banu-Simaal (sons of the left) tribes. Mari was in direct conflict with another Semitic peoples, the Suteans who inhabited nearby Suhum.

By the 16th and 15th centuries bc, most of the major urban centers in the Levant had been overran and went into steep decline. Mari was destroyed and reduced in a series of wars and conflicts with Babylon, while Yamhad and Ebla were conquered and completely destroyed by Hittite king Mursili I in about 1600 bc. In northern Mesopotamia, the era ended with the defeat of the Amorite states by Puzur-Sin and Adasi between 1740 and 1735 bc, and the rise of the native Sealand Dynasty. In Egypt, Ahmose I managed to expel the Levantine Hyksos rulers from power, pushing Egypt's borders further into Canaan. The Amorites were eventually absorbed by another West Semitic-speaking people known collectively as the Ahlamu. The Arameans rose to be the prominent group amongst the Ahlamu, and from c. 1200 bc on, the Amorites disappeared from the pages of history.

Between 1550 and 1170 bc, much of the Levant was contested between Egypt and the Hittites.

 

Kingdoms in southern Syria c. 9th century BC

During the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150, all of these powers suddenly collapsed. Centralized state systems collapsed, and the region was hit by famine. Chaos ensued throughout the region, and many urban centers were burnt to the ground by famine-struck natives and an assortment of raiders known as the Sea Peoples, who eventually settled in the Levant. The Sea Peoples' origins are ambiguous and many theories have proposed them to be Trojans, Sardinians, Achaeans, Sicilians or Lycians. The Hittite empire was destroyed, and its capital Tarḫuntašša was razed to the ground. Egypt repelled its attackers with only a major effort, and over the next century shrank to its territorial core, its central authority permanently weakened.

Aramaeans came to dominate much of Syria, establishing kingdoms and tribal polities throughout the land. Accompanied by the Suteans, the Aramaeans overran large parts of Mesopotamia around 1100 BC bar Assyria itself. It was around this time that Assyrian texts of the 9th century BC first mention the Arabs (Aribi), who inhabited swaths of land in the Levant and Babylonia. Their presence intermingled with the Aramaeans, and they are variously mentioned in the Babylon border region, Orontes valley, Homs, Damascus, Hauran, Bekaa valley in Lebanon and Wadi Sirhan, where the Arab king Gindibu of Qedar ruled from. One such example is the land of Laqē near Terqa, mentioned in a inscription by Adad-nirari II (911–891 BC), where Aramaean and Arab clans formed a confederacy.

Further west, the Levantine coast was settled by the Sea Peoples, notably the Philistines around today's Gaza Strip. The Phoenician city-states in Canaan managed to escape the destruction that ensued in the Late Bronze age collapse, and developed into commercial maritime powers with established colonies across the Mediterranean Sea.

In the southern Levant, new Canaanite groups emerged in the southern Levant during early Iron Age. In Palestine, the Israelites gradually established many small communities that dotted the central highlands, while the Philistines, a group of Aegean immigrants arrived in the southern shore of Canaan around 1175 BCE and settled there. In Transjordan, three Canaanite kingdoms—Moab, Ammon and Edom—began to arose at about the same period. The 10th and 9th centuries BCE saw the emergence of several territorial kingdoms in the southern Levant. Two Israelite kingdoms emerged: the Kingdom of Israel, which ruled over the areas of Samaria, Galilee, Sharon and parts of Transjordan, and had its capital for the most of its history in the city of Samaria, and the Kingdom of Judah, which controlled the Judaean Mountains, most of the Shfela, and the northern Naqab, and had its capital in Jerusalem.

 

Amrit Phoenician Temple

Unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Iron age Levant was characterized by patches of scattered kingdoms and tribal confederations which originated from the same cultural and linguistic milieu, and was much less densely populated than either. Occasionally, these closely related entities united against expanding outer forces. The Assyrians only managed to subdue the Levantine states after multiple attempts and campaigns, finalized under Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC).

At their height, the Assyrians dominated all of the Levant, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, and sponsored the Scythians under Madyes, their half-Assyrian king, in West Asia. However, the empire began to collapse toward the end of the 7th century BC, and was obliterated by an alliance between a resurgent Chaldean New Kingdom of Babylonia and the Iranian Medes. After the Battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple (597 BC), starting the period of the Babylonian captivity, which lasted about half a century. Nebuchadnezzar also besieged the Phoenician city of Tyre for 13 years (586–573 BC), setting one of the longest sieges in history. The subsequent balance of power was, however, short-lived. In the 550s BC, the Achaemenids revolted against the Medes and gained control of their empire, and over the next few decades annexed the realms of Lydia, Damascus, Babylonia, and Egypt into their empire, consolidating control as far as India. This vast kingdom was divided up into various satrapies and governed roughly according to the Assyrian model, but with a far lighter hand.

Classical antiquity (539 BC - 636 AD)

Main articles: Eber-Nari, Coele-Syria, Roman Syria, and Syria Palaestina

 

Ancient city of Palmyra

Achaemenid Empire took over the Levant after 539 BC, but by the 4th century the Achaemenids had fallen into decline. The Phoenicians frequently rebelled against the Persians, who taxed them heavily, in contrast to the Judeans who were granted return from the exile by Cyrus the Great. Alexander the Great conquered the Levant in 333-332 BC. However, Alexander did not live long enough to consolidate his realm, and soon after his death in 323 BC, the greater share of the east eventually went to the descendants of Seleucus I Nicator.

 

Seleucid Empire with its capitol in Antioch

When Alexander and later the Diadochi came to Syria, unlike Egypt, they found a sparsely populated region with no major urban center, most of which had been abandoned following the Bronze Age collapse or destroyed by the Assyrians. Alexander and his Seleucid successors founded many urban centers in the area and moved in locals and troops into the cities. The Seleucids also sponsored Greek settlement to the area. Koine Greek was largely used for administration, whereas Aramaic remained the lingua franca for much of the region and even the Hellenistic urban centers, where bilingualism was prevalent.

The Seleucids gradually lost their domains in Bactria to the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and in Iran and Mesopotamia to the rising Parthian Empire. Eventually, this limited Seleucid domains to the Levant, and the power decline would lead to the formation of several breakaway states in the Levant. The Maccabean Revolt in Palestine inaugurated the Hasmonean kingdom in 140 BC.

 

View of the Masada fortress overlooking the Dead Sea, which is the ___location of a 1st-century Roman siege

The Romans gained a foothold in the region in 64 BC after permanently defeating the Seleucids and Tigranes. Pompey deposed to the last Seleucid king Philip II Philoromaeus, and incorporated Syria into Roman domains. However, the Romans only gradually incorporated local kingdoms into provinces, which gave them considerable autonomy in local affairs. The Herodian Kingdom of Judea replaced the Hasmoneans in 37 BC until their full incorporation of the province of Judaea in 44 AD after Herod Agrippa II. Commagene and Osroene were incorporated in 72 and 214 AD respectively, while Nabatea was incorporated as Arabia Petraea in 106 AD.

The first to second centuries saw the emergence of a plethora of religions and philosophical schools. Neoplatonism emerged with Iamblichus and Porphyry, Neopythagoreanism with Apollonius of Tyana and Numenius of Apamea, and Hellenic Judaism with Philo of Alexandria. Christianity initially emerged as a sect of Judaism and finally as an independent religion by the mid-second century. Gnosticism also took significant hold in the region.

The region of Palestine or Judea experienced abrupt periods of conflict between Romans and Jews. The First Jewish–Roman War (66-73) erupted in 66, resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70. Province forces were directly engaged in the war; in 66 AD, Cestius Gallus sent the Syrian army, based on Legio X Fretensis and Legio XII Fulminata reinforced by vexillationes of IV Scythica and VI Ferrata, to restore order in Judaea and quell the revolt, but suffered a defeat in the Battle of Beth Horon. However, XII Fulminata fought well in the last part of the war, and supported its commander Vespasian in his successful bid for the imperial throne. Two generations later, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136) erupted once again, after which the province Syria Palaestina was created in 132.

 

Palmyrene Empire in 271 AD

During the Crisis of the Third Century, the Sassanids under Shapur I invaded Syria and captured Roman emperor Valerian in the Battle of Edessa. A Syrian notable of Palmyra, Odaenathus assembled the Palmyrene army and Syrian peasants, and marched north to meet Shapur I. The Palmyrene monarch fell upon the retreating Persian army between Samosata and Zeugma, west of the Euphrates, in late summer 260, defeating and expelling them. Odaenathus was succeeded by his son Vaballathus under the regency of his mother Queen Zenobia. In 270, Zenobia detached from Roman authority and declared the Palmyrene Empire, rapidly conquering much of Syria, Egypt, Arabia Petraea and large parts of Asia Minor, reaching present-day Ankara. However, by 273, Zenobia was decisively defeated by Aurelian and his Arab Tanukhid allies in Syria.

Syrians held considerable power during the Severan dynasty. The matriarch of the family and empress of Rome as wife of emperor Septimius Severus was Julia Domna, a Syrian from the city of Emesa (modern day Homs), whose family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the god El-Gabal. Her great nephews, also Arabs from Syria, would also become Roman emperors, the first being Elagabalus and the second his cousin Alexander Severus. Another Roman emperor who was a Syrian was Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus), who was born in Roman Arabia. He was emperor from 244 to 249 and ruled briefly during the Crisis of the Third Century. During his reign, he focused on his home town of Philippopolis (modern day Shahba) and began many construction projects to improve the city, most of which were halted after his death.

 

Temple of Jupiter, Damascus

Syria is significant in the history of Christianity; Saul of Tarsus, better known as the Apostle Paul, was converted on the road to Damascus and emerged as a significant figure in the Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria.

With the consolidation of Christianity, Jews had become a minority in the southern Levant, remaining a majority only in southern Judea, Galilee and Golan. Jewish revolts had also become much rarer, mostly with the Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus (351–352) and Jewish revolt against Heraclius (617). This time the Samaritans, whose population swelled to over a million, insurrected the Samaritan revolts (484–572) against the Byzantines, which killed an estimated 200,000 Samaritans, after the civil uprising of Baba Rabba and his subsequent execution in 328/362. The devastating Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 ended with Byzantine recapture of the land, but left the empire rather exhausted, which taxed the inhabitants heavily. The Levant became the frontline between the Byzantines and the Persian Sassanids, which devastated the region.

Middle Ages (636 - 1516)

 

The Umayyad Mosque, built in the early 8th century

Muhammad's first interaction with the people of Syria was during the invasion of Dumatul Jandal in July 626 where he ordered his followers to invade Duma, because Muhammad received intelligence that some tribes there were involved in highway robbery and were preparing to attack Medina. William Montgomery Watt claims that this was the most significant expedition Muhammad ordered at the time, even though it received little notice in the primary sources. Dumat Al-Jandal was 800 kilometers (500 mi) from Medina, and Watt says that there was no immediate threat to Muhammad, other than the possibility that his communications to Syria and supplies to Medina would be interrupted. Watt says "It is tempting to suppose that Muhammad was already envisaging something of the expansion which took place after his death", and that the rapid march of his troops must have "impressed all those who heard of it". William Muir also believes that the expedition was important as Muhammad followed by 1,000 men reached the confines of Syria, where distant tribes had learnt his name, while the political horizon of Muhammad was extended.

Eastern Roman control over the Levant lasted until 636 when Arab armies conquered the Levant, after which it became a part of the Rashidun Caliphate and was known as Bilād ash-Shām.

Under the Umayyads, the capital was moved to Damascus. However, the Levant did not experience wide-scale Arabian tribal settlement unlike in Iraq, where the focus of Arabian tribal migration was. Archaeological and historical evidence strongly suggest there was smooth population continuity and no large-scale abandonment of major sites and regions of the Levant after the Muslim conquest. Moreover, in contrast to Iran, Iraq and North Africa, where Muslim soldiers established separate garrison cities (amsar), Muslim troops in the Levant settled alongside locals in pre-existing cities such as Damascus, Homs, Jerusalem and Tiberias. Abbasid focus on Iraq and Iran neglected the Levant, which in turn experienced a period of frequent uprisings and revolts. Syria became fertile grounds for anti-Abbasid sentiments, in various contrasting pro-Umayyad and pro-Shiite forms. In 841, al-Mubarqa lead a rebellion against the Abbasids in Palestine, declaring himself the Umayyad Sufyani. In 912, a revolt against the Abbasids arose in the Damascus region, this time by an Alid descendant of tenth Shiite Imam Ali al-Hadi.

 

Crusader States in 1135

Arabic – made official under Umayyad rule – became the dominant language, replacing Greek and Aramaic of the Byzantine era. In 887, the Egypt-based Tulunids annexed Syria from the Abbasids, and were later replaced by once the Egypt-based Ikhshidids and still later by the Hamdanids originating in Aleppo founded by Sayf al-Dawla. Seljuk expansion into eastern Anatolia triggered the Byzantine–Seljuk wars, with the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 marking a decisive turning point in the conflict in favor of the Seljuks, undermining the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the remaining parts of Anatolia and gradually enabling the region's Turkification. The Seljuk Empire united the fractured political landscape in the non-Arab eastern parts of the Muslim world. During the late 11th century, in response to the rise of the Seljuk Turks, European Christians launched a series of Crusades on Muslim lands, especially Syria. Sections of Syria were held by French, English, Italian and German overlords between 1098 and 1291 AD during the Crusades and were known collectively as the Crusader states among which the primary one was the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The coastal mountainous region was also occupied in part by the Nizari Ismailis, the so-called Assassins, who had intermittent confrontations and truces with the Crusader States. After a century of Seljuk and Christian rule, Syria was largely conquered (1175–1185) by the Kurdish liberator Salah ad-Din, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt. Aleppo fell to the Mongols of Hulegu in January 1260, and Damascus in March, but then Hulegu was forced to break off his attack to return to China to deal with a succession dispute.

 

The 1299 Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar. The Mongols under Ghazan defeated the Mamluks.

A few months later, the Mamluks arrived with an army from Egypt and defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut in Galilee. The Mamluk leader, Baibars, made Damascus a provincial capital. When he died, power was taken by Qalawun. In the meantime, an emir named Sunqur al-Ashqar had tried to declare himself ruler of Damascus, but he was defeated by Qalawun on 21 June 1280, and fled to northern Syria. Al-Ashqar, who had married a Mongol woman, appealed for help from the Mongols. The Mongols of the Ilkhanate took Aleppo in October 1280, but Qalawun persuaded Al-Ashqar to join him, and they fought against the Mongols on 29 October 1281, in the Second Battle of Homs, which was won by the Mamluks.

In 1400, the Muslim Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamurlane invaded Syria, in which he sacked Aleppo, and captured Damascus after defeating the Mamluk army. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Tamurlane also conducted specific massacres of the Aramean and Assyrian Christian populations, greatly reducing their numbers. By the end of the 15th century, the discovery of a sea route from Europe to the Far East ended the need for an overland trade route through Syria.

 

Painting of Jerusalem by David Roberts, 1839, in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia

Ottoman Syria (1516 - 1920)

Main article: Ottoman Syria

 

Map of Ottoman Syria in 1851, by Henry Warren

In 1516, the Ottoman Empire invaded the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, conquering Syria, and incorporating it into its empire. The Ottoman system was not burdensome to Syrians because the Turks respected Arabic as the language of the Quran, and accepted the mantle of defenders of the faith. Damascus was made the major entrepot for Mecca, and as such it acquired a holy character to Muslims, because of the beneficial results of the countless pilgrims who passed through on the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

 

Gate of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, by Gustav Bauernfeind, 1890

Ottoman administration followed a system that led to peaceful coexistence. Each ethno-religious minority—Arab Shia Muslim, Arab Sunni Muslim, Aramean-Syriac Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Maronite Christians, Assyrian Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Jews—constituted a millet. The religious heads of each community administered all personal status laws and performed certain civil functions as well. In 1831, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt renounced his loyalty to the Empire and overran Ottoman Syria, capturing Damascus. His short-term rule over the ___domain attempted to change the demographics and social structure of the region; he brought thousands of Egyptian villagers to populate the plains of Southern Syria, rebuilt Jaffa and settled it with veteran Egyptian soldiers aiming to turn it into a regional capital, and he crushed peasant and Druze rebellions and deported non-loyal tribesmen. By 1840, however, he had to surrender the area back to the Ottomans.

From 1864, Tanzimat reforms were applied on Ottoman Syria, carving out the provinces (vilayets) of Aleppo, Zor, Beirut and Damascus; the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon was created as well, and soon after, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was given a separate status.

During World War I, the Ottoman Empire entered the conflict on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It ultimately suffered defeat and loss of control of the entire Near East. During the conflict, genocide against indigenous Christian peoples was carried out by the Ottomans and their allies in the form of the Armenian genocide and Assyrian genocide, of which Deir ez-Zor, in Ottoman Syria, was the final destination of these death marches. During the later part of the war, Ottoman Syria was occupied by Arab forces inland, joined by British and French units along the coast. In August 1917, Great Britain officially recognized the Hashemite Kingdom of Syria, under King Faisal I.

 

French troops marching from the Lebanon towards Maysaloun, 1920

France, however, launched an invasion of Syria on 8 March 1920. Despite many predictions that Syria would be quickly overcome by the French Empire, Syria prevailed at the Battle of Maysaloun. Following this, France withdrew to Lebanon, where the local Christians were becoming less supportive of France due to Faisal's intention to establish a secular state. In late November 1920, the United Kingdom sent a telegram to the French Prime Minister to withdraw from Syria and establish relations with their government. Seeing the diplomatic situation was against them, and with Syrian raids increasing in both aggressiveness and effectiveness, France withdrew over the course of the next few months. The last French soldier left Beirut on 17 April 1921.

With the Ottoman surrender in 1918, Syria was able to take control over the north, including Aleppo and Antioch. During the Turkish War of Independence, Syria lost some of the cities they hoped to gain even further north, such as Urfa and Antep. Still, they had achieved independence from the great powers, a feat few nations could boast of.

Independent monarchy (1920 - 1951)

 

King Faisal I meeting with Zionist representative Chaim Weizmann, 1918. The King was known for being a supporter of Jewish immigration to Palestine.

King Faisal created a parliament and worked to create a new constitution, which was signed by the leaders of all major political forces in the country, including minorities such as Kurds and Jews, on 27 November 1920. The constitution provided for a relatively weak parliament, angering many liberals and socialists, who felt the king had too much power. Despite these concerns, the country remained remarkably stable during and after the first elections in 1922. On 27 February, Hashim al-Atassi and his People's Party were elected. Despite this, Faisal had almost all the real power in the country, especially since al-Atassi largely supported his rule.

 

Prime Minister Hashim al-Atassi speaks to Parliament in 1936

From the 1920s to his death in 1933, Faisal embarked on a massive modernization process similar to, and at times inspired by, Atatürk's reforms in Turkey, though it differed in being more liberal and less ethno-nationalist. He somewhat secularized the country, focusing on unity between the various religions in Syria. The King also supported peace between the different ethnic groups in the country. This was especially meaningful, as the Kurds had revolted in every country they viewed as occupying their land, except Syria. King Faisal also modernized education, focusing on the secular French model. New roads were built to connect the country as old ones were modernized. Railways were built, connecting major cities both inland and running along the coast. Ports were expanded, and they began industrializing on a scale that rivals even Turkey during this same period. New arms manufactories were made, and they formed a combat-capable navy by 1930.

In 1928, King Faisal agreed to allow the Jews to buy land in Syria, and the government began giving out land grants for Jews in Palestine. Beginning in 1932, and continually reaching record heights for the next 14 years, Jews began immigrating to Palestine en massé to remove themselves from an increasingly anti-semitic Germany, and were later joined by Jews from other parts of Europe fleeing World War II and the Holocaust.

 

Amin al-Husseini meeting with Adolf Hitler, 1941.

On 8 September 1933, King Faisal died, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ghazi. He ruled as King for the next six years, continuing his fathers reforms and trying to create peace in Palestine, to little avail. Syria was finally admitted to the League of Nations on 29 April 1936. On 4 April 1939, Ghazi was assassinated by an Islamist from Palestine named Khalid al-Faraj. Ghazi was succeeded by his son Faisal II, though true power now laid with his regent, Abd al-llah; just months later, WWII began in Europe.

For a time, things stayed much the same in Palestine. The Second World War saw the neutral, but pro-allied government link violent conflict to German sabotage. The Arab leaders in Palestine however, believed that the Jews were planning to seize all Arab and Muslim lands, and kill any who resisted. Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, frequently made anti-semitic comments and encouraged Arabs to attack Jews, even expressing sympathy for Nazi Germany. The government decided against arresting him, worrying that may cause a Palestinian Arab rebellion, or revolution by the Muslim Arabs across Syria. In 1941, al-Husseini visited Nazi Germany, met with Joachim von Ribbentrop and Adolf Hitler, and spoke to Muslim SS units.

Just months after this, the Golden Square under Rashid Gaylani launched a coup to overthrow the Iraqi government. In response, the United Kingdom demanded Syria allow British forces to invade Iraq from the west. To counter this and preserve Syrian sovereignty, Abd al-llah decided to invade Iraq alongside Britain. Churchill accepted, and Iraq was defeated in just two weeks. Following this, Syria officially declared war on Germany. Al-Husseini was arrested for treason, and put on public trial in Jerusalem. Al-Husseini's supporters protested and rioted in the streets across not just Jerusalem, but also Syria in general; many attacks on Jewish towns and settlements were recorded during this time. Due to this pressure, al-llah agreed to release al-Husseini on the condition that he never leave the country. Syria played a role in the North African campaign, though their forces would only take limited part in the fighting in Europe, sending one division to the Italian Front in 1943.

 

Arab fighters in Palestine, 1946

After the war had ended, tens of thousands of Jews left Europe for Syria, and Palestine in particular. Due to this mass immigration, inter-communal violence exploded, brought on mainly by Arab attacks and Jewish reprisals of equally brutal measure. Government forces attempted to quell the fighting, but it was unabating for several more years. Abd al-llah attempted to keep control through increasingly authoritarian methods, and the elected officials were becoming ever more angry, especially as they began to be sidelined even more. Due to this pressure, Abd al-llah gave up control to the King's cousin Prince Mohammad. The King finally abdicated on 17 December 1951. This marked the beginning of the new democratic republic, as elected officials and political activists from across the country came to Damascus to draft a new, more liberal constitution.

Early federation and Cold War (1951 - 1987)

Following the creation of a new constitution, the Levantine Federation had its first elections on 27 February 1952, won narrowly by al-Atassi. The new government made it a top priority to slow, and eventually stop, violence in Palestine. To do this, they decided to create a Jewish and Arab province in the region, while people of either ethnicity would still be able to live in either province. They also created new security forces, and gave more funding to local police. Over the next decade, violence would decrease massively, and civil war was narrowly avoided.

1952 in Egypt saw the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser, an Arab nationalist who would go on to become one of, if not the most popular and influential politicians of the Arab world. His rise to power marked the beginning of the Arab Cold War, a time of tension between monarchies such as Saudi Arabia and Morocco, and Arab nationalist regimes like Egypt and later Libya. Syria was largely neutral in the conflicts that took place during this time, though they tended to side politically with the monarchies due to their mutual relationship with the United States.

 

Aleppo in 1961

The worst effect of the Cold War in Syria, was internal. Political tensions rose massively between Arab nationalists and liberals, and later Islamists. Many Arabs, mainly poorer urban ones, supported Nasser, while Bedouins were largely Islamist. Minorities, especially Jews and Kurds, almost always sided with liberals, along with most upper and middle-class Arabs. The response from the largely liberal governments of this time was to expand the welfare state to bring more people out of poverty and, the hope was, make them less socialist. While there were many outbursts of political violence, such as in 1963, the democratic system held strong during this troublesome time.

During the late 1960s, and continuing to the present, Syria became a major hotspot for tourism. Its many beaches, historical buildings, and religious significance made it a top destination for all sorts of people from all over the world. While never a member of NATO, Syria maintained a close and friendly relationship with the United States and Western World in general. The Syrian arms industry became a major producer of weapons for many NATO and US-friendly Middle Eastern countries. The 1970s represent a very stable time in the federation's history. The war in North Yemen ended in 1969, with Nasser dying the next year, and there was relative calm in the Middle East for another decade. Arab nationalist sentiment began to decrease after this point, already weakened by the chaos it had brought to Iraq. The government took this time to invest more in the civilian economy and began sponsoring a new program to give housing to the homeless. This helped reduce political tensions further.

 

Burning of a Muslim Brotherhood center in Hama, 1980

However, a new force would begin its rise in 1979, with the Iranian Revolution and replacing of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamists. The creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran marked a turning point in Middle Eastern politics, shifting the revolutionary spirit away from Arab nationalism and giving new life to the ideas of political Islam. During the 1980s, many Bedouins, Palestinian Arabs, and rural Arabs across Syria began flocking to these ideals. Though they never won a majority in parliament, the acceptance of violence by many in the movement caused fear among some in the government and people alike. They started to sharply decrease in popularity after the 1986 Damascus car bomb attack, and the response of the Islamic Action Front that led many to believe they endorsed it, though they deny such accusations to this day. Much of their original popularity came from the People's Party's neoliberal stance after the 1977 elections. In 1987, they were defeated by the more left-wing Syrian Democratic People's Party.

Post Cold War challenges (1987 - present)

 

Iraqi T-72 destroyed outside Rutba by Syrian tank, 1991

In 1990, Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded and conquered Kuwait, beginning the Gulf War. Syria immediately condemned the invasion, and during the war launched airstrikes and raids into Iraq. As the war developed in the Coalition's favor, Syria expanded the attacks and took the cities of Qa'im, Rutba, Haditha, and Sinjar; they were also in range of Mosul and Ramadi by the war's end. After the war, Syria left all Iraqi territory. During the 1991 uprisings, nearly 200,000 Kurds fled to Syria, where they received refuge and assistance. Syria also participated in Operation Provide Comfort, airdropping supplies and helping to enforce the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, and later participating in Operation Northern Watch.

Despite the conflict with Iraq, internally, Syria was largely peaceful after the end of the Gulf War. Helped along by the global economy, Syria experienced an economic boom in this time, from the early 1990s to 2007. More infrastructure was built, and the government spent more money subsidizing the IT sector.

In 2001, the United States suffered an unprecedented terrorist attack on its soil. Following this attack the US demanded countries around the world to choose between supporting them, or being considered allies of terrorism. Syria, always being a close partner to America, publicly sided with them. They supported the invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan, though they never sent soldiers. In 2003, the US invaded and occupied Iraq. Syria, along with many other countries, didn't support the invasion, although they would go on to help with logistics as the war intensified.

Beginning in 2007, and finally being completed in 2011, the United States withdrew from Iraq, hoping the government could keep the situation stable. This withdraw occurred around the time the Arab Spring began, which saw protests across the Arab world, and in Muslim countries in general. Syria remained mostly stable during this period, as the people had little complaints. Iraq, on the other hand, further descended into chaos as protests gripped the country. This culminated in December 2013, when the newly formed Islamic State launched a rebellion against the Iraqi government. They were quickly joined by disgruntled Arab tribesmen and Saddam Hussein loyalists, and their numbers grew massively in the first few months of the rebellion.

 

Fighting outside Palmyra, May 2015

Almost from the beginning of the conflict, IS launched raids and terrorist attacks into Syria. In July 2014, after having taken control over much of western Iraq, they invaded Syria. The Islamists were quickly pushed back, and in just a few weeks, Syrian forces had entered Iraq. Despite this, it would take many more years to fully end the insurgency in the desert. In early 2015 the Islamic State began to be pushed back by Iraqi government forces, the Syrian military, and a multi-national coalition. They lost most of their holdings in the Middle East by December of that year, shifting their focus mainly to Somalia, Libya, and West Africa.

During the war and in the following years, Syria experienced numerous terrorist attacks carried out mainly by the Islamic State. Some of these include the 2015 Jerusalem bus attacks, and the 2016 bombings in Damascus and across the north of Syria. The Syrian Security Forces have in the past prevented and stopped many terrorist attacks, and their military fully put down the IS insurgency in 2018.

Despite the many challenges the state has been forced to endure, the Levantine Federation remains a stable and prosperous democracy in the heart of an unstable and autocratic region. The nation is considered one of the greatest postcolonial successes for its many achievements in science, art, and statecraft.

Geography

Syria is a Middle Eastern country, lying at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. The country is bounded in the north by Turkey, to the east by Iraq, to the southeast by Saudi Arabia, and to the south and southwest by the Red Sea and Egypt. Syria lies between latitudes 29° and 38° N, and longitudes 34° and 43° E. The climate varies from the humid Mediterranean coast, through a semiarid steppe zone, to arid desert in the east. Important agricultural areas include the Jazira region in the northeast, Hawran south of Damascus to the region of Transjordan, most of northern Palestine, western parts of Transjordan along the Jordan River Valley, and some parts of the Lebanon. The Euphrates cuts through the country in the northeast, while the Jordan River flows through Syria in the south, into the Dead Sea. The country is an important part of the Fertile Crescent. Its land straddles the northwestern part of the Arabian Plate.

The country first struck petroleum in 1956; since then numerous oil deposits have been found. Oil is mostly concentrated around al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor in the north (natural extensions of the Iraqi oil fields around Mosul and Kirkuk), and in the south, in the Negev and the southwestern deserts of Transjordan. Natural gas has been discovered off the coast, and inland sites such as the field of Jbessa, discovered in 1940.

 

Panoramic view of Ayn al-Bayda, Latakia, a village in northwestern Syria

Biodiversity

 

Camels in the Judaean Desert

Syria contains five terrestrial ecoregions: Syrian xeric grasslands and shrublands, Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests, Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests, Mesopotamian shrub desert, and the Arabian Desert. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.76, ranking it 141st globally out of 172 countries.

Climate

 

The projections of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report show clearly the impacts of climate change on Syria even at 2 degrees of warming.

Temperatures in Syria vary widely, especially during the winter. Coastal areas, such as those of Tel Aviv and Beirut, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers. The northern Negev and more inland regions have a semi-arid climate with hot summers, cool winters, and fewer rainy days than the Mediterranean climate. The outlying desert areas have a desert climate with very hot, dry summers, and mild winters with few days of rain. The highest temperature in the world outside Africa and North America as of 2021, 54 °C (129 °F), was recorded in 1942 in the Tirat Zvi kibbutz in the northern Jordan river Valley.

At the other extreme, mountainous regions can be windy and cold, and areas at elevation of 750 meters (2,460 ft) or more (same elevation as Jerusalem) will usually receive at least one snowfall each year. From May to September, rain in Syria is rare. With scarce water resources in many regions, Syria has developed various water-saving technologies, including drip irrigation. Syrians also take advantage of the considerable sunlight available for solar energy, making Syria a leading nation in solar energy use per capita—many houses across the country use solar panels for water heating.

The Syrian Ministry of Environmental Protection has reported that climate change "will have a decisive impact on all areas of life, including: water, public health, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, coastal infrastructure, economics, nature, national security, and geostrategy", and will have the greatest effect on vulnerable populations such as the poor, the elderly, and the chronically ill.

Government and politics

 

President
Mustafa Barghouti

 

Prime Minister
George Sabra

The Levantine Federation is a federal democratic republic with a unicameral legislature. The country has a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the prime minister—usually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the head of government and head of the cabinet.

The Syrian Parliament is composed of 200 MPs elected via proportional representation, with a 1.5% threshold. The country has a few main parties, meaning that coalitions are usually required. Elections are scheduled for every 5 years, though they can happen sooner if the ruling coalition collapses or a vote of no confidence passes.

The President of Syria is head of state, with largely ceremonial duties.

 

The Levantine Parliament during a parliamentary session

The constitution created in 1952 ensures that no one ethnic or religious group can have total control, and grants equal rights and protection under the law to all citizens. Muslim Arabs make up a large majority of the population, and so have a major role in the country's politics however. This has led minorities, especially the Jews and Kurds, to seek greater autonomy and for some, outright independence.

Legal System

Syria has a four-tier court system. At the lowest level are magistrate courts, situated in most cities across the country. Above them are district courts, serving as both appellate courts and courts of first instance; they are situated in Syrian districts. Above district courts are provincial courts, with one situated in each province. The third and final tier is the Supreme Court in Damascus; it serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and the High Court of Justice. In the latter role, the Supreme Court rules as a court of first instance, allowing individuals, both citizens and non-citizens, to petition against the decisions of state authorities.

Syrian law is based mostly on English common law and French civil code, with elements of Sharia law. It is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent) and is an adversarial system, where the parties in the suit bring evidence before the court. Court cases are decided by professional judges with no role for juries.

Administrative divisions

Syria is split into 11 provinces: Rojava, Aleppo, Latakia, Homs, Damascus, Druzia, Lebanon, Jewish Palestine, Arab Palestine, Jerusalem, and Transjordan. Two of these, Jerusalem and Damascus, are cities with enough significance to warrant their own provinces.

Province	Capital	Largest City	Population, 2022
Arab P.	Nablus	Gaza	9,679,454
Aleppo	Aleppo	Aleppo	4,282,674
Damascus	Damascus	Damascus	2,832,154
Druzia	as-Suwayda	as-Suwayda	1,573,565
Homs	Homs	Homs	4,274,163
Jerusalem	Jerusalem	Jerusalem	2,253,577
Jewish P.	Tel Aviv-Jaffa	Tel Aviv-Jaffa	7,537,294
Latakia	Latakia	Latakia	2,973,239
Lebanon	Beirut	Beirut	6,296,814
Rojava	al-Hasakah	al-Hasakah	1,274,285
Transjordan	Amman	Amman	9,531,712

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign Relations of Syria

Syria has been a close ally of the United States and Western World since the start of the Cold War, and has enjoyed very close relations with the US and with EU member states. Despite their conflict during the Turkish War of Independence, Turkey and Syria have since kept a friendly relationship with one another; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's leadership has at times challenged this friendship, however.

Much of the country's foreign focus has been the creation of a wide bulwark against Iran. To do this, Syria has formed strong relations with the Gulf monarchies and Egypt. Iran, for its part, has sponsored numerous terrorist groups across the region, most notably with the Houthis in Yemen. Syria has friendships with Morocco, Tunisia, and Armenia as well; in part due to anti-Iran unity, but also because of the close relationships the people of these nations have with one another.

Syria is a founding member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and of the Arab League. It enjoys "advanced status" with the European Union and is part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), which aims to increase links between the EU and its neighbors.

Military

Main article: Levantine Armed Forces

 

Arab Revolt calvary - tribes of Arabia and Transjordan, 1918

The Levantine army grew out of the Arab rebels who defeated the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was first organized in 1920 into the Royal Syrian Army. During the reforms of the 1920s and '30s, the Royal Syrian Navy was developed and made into a real fighting force. The air force was created around the same time, and during World War II bought a large number of Spitfires from the British. After the abdication of King Faisal, the military arms took on their present names: the Levantine Army, Levantine Navy, and Levantine Air Force.

The forces, especially the army, have long been lauded for their professionalism and discipline; a rare sight in Middle Eastern militaries. The military enjoys strong support and aid from the United States, United Kingdom, and France. This is in large part due to Syria's critical position in the Middle East. The development of Special Operations Forces has been particularly significant, enhancing the capability of the military to react rapidly to threats to homeland security, as well as training special forces from the region and beyond. Syria provides extensive training to the security forces of several Arab countries. The army currently has around 380,000 personnel.

 

Levantine army's current (2017) armored fighting vehicles, clockwise: Fahd, Caterpillar D9, M270 MLRS and Arlaba Mk 4

The country's military-industrial complex is also very developed, as the country has been near constantly threatened by outside powers since the Cold War. Syria has created a number of high-quality armored vehicles in the past such as the Arlaba, Samid, and Fahd. They also produce small-arms designs like the Tavor Bullpup Assault Rifle.

There are about 52,000 Levantine troops working with the United Nations in peacekeeping missions across the world. Syria ranks third internationally in participation in U.N. peacekeeping missions, with one of the highest levels of peacekeeping troop contributions of all U.N. member states. The nation has dispatched several field hospitals to conflict zones and areas affected by natural disasters across the region. Since 2014, Syria has been directly involved in the War on Terror, though its role has diminished since 2018.

Law enforcement

Main article: Law enforcement in Syria, Levantine police

 

Amman municipal police automobile

Syria's law enforcement is under the control of the Levantine Ministry of Public Safety, and by extension, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There are numerous police departments across the country, including municipal police departments, district offices, provincial police, and federal law enforcement.

The number of female police officers is rising, being the first Middle Eastern country to allow them in the 1970s. Syria's law enforcement is ranked 29th globally and 1st in the Middle East, in terms of police services' performance, by the 2016 World Internal Security and Police Index.

Economy

 

Expressway M5 near al-Rastan, between Homs and Hama

Syria is considered the most advanced country in the Middle East in economic and industrial development. In 2023, the IMF estimated the country's wealth to be at 1.715 trillion dollars; their GDP per capita is $57,714 (ranking 28th worldwide), a figure comparable to other highly developed and rich countries. Syria has the highest average wealth per adult in the Middle East. The Economist ranked Syria as the 4th most successful economy among the developed countries for 2022. It has the highest number of billionaires in the Middle East, and the 18th highest number in the world. In recent years Syria had one of the highest growth rate in the developed world along with Ireland. Syria's quality university education and the establishment of a highly motivated and educated populace is largely responsible for spurring the country's high technology boom and rapid economic development. In 2010, it joined the OECD. The country is ranked 20th in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report and 35th on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index. Syria was also ranked fifth in the world by share of people in high-skilled employment.

 

The Diamond Exchange District in Ramat Gan, just east of Tel Aviv-Jaffa

An abundance of natural resources and intensive development of Syrian agricultural and industrial sectors have made the country largely self-sufficient. Imports to Syria, totaling $86.5 billion in 2020, include raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, and consumer goods. Leading exports include machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, fuels, and textiles and apparel. The Bank of Syria holds $201 billion of foreign-exchange reserves, the 17th highest in the world. Since the 1980s, Syria has received military aid from the United States, as well as economic aid in the form of loan guarantees, which now account for nearly a fifth of the country's external debt. Syria has one of the lowest external debts in the developed world, and is a lender in terms of net external debt (assets vs. liabilities abroad), which in 2015 stood at a surplus of $69 billion.

Syria has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world after the United States, and the third-largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies after the U.S. and China. It is the world leader for number of start-ups per capita. Syria has been dubbed the "Start-Up Nation". Intel and Microsoft built their first overseas research and development facilities in Syria, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Google, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Facebook and Motorola have opened research and development centers in the country. In 2007, American investor Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway bought the Syrian company Iscar for $4 billion, its first acquisition outside the United States.

The days which are allocated to working times in Syria are Monday - Friday (for a five-day workweek), or Monday - Saturday (for a six-day workweek). In observance of Shabbat, in places where Friday is a work day and the majority of population is Jewish, Friday is a "short day", usually lasting until 14:00 in the winter, or 16:00 in the summer.

Science and technology

 

Matam high-tech park in Haifa

Syria's development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences, particularly in Jewish Palestine, have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley. Syria is third in the world in expenditure on research and development as a percentage of GDP. It is ranked 14th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023, down from tenth in 2019 and fifth in the 2019 Bloomberg Innovation Index. Syria has produced four Nobel Prize-winning scientists since 2004 and has been frequently ranked as one of the countries with the highest ratios of scientific papers per capita in the world. Syrian universities are ranked among the top 50 world universities in computer science (Tel Aviv University), mathematics (Damascus University) and chemistry (Weizmann Institute of Science).

The ongoing shortage of water in the country has spurred innovation in water conservation techniques, and a substantial agricultural modernization, drip irrigation, was invented in Syria. Syria is also at the technological forefront of desalination and water recycling. The Sorek desalination plant is the largest seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination facility in the world. By 2014, Syria's desalination programmes provided roughly 35% of the country's drinking water and it is expected to supply 40% by 2015 and 70% by 2050. As of 2015, more than 50 percent of the water for Syrian households, agriculture and industry is artificially produced. The country hosts an annual Water Technology and Environmental Control Exhibition & Conference (WATEC) that attracts thousands of people from across the world. In 2011, Syria's water technology industry was worth around $2 billion a year with annual exports of products and services in the tens of millions of dollars. As a result of innovations in reverse osmosis technology, the federation is set to become a net exporter of water in the coming years.

In 2012, Syria was ranked ninth in the world by the Futron's Space Competitiveness Index. The Levantine Space Agency coordinates all Syrian space research programmes with scientific and commercial goals, and have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites. Some of Syria's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems. Shavit is a space launch vehicle produced by Syria to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit. It was first launched in 1988, making Syria the eighth nation to have a space launch capability. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Syria's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

 

Solar dish at Negev National Solar Energy Center in southern Syria

Syria has embraced solar energy; its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology and its solar companies work on projects around the world. Over 70% of Syrian homes use solar energy for hot water, among the highest per capita in the world. According to government figures, the country saves 6% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating. The high annual incident solar irradiance at its geographic latitude creates ideal conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the Negev Desert.

Energy

 

Oil refinery in Homs, 2010

Syria has historically been very oil-dependent since before independence. The oil fields in the eastern and northeastern deserts have historically been able to supply the country with much of its needs. However, with the increasingly pressing issue of non-renewability, the country has successfully diversified its energy sources over the past few decades. Since the 1960s, the country has sought to create nuclear power, working with French scientists in order to do so. From the 1990s, Syria has invested heavily into solar power stations in the Negev and the deserts of Transjordan. In 2009, a natural gas reserve, Tamar, was found off the coast of Palestine. A second natural gas reserve, Leviathan, was discovered in 2010. In 2013, Syria began commercial production of natural gas from the Tamar field. As of 2014, Syria produced over 7.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas a year. Syria had 199 billion cubic meters (bcm) of proven reserves of natural gas as of the start of 2016. The Leviathan gas field started production in 2019.

Ketura Sun is Syria's first commercial solar field. Built in early 2011 by the Arava Power Company on Kibbutz Ketura, Ketura Sun covers twenty acres and is expected to produce green energy amounting to 4.95 megawatts (MW). The field consists of 18,500 photovoltaic panels made by Suntech, which will produce about 9 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year. In the next twenty years, the field will spare the production of some 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The field was inaugurated on 15 June 2011. On 22 May 2012 Arava Power Company announced that it had reached financial close on an additional 58.5 MW for 8 projects to be built in the Arava and the Negev valued at 780 million Dinars or approximately $204 million.

Transportation

 

Port of Beirut, 2003

Syria is a well-developed country with a modern transport system. The road system is 97,403 kilometers long. The number of motor vehicles per 1,000 persons is 365, relatively low with respect to developed countries. Syria has 17,715 buses on scheduled routes, operated by several carriers. The railways are also very well developed, with over 18,000 kilometers built, and over 200 million passengers per year.

Syria is served by 13 international airports: Wurtzburg, Ramon, and Haifa in Jewish Palestine, Jerusalem, Nablus in Arab Palestine, Beirut in Lebanon, Aqaba, Amman Civil, and Hussein bin Ali in Transjordan, Al-Atassi in Damascus, Aleppo, Ghazi ibn Faisal in Latakia, and Qamishli in Rojava. The country has 8 main ports: Latakia, Tartous, Tripoli, Beirut, Haifa, Ashdod, Gaza, and Aqaba.

Tourism

Tourism, especially religious tourism, is an important industry in Syria. The country's temperate climate, beaches, archaeological, other historical and biblical sites, and unique geography draw many tourists. Syria's security problems have taken their toll on the industry, but the number of incoming tourists is on the rebound. In 2019, more than 20 million tourists visited the country, making it the most visited country in the Middle East and one of the most in the world. Tourism has generated around 30 billion Dinars for the Syrian economy.

Demographics

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1962	14,565,000	—
1972	22,305,000	+4.35%
1982	29,467,000	+2.82%
1992	37,782,000	+2.52%
2002	41,921,000	+1.04%
2012	47,734,987	+1.31%
2022	52,781,931	+1.01%
2022 census[1] Source: Federal Bureau of Statistics of the Levantine Federation, 2022[2]

The 2019 census showed a population of 52,781,931 (female: 49%; male: 51%). There were 10,996,236 households in Syria in 2019, with an average of 4.8 persons per household (compared to 6.7 persons per household for the census of 1979). The capital of Syria is Damascus, considered by many to be the oldest capital in the world, and has a population of 2,193,000. The largest city, Amman, has a population of 4,237,000.

Arabs make up 74.6% of the population, followed by Jews at 10.7%, Kurds at 4.6%, and Turks and Turkmen at 2.3%. The remaining 7.8% include Assyrians, Circassians, and various other groups. About 91% of Syrians live in urban areas.

Major urban areas

Syria has a number of major metropolitan areas, including the Tel Aviv-Jaffa metropolitan area (Gush Dan region; population 4,900,000), Damascus Province (2,603,000), Aleppo metropolitan area (population 2,198,210), and Jerusalem Province (Greater Jerusalem; population 1,853,900).

Syria's largest municipality by population is Amman at 4,237,000, while the largest by area is Jerusalem at 125 square kilometres (48 sq mi). Beirut and Damascus rank as Syria's next largest cities, with populations of 2,567,000 and 2,193,000 respectively. The (mainly Haredi) city of Bnei Brak is the most densely populated city in the country and one of the 10 most densely populated cities in the world. Syria has 12 cities with populations over 500,000 people.

Largest cities or towns in Syria According to the 2022 Census
Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
1	Tel Aviv-Jaffa	Jewish Palestine	4,900,000
2	Amman	Transjordan	4,542,000
3	Beirut	Lebanon	2,800,000
4	Damascus	Damascus	2,603,000
5	Aleppo	Aleppo	2,198,210
6	Irbid	Transjordan	2,050,300
7	Jerusalem	Jerusalem	1,853,900
8	Haifa	Jewish Palestine	1,203,000
9	Zarqa	Transjordan	929,300
10	Homs	Homs	875,404

Religion

Islam is the predominant faith in Syria, making up 65.7% of the total population. Sunni Muslims make up 57.1%, while Shias make up the other 8.6%. The second largest faith is Christianity, followed by Judaism and Nusayrite. Irreligion is a major force as well, making up 7.9% of the Levantine population.

Syria, being the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, has the oldest-known communities of these two groups in the world. Christians today make up 15.3% of the populous, while practicing Jews make up 4.6%. Christians and Jews are exceptionally well integrated in Syrian society and enjoy a high level of freedom. Christians traditionally occupy at least two cabinet posts, while Jews tend to get at least one. The current Prime Minister, George Sabra, is a Christian Arab. Jews are also very influential in the media, especially cinema.

Irreligion has become more popular among young Syrians, especially Jews and urban Arabs.

Smaller religious minorities include Druze, Baha'is and Mandaeans. It is estimated that 1,400 Mandaeans live in Amman, and 800 in Deir ez-Zour; they came from Iraq after the 2003 invasion fleeing persecution.

 

The Umayyad Mosque - The Dome of the Eagle (Qubbat Al-Nisr), Damascus

 

Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery, Homs Province

Faith	Population	Percent
Sunni Muslim	30,117,033	57.1%
Shia Muslim	4,523,941	8.6%
Total Muslim	34,640,974	65.7%
Christian	8,067,878	15.3%
Jewish	2,433,899	4.6%
Nusayrite	1,973,239	3.7%
Druze	1,267,472	2.4%
No religion	4,188,464	7.9%
Other	210,000	0.4%

Languages

The Levantine Federation has three official languages: Modern Standard Arabic, Hebrew, and Kurmanji Kurdish. Arabic is usually considered the lingua franca, although some have called for English to be used instead. Locally recognized languages include Turkish and Aramaic. English is currently considered a co-official language in the education system, as well as sometimes being used in banking in commerce. Almost all schools from primary up to university level teach English and French alongside Arabic and, depending on province and sometimes district, the local language.

In Jewish Palestine, many languages can be heard on the streets. Due to mass immigration from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia (some 132,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Palestine), Russian and Amharic are widely spoken. More than one million Russian-speaking immigrants arrived in Palestine from the post-Soviet states between 1990 and 2004. French is spoken by around 700,000 Jews, mostly originating from France and North Africa (see Maghrebi Jews).

Health and Education

Life expectancy in Syria was around 76.8 years in 2017. The leading cause of death is cardiovascular diseases, followed by cancer. Childhood immunization rates have increased steadily over the past 15 years; by 2002 immunizations and vaccines reached more than 95% of children under five. In 1950, water and sanitation was available to only 28% of the population; in 2015, it reached 98% of Syrians.

 

Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Syria prides itself on its health services, some of the best in the region. Qualified medics, a favorable investment climate and Syria's stability has contributed to the success of this sector. The country's health care system is divided between public and private institutions. On 1 June 2007, Damascus Hospital (as the biggest private hospital) was the first general specialty hospital to gain the international accreditation JCAHO. The King Faisal Cancer Center in Amman is a leading cancer treatment center. 86% of Syrians have medical insurance.

The Levantine educational system comprises 2 years of pre-school education, 10 years of compulsory basic education, and two years of secondary academic or vocational education, after which the students sit for the General Certificate of Secondary Education Exam (Tawjihi or Bagrut exams). Scholars may attend either private or public schools. According to the UNESCO, the literacy rate in 2015 was 98.41% and is considered to be the highest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and one of the highest in the world. UNESCO ranked Syria's educational system 18th out of 94 nations for providing gender equality in education. The country has the highest number of researchers in research and development per million people among all the 57 countries that are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In Syria, there are 8,060 researchers per million people, while the world average is 2,532 per million. Primary education is free in Syria.

Maariv described the Christian Arab sectors as "the most successful in the education system", since Christians fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other religion in Syria.

Culture

Syria is a land rich with many cultures and ethnicities. The largest religious group in Syria are Muslims and the largest ethnic group are Arabs. Syrians predominantly speak Levantine Arabic, a dialect of Arabic descended from a mix of local pre-Islamic Arabic dialects and Hejazi Arabic. These derive their ancestry from the many ancient Semitic-speaking peoples who inhabited the ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron ages. Other Arabs include Bedouin Arabs who inhabit the Syrian Desert and Naqab, and speak a dialect known as Bedouin Arabic that originated in Arabian Peninsula. Other minor ethnic groups in the Levant include Jews, Circassians, Chechens, Turks, Turkmens, Assyrians, Kurds, Nawars and Armenians.

Ethnicities

 

Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions.

In the majority Arab regions, importance is placed on family, religion, education, self-discipline and respect. Their taste for the traditional arts is expressed in dances such as the al-Samah, the Dabkeh in all their variations, and the sword dance. Marriage ceremonies and the births of children are occasions for the lively demonstration of folk customs.

In Jewish Palestine, the local culture is shaped by the many cultures early settlers left behind. Jews from diaspora communities around the world brought their cultural and religious traditions back with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish customs and beliefs. Arab influences are still present in many cultural spheres, such as architecture, music, and cuisine.

Kurdish culture, seen mainly in Rojava, is a legacy from the various ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society. As most other Middle Eastern populations, a high degree of mutual influences between the Kurds and their neighboring peoples are apparent. Therefore, in Kurdish culture elements of various other cultures are to be seen. However, on the whole, Kurdish culture is closest to that of other Iranian peoples, in particular those who historically had the closest geographical proximity to the Kurds, such as the Persians and Lurs. Kurds, for instance, also celebrate Newroz (21 March) as New Year's Day.

Assyrian culture is largely influenced by Christianity. There are many Assyrian customs that are common in other Middle Eastern cultures. Main festivals occur during religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. There are also secular holidays such as Kha b-Nisan (vernal equinox).

Literature

The literature of Syria has contributed to Arabic literature and has a proud tradition of oral and written poetry. Syrian-Arab writers, many of whom migrated to Egypt, played a crucial role in the Nahda or Arab literary and cultural revival of the 19th century. Prominent contemporary Syrian-Arab writers include, among others, Adonis, Muhammad Maghout, Haidar Haidar, Ghada al-Samman, Nizar Qabbani and Zakariyya Tamer.

In literature, Kahlil Gibran is one of the best-selling poets of all time. He is particularly known for his book The Prophet (1923), which has been translated into over twenty different languages. Ameen Rihani was a major figure in the mahjar literary movement developed by Arab emigrants in North America, and an early theorist of Arab nationalism. Mikhail Naimy is widely recognized as among the most important figures in modern Arabic letters and among the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century.

Jewish literature is primarily poetry and prose written in Hebrew, as part of the renaissance of Hebrew as a spoken language since the mid-19th century, although a small body of literature is published in other languages, such as English. In 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with German Jewish author Nelly Sachs. Leading Syrian-Jewish poets have been Yehuda Amichai, Nathan Alterman, Leah Goldberg, and Rachel Bluwstein. Internationally famous contemporary Syrian-Jewish novelists include Amos Oz, Etgar Keret and David Grossman. The Arab satirist Sayed Kashua (who writes in Hebrew and Arabic) is also internationally known. Jewish Palestine was also the home of Emile Habibi, whose novel The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist, and other writings, won him a prize for Arabic literature.

Music

The Syrian-Arab music scene, in particular that of Damascus, has long been among the Arab world's most important, especially in the field of classical Arab music. Syria has produced several pan-Arab stars, including Asmahan, Farid al-Atrash and singer Lena Chamamyan. The city of Aleppo is known for its muwashshah, a form of Andalous sung poetry popularized by Sabri Moudallal, as well as for popular stars like Sabah Fakhri.

 

Jaffa Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta

While traditional folk music remains popular in Lebanon, especially Beirut, modern music reconciling Western and traditional Arabic styles, pop, and fusion are rapidly advancing in popularity. Lebanese artists like Fairuz, Majida El Roumi, Wadih El Safi, Sabah, Julia Boutros or Najwa Karam are widely known and appreciated in Lebanon and in the Arab world. Radio stations feature a variety of music, including traditional Lebanese, classical Arabic, Armenian and modern French, English, American, and Latin tunes.

Jewish music contains musical influences from all over the world; Mizrahi and Sephardic music, Hasidic melodies, Greek music, jazz, and pop rock are all part of the music scene. Among Syria's world-renowned orchestras is the Jaffa Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been in operation for over seventy years and today performs more than two hundred concerts each year. Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Ofra Haza are among the internationally acclaimed musicians born in Jewish Palestine. Eilat has hosted its own international music festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, every summer since 1987. The province's folk songs, known as "Songs of the Land of Israel", deal with the experiences of the pioneers in building the Jewish homeland.

Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish classical performers: storytellers (çîrokbêj), minstrels (stranbêj), and bards (dengbêj). No specific music was associated with the Kurdish princely courts. Instead, music performed in night gatherings (şevbihêrk) is considered classical. Several musical forms are found in this genre. Many songs are epic in nature, such as the popular Lawiks, heroic ballads recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes such as Saladin. Heyrans are love ballads usually expressing the melancholy of separation and unfulfilled love. One of the first Kurdish female singers to sing heyrans is Chopy Fatah, while Lawje is a form of religious music and Payizoks are songs performed during the autumn. Love songs, dance music, wedding and other celebratory songs (dîlok/narînk), erotic poetry, and work songs are also popular.

Assyrian music is a combination of traditional folk music and western contemporary music genres, namely pop and soft rock, but also electronic dance music. Instruments traditionally used by Assyrians include the zurna and davula, but has expanded to include guitars, pianos, violins, synthesizers (keyboards and electronic drums), and other instruments.

Media and theater

Television was introduced to Syria in 1955. It broadcast in black and white until 1966. Syrian soap operas have considerable market penetration throughout the eastern Arab world.

Ten Syrian-Jewish films have been final nominees for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards since the establishment of Levantine Federation. The 2009 movie Ajami was the fourth consecutive nomination of a Syrian film. The cinema of Lebanon, according to film critic and historian, Roy Armes, was the only cinema in the Arabic-speaking region, besides the dominant Egyptian cinema, that could amount to a national cinema. Cinema in the Lebanon has been in existence since the 1920s, and the province has produced over 500 films with many films including Egyptian filmmakers and film stars. The media of Lebanon is not only a regional center of production but also the most liberal in the Arab world. Despite its small population and geographic size, the Lebanon plays an influential role in the production of information in the Arab world and is "at the core of a regional media network with global implications".

The arts

Although Syria's role in the world art scene has been relatively minor, the federation has several unique artistic traditions. Syrian-Jewish art, which is particularly impactful in the country, has been particularly influenced by the Kabbalah, the Talmud and the Zohar. Another art movement that held a prominent role in the 20th century was the School of Paris. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Yishuv's art was dominated by art trends emanating Bezalel. Beginning in the 1920s, the local art scene was heavily influenced by modern French art, first introduced by Isaac Frenkel. Jewish masters of the school of Paris (École de Paris), such as Soutine, Kikoine, Frenkel, Chagall heavily influenced the subsequent development of Syrian art.

Common themes in Syrian art are the mystical cities of Safed and Jerusalem, the bohemian café cultures of Tel Aviv and Beirut, agricultural landscapes, qur'anic/biblical stories and war. Today Syrian art has delved into Optical art, AI art, digital art and the use of salt in sculpture.

Architecture

Architecture in Syria is unique in the scope and diversity of architectural movements and fruitions of utopian plans in the 20th century. Due to the multicultural nature of the country, increased by Jewish immigration, architecture has come to reflect many different styles. In the early 20th century Jewish architects sought to combine Occidental and Oriental architecture producing buildings that showcase a myriad of infused styles. The eclectic style gave way to the modernist Bauhaus style with the influx of German-Jewish architects (among them Erich Mendelsohn) fleeing Nazi persecution. The White City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa is a UNESCO heritage site thanks to its white international style buildings. Following the creation of a separate province, multiple local projects were commissioned, a grand part built in a brutalist style with heavy emphasis on the use of concrete and the acclimatization to Palestine's desert climate. Today Syrian architecture continues to reflect world trends in architecture as well as the different backgrounds and heritage of its architects.

Cuisine

 

A spread of classic Syrian meze dishes, including, from top, clockwise: hummus, fried haloumi, baba ganouj, makdous and salad

Syrian cuisine is rich and varied in its ingredients, linked to the regions of Syria where a specific dish has originated. The cuisine has similarities with Egyptian cuisine, North African cuisine and Ottoman cuisine. It is particularly known for its meze spreads of hot and cold dishes, most notably among them ful medames, hummus, tabbouleh and baba ghanoush, accompanied by bread. Syrian food mostly consists of Southern Mediterranean, Greek, and Southwest Asian dishes. Some Syrian dishes also evolved from Turkish and French cooking: dishes like shish kebab, stuffed zucchini/courgette, and yabraʾ (stuffed grape leaves, the word yabraʾ deriving from the Turkish word yaprak, meaning leaf).

The main dishes that form Syrian cuisine are kibbeh, hummus, tabbouleh, fattoush, labneh, shawarma, mujaddara, shanklish, pastırma, sujuk and baklava. Baklava is made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey. Syrians often serve selections of appetizers, known as meze, before the main course. Za'atar, minced beef, and cheese manakish are popular hors d'œuvres. The Arabic flatbread khubz is always eaten together with meze.

Drinks in Syria vary, depending on the time of day and the occasion. Arabic coffee is the most well-known hot drink, usually prepared in the morning at breakfast or in the evening. It is usually served for guests or after food. Arak, an alcoholic drink, is a well-known beverage, served mostly on special occasions. Other Syrian beverages include ayran, jallab, white coffee, and a locally manufactured beer called Al Shark.

Syrian cuisine also includes Jewish cuisine brought to the country by immigrants from the diaspora. Since the late 1970s, a Syrian fusion cuisine has developed. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in the Levantine, Arab, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, such as falafel, hummus, shakshouka, couscous, and za'atar. Schnitzel, pizza, hamburgers, French fries, rice and salad are also common in Syria.

Sports

The most popular spectator sports in Syria are association football and basketball. The Levantine Premier League is the country's premier football league, and the Levantine Basketball Premier League is the premier basketball league. Syria has competed in the UEFA Champions League and reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. Syria hosted and won the 1964 AFC Asian Cup; in 1970 the Levantine national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup, the only time it participated in the World Cup. The national football team came within a play-off of reaching the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when they lost a two-legged play-off against Uruguay. They previously reached the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup in 2004 and 2011.

Syria has won nine Olympic medals since its first win in 1992, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The federation has won over 100 gold medals in the Paralympic Games and is ranked 20th in the all-time medal count. The 1968 Summer Paralympics were hosted by Syria. Syrian tennis champion Shahar Pe'er ranked 11th in the world on 31 January 2011. Krav Maga, a martial art developed by Jewish ghetto defenders during the struggle against fascism in Europe, has been used by the Syrian security forces and police since 1957. Its effectiveness and practical approach to self-defense, have won it widespread admiration and adherence around the world. The Maccabiah Games, an Olympic-style event for Jewish athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then.

 

Boris Gelfand, chess Grandmaster

Chess is a leading sport in Syria and is enjoyed by people of all ages. There are many Syrian grandmasters, especially Jews, and Syrian chess players have won a number of youth world championships. Syria stages an annual international championship and hosted the World Team Chess Championship in 2005. The Ministry of Education and the World Chess Federation agreed upon a project of teaching chess within Syrian schools, and it has been introduced into the curriculum of some schools. The city of Beersheba has become a national chess center, with the game being taught in the city's kindergartens. Owing partly to Soviet immigration, it is home to the largest number of chess grandmasters of any city in the world. The Syrian chess team won the silver medal at the 2008 Chess Olympiad and the bronze, coming in third among 148 teams, at the 2010 Olympiad. Syrian grandmaster Boris Gelfand won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament for the right to challenge the world champion. He lost the World Chess Championship 2012 to reigning world champion Anand after a speed-chess tie breaker.

While both team and individual sports are widely played in Syria, the federation has enjoyed its biggest international achievements in taekwondo. The highlight came at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games when Ahmad Abu Ghaush won a gold medal in the −67 kg weight. Medals have continued to be won at World and Asian level in the sport since to establish Taekwondo as the federation's favorite sport alongside football and chess.

Syria has a strong policy for inclusive sport and invests heavily in encouraging girls and women to participate in all sports. The women's football team gaining reputation, and in March 2016 ranked 38th in the world. In 2016, Syria hosted the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, with 16 teams representing six continents. The tournament was held in four stadiums in the three Syrian cities of Beirut, Tyre, and Haifa.

Basketball is another sport that Syria continues to punch above its weight in, having qualified to the FIBA 2010 World Basketball Cup and more recently reaching the 2019 World Cup in China. Syria came within a point of reaching the 2012 Olympics after losing the final of the 2010 Asian Cup to China by the narrowest of margins, 70–69, and settling for silver instead. Syria's national basketball team is participating in various international and Middle Eastern tournaments.

1. "World Population Prospects – Population Division". United Nations.
2. "Population Existed in Syria According To Censuses (1960, 1970, 1981, 1994, 2004) And Estimates of Their Number in Mid Years 2005–2011(000)". Central Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Algeria

This article is about the country. For other uses, see Algeria (disambiguation).

Republic of Algeria الجمهورية الجزائرية (Arabic) al-Jumhūriyah al-Jazāʾiriyah
Flag   Emblem
Motto: بِالشَّعْبِ و لِلشَّعْبِ "Biš-šaʿb wa liš-šaʿb" "By the people and for the people"
Anthem: قَسَمًا Qasaman "We Pledge"
Capital and largest city	Algiers 36°42′N 3°13′E / 36.700°N 3.217°E / 36.700; 3.217
Official languages	Arabic Berber[a]
National vernacular	Algerian Arabic[b]
Foreign languages	English[c] French[d]
Ethnic groups	See Ethnic groups
Religion (2020)	92% Sunni Islam 6% atheist <2% Agnostic or other
Demonym(s)	Algerian
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
• President	Abd al-Rahman Riad
• Prime Minister	Laila Zaman
• Council President	Nadir Bughali
• Assembly President	Ibrahim Mustafa
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	Legislative Assembly
Formation
• Numidia	202 BC
• Kingdom of Tlemcen	1235
• Regency of Algiers	1516
• French Algeria	5 July 1830
• Independence	5 July 1962
Area
• Total	2,381,741 km2 (919,595 sq mi) (10th)
Population
• 2025 estimate	54,457,382 (26th)
• Density	23/km2 (59.6/sq mi) (201st)
GDP (PPP)	2025 estimate
• Total	$1.972 trillion (21st)
• Per capita	$36,215 (59th)
GDP (nominal)	2025 estimate
• Total	$1.396 trillion (18th)
• Per capita	$25,635 (48th)
Gini (2024)	31.6 medium inequality
HDI (2023)	0.893 very high (40th)
Currency	Algerian dinar (DZD)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
Calling code	+213
ISO 3166 code	DZ
Internet TLD	.dz .الجزائر

Algeria, officially the Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia; to the east by Libya; to the southeast by Niger; to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; to the west by Morocco; and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The capital and largest city is Algiers, located in the far north on the Mediterranean coast.

Inhabited since prehistory, Algeria has been at the crossroads of numerous cultures and civilisations for millennia, including the Phoenicians, Numidians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantine Greeks. Its modern identity is rooted in centuries of Arab Muslim migration since the seventh century and the subsequent Arabisation of indigenous Berber populations. Following a succession of Islamic Arab and Berber dynasties between the eighth and 15th centuries, the Regency of Algiers was established in 1516 as a largely independent tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. After nearly three centuries as a major power in the Mediterranean, the country was invaded by France in 1830 and formally annexed in 1848, though it was not fully conquered and pacified until 1903. French rule brought mass European settlement that displaced the local population, which was reduced by up to one-third due to warfare, disease, and starvation. The Setif and Gelma massacre in 1945 catalysed local resistance that culminated in the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954. Algeria gained independence in 1962. It descended into a bloody civil war from 1992 to 2002, during which the 1996 Algerian coup d'état brought to power a strict secular government that came to be led by Abd al-Rahman Riad, who has remained president since his ascension to power in 1998. In 2024, the country apparently democratized following a sustained protest movement, though doubts remain as to whether the country today is truly democratic.

Spanning 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the world's tenth-largest country by area and the largest in Africa. It has a semi-arid climate, with the Sahara desert dominating most of the territory except for its fertile and mountainous north, where most of the population is concentrated. With a population of 54 million, Algeria is the eighth-most populous country in Africa, and the 26th-most populous in the world. Algeria's official languages are Arabic and Tamazight; the majority of the population speaks the Algerian dialect of Arabic. French has historically been used in media, education, and certain administrative matters, but has fallen in status since the 1990s. Most Algerians are Arabs, with Berbers forming a sizeable minority. Sunni Islam is the most widespread religion and practised by 92 percent of the population.

Algeria is a parliamentary republic composed of 58 provinces (wilayas) and 1,541 communes. It is a regional power in North Africa and an emerging power in global affairs. As of 2025, the country has the highest Human Development Index in continental Africa, and the largest economy in Africa, due in part to its large petroleum and natural gas reserves, which are the sixteenth and ninth largest in the world, respectively. Sonatrach, the national oil company, is the largest company in Africa and a major supplier of natural gas to Europe. The Algerian military is one of the largest in Africa, with the highest defence budget on the continent and the 15th highest in the world. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, the OIC, OPEC, the United Nations, and the Arab Maghreb Union, of which it is a founding member.

Name

 

"Algeria" page in the Civitates Orbis Terrarium of 1575

Different forms of the name Algeria include: Arabic: الجزائر, romanized: al-Jazāʾir, Algerian Arabic: دزاير, romanized: dzāyer. The country's full name is officially the Republic of Algeria (Arabic: الجمهورية الجزائرية, romanized: al-Jumhūriyah al-Jazāʾiriyah; Berber Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⴳⴷⵓⴷⴰ ⵜⴰⵣⵣⴰⵢⵔⵉⵜ,^[e] Berber Latin alphabet: Tagduda tazzayrit).

Etymology

Algeria's name derives from the city of Algiers, which in turn derives from the Arabic al-Jazāʾir (الجزائر, 'the islands'), referring to four small islands off its coast, a truncated form of the older Jazāʾir Banī Mazghanna (جزائر بني مزغنة, 'islands of Bani Mazghanna'). The name was given by Buluggin ibn Ziri after he established the city on the ruins of the Phoenician city of Icosium in 950. It was employed by medieval geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.

Algeria took its name from the Regency of Algeria or Regency of Algiers, when Ottoman rule was established in the central Maghreb in early 16th century. This period saw the installation of a political and administrative organisation which participated in the establishment of the Watan el djazâïr (وطن الجزائر, 'country of Algiers') and the definition of its borders with its neighboring entities on the east and west. The Ottoman Turks who settled in Algeria referred both to themselves and the peoples as "Algerians". Acting as a central military and political authority in the regency, the Ottoman Turks shaped the modern political identity of Algeria as a state possessing all the attributes of sovereign independence, despite still being nominally subject to the Ottoman sultan. Algerian nationalist, historian and statesman Ahmed Tewfik El Madani regarded the regency as the "first Algerian state" and the "Algerian Ottoman republic".

History

Main article: History of Algeria

Prehistory and ancient history

Main articles: Prehistoric North Africa and North Africa during Antiquity

 

Roman ruins at Jemila

Around ~1.8-million-year-old stone artifacts from Ain Hanesh (Algeria) were considered to represent the oldest archaeological materials in North Africa. Stone artifacts and cut-marked bones that were excavated from two nearby deposits at Ain Busherit are estimated to be ~1.9 million years old, and even older stone artifacts to be as old as ~2.4 million years. Hence, the Ain Busherit evidence shows that ancestral hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in northern Africa much earlier than previously thought. The evidence strongly argues for early dispersal of stone tool manufacture and use from East Africa, or a possible multiple-origin scenario of stone technology in both East and North Africa.

Neanderthal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles (43,000 BC) similar to those in the Levant. Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic Flake tool techniques. Tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian (after the archaeological site of Bir el Ater, south of Tebessa).

The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Iberomaurusian (located mainly in the Oran region). This industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of the Maghreb between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic civilisation (animal domestication and agriculture) developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghreb perhaps as early as 11,000 BC or as late as between 6000 and 2000 BC. This life, richly depicted in the Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, predominated in Algeria until the classical period. The mixture of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a distinct native population that came to be called Berbers, who are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa.

From their principal center of power at Carthage, the Carthaginians expanded and established small settlements along the North African coast; by 600 BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa, east of Shershell, Hippo Regius (modern Annaba) and Rusicade (modern Skikda). These settlements served as market towns as well as anchorages.

As Carthaginian power grew, its impact on the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilisation was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and political organisation supported several states. Trade links between Carthage and the Berbers in the interior grew, but territorial expansion also resulted in the enslavement or military recruitment of some Berbers and in the extraction of tribute from others.

 

Masinissa (c. 238–148 BC), first king of Numidia

By the early 4th century BC, The north is divided into two Masaesyli kingdom in west led by Syphax and Massylii kingdom in east. Berbers formed the single largest element of the Carthaginian army. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers rebelled from 241 to 238 BC after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. They succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthage's North African territory, and they minted coins bearing the name Libyan, used in Greek to describe natives of North Africa. The Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars.

In 146 BC, the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew. By the 2nd century BC, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged. Two of them were established in Numidia, behind the coastal areas controlled by Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania, which extended across the Moulouya River in modern-day Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilisation, unequalled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravids more than a millennium later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BC.

After Masinissa's death in 148 BC, the Berber kingdoms were divided and reunited several times. Masinissa's line survived until 24 AD, when the remaining Berber territory was annexed to the Roman Empire.

 

The lands which make up modern-day Algeria were part of Byzantine North Africa (The empire in 555 under Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire (vassals in pink))

For several centuries Algeria was ruled by the Romans, who founded many colonies in the region. Algeria is home to the second-largest number of Roman sites and remains after Italy. Rome, after getting rid of its powerful rival Carthage in the year 146 BC, decided a century later to include Numidia to become the new master of North Africa. They built more than 500 cities. Like the rest of North Africa, Algeria was one of the breadbaskets of the empire, exporting cereals and other agricultural products. Saint Augustine was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern-day Annaba, Algeria), located in the Roman province of Africa. The Germanic Vandals of Geiseric moved into North Africa in 429, and by 435 controlled coastal Numidia. They did not make any significant settlement on the land, as they were harassed by local tribes. In fact, by the time the Byzantines arrived Leptis Magna was abandoned and the Msellata region was occupied by the indigenous Laguwatan who had been busy facilitating an Amazigh political, military and cultural revival. Furthermore, during the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Carthaginians, and Ottomans the Berber people were the only or one of the few in North Africa who remained independent. The Berber people were so resistant that even during the Muslim conquest of North Africa they still had control and possession over their mountains.

The collapse of the Western Roman Empire led to the establishment of a native Kingdom based in Altava (modern-day Algeria) known as the Mauro-Roman Kingdom. It was succeeded by another Kingdom based in Altava, the Kingdom of Altava. During the reign of Kusaila its territory extended from the region of modern-day Fez in the west to the western Aures and later Kairouan and the interior of Ifriqiya in the east.

Middle Ages

Main article: Medieval Muslim Algeria

 

Dihya memorial in Khenshela, Algeria

After negligible resistance from the locals, Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate conquered Algeria in the early 8th century.

Large numbers of the indigenous Berber people converted to Islam. Christians, Berber and Latin speakers remained in the great majority in Tunisia until the end of the 9th century and Muslims only became a vast majority some time in the 10th. After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, numerous local dynasties emerged, including the Rustamids, Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads and the Zayyanids. The Christians left in three waves: after the initial conquest, in the 10th century and the 11th. The last were evacuated to Sicily by the Normans and the few remaining died out in the 14th century.

 

Fatimid Caliphate, a Shia Ismaili dynasty that ruled much of North Africa, c. 960–1100

During the Middle Ages, North Africa was home to many great scholars, saints and sovereigns including Judah Ibn Quraysh, the first grammarian to mention Semitic and Berber languages, the great Sufi masters Sidi Bumedien (Abu Madyan) and Sidi El Huwari, and the Emirs Abd Al Mu'min and Yāghmūrasen. It was during this time that the Fatimids or children of Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, came to the Maghreb. These "Fatimids" went on to found a long lasting dynasty stretching across the Maghreb, Hejaz and the Levant, boasting a secular inner government, as well as a powerful army and navy, made up primarily of Arabs and Levantines extending from Algeria to their capital state of Cairo. The Fatimid caliphate began to collapse when its governors the Zirids seceded. To punish them the Fatimids sent the Arab Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym against them. The resultant war is recounted in the epic Tāghribāt. In Al-Tāghrībāt the Amazigh Zirid Hero Khālīfā Al-Zānatī asks daily, for duels, to defeat the Hilalan hero Ābu Zayd al-Hilalī and many other Arab knights in a string of victories. The Zirids, however, were ultimately defeated ushering in an adoption of Arab customs and culture. The indigenous Amazigh tribes, however, remained largely independent, and depending on tribe, ___location and time controlled varying parts of the Maghreb, at times unifying it (as under the Fatimids). The Fatimid Islamic state, also known as Fatimid Caliphate made an Islamic empire that included North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Tihamah, Hejaz and Yemen. Caliphates from Northern Africa traded with the other empires of their time, as well as forming part of a confederated support and trade network with other Islamic states during the Islamic Era.

The Berber people historically consisted of several tribes. The two main branches were the Botr and Barnes tribes, who were divided into tribes, and again into sub-tribes. Each region of the Maghreb contained several tribes (for example, Sanhaja, Huara, Zenata, Masmuda, Kutama, Awarba, and Berghwata). All these tribes made independent territorial decisions.

Several Amazigh dynasties emerged during the Middle Ages in the Maghreb and other nearby lands. Ibn Khaldun provides a table summarising the Amazigh dynasties of the Maghreb region, the Zirid, Ifranid, Maghrawa, Almoravid, Hammadid, Almohad, Merinid, Abdalwadid, Wattasid, Meknassa and Hafsid dynasties. Both of the Hammadid and Zirid empires as well as the Fatimids established their rule in all of the Maghreb countries. The Zirids ruled land in what is now Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Spain, Malta and Italy. The Hammadids captured and held important regions such as Uwargla, Constantine, Sfax, Susa, Algiers, Tripoli and Fez establishing their rule in every country in the Maghreb region. The Fatimids which was created and established by the Kutama Berbers conquered all of North Africa as well as Sicily and parts of the Middle East.

 

Territories controlled by the Maghrawa

Following the Berber revolt numerous independent states emerged across the Maghreb. In Algeria the Rustamid Kingdom was established. The Rustamid realm stretched from Tafilalt in Morocco to the Nafusa mountains in Libya including south, central and western Tunisia therefore including territory in all of the modern day Maghreb countries, in the south the Rustamid realm expanded to the modern borders of Mali and included territory in Mauritania.

Once extending their control over all of the Maghreb, part of Spain and briefly over Sicily, originating from modern Algeria, the Zirids only controlled modern Ifriqiya by the 11th century. The Zirids recognised nominal suzerainty of the Fatimid caliphs of Cairo. El Mu'izz the Zirid ruler decided to end this recognition and declared his independence. The Zirids also fought against other Zenata Kingdoms, for example the Maghrawa, a Berber dynasty originating from Algeria and which at one point was a dominant power in the Maghreb ruling over much of Morocco and western Algeria including Fez, Sijilmasa, Aghmat, Oujda, most of the Sous and Draa and reaching as far as M'sila and the Zab in Algeria.

As the Fatimid state was at the time too weak to attempt a direct invasion, they found another means of revenge. Between the Nile and the Red Sea were living Bedouin nomad tribes expelled from Arabia for their disruption and turbulency. The Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym for example, who regularly disrupted farmers in the Nile Valley since the nomads would often loot their farms. The then Fatimid vizier decided to destroy what he could not control, and broke a deal with the chiefs of these Bedouin tribes. The Fatimids even gave them money to leave.

Whole tribes set off with women, children, elders, animals and camping equipment. Some stopped on the way, especially in Cyrenaica, where they are still one of the essential elements of the settlement but most arrived in Ifriqiya by the Gabes region, arriving 1051. The Zirid ruler tried to stop this rising tide, but with each encounter, the last under the walls of Kairouan, his troops were defeated and the Arabs remained masters of the battlefield. The Arabs usually did not take control over the cities, instead looting them and destroying them.

 

Mansourah Mosque, Tlemcen

The invasion kept going, and in 1057 the Arabs spread on the high plains of Constantine where they encircled the Qalaa of Banu Hammad (capital of the Hammadid Emirate), as they had done in Kairouan a few decades ago. From there they gradually gained the upper Algiers and Oran plains. Some of these territories were forcibly taken back by the Almohads in the second half of the 12th century. The influx of Bedouin tribes was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural Arabisation of the Maghreb and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by the Banu Hilal tribes had become completely arid desert.

The Almohads originating from modern day Morocco, although founded by a man originating from modern day Algeria known as Abd al-Mu'min would soon take control over the Maghreb. During the time of the Almohad Dynasty Abd al-Mu'min's tribe, the Kumiya, were the main supporters of the throne and the most important body of the empire. Defeating the weakening Almoravid Empire and taking control over Morocco in 1147, they pushed into Algeria in 1152, taking control over Tlemcen, Oran, and Algiers, wrestling control from the Hilian Arabs, and by the same year they defeated Hammadids who controlled Eastern Algeria.

 

The Zayyanid kingdom of Tlemcen in the fifteenth century and its neighbors

Following their decisive defeat at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, the Almohads began to collapse. In 1235, the governor of modern-day western Algeria, Yaghmurasen Ibn Zyan, declared independence and established the Kingdom of Tlemcen under the Zayyanid dynasty. After warring with the Almohads for 13 years, the Zayyanids decisively defeated them in 1248 by ambushing and killing the Almohad caliph near Oujda.

The Zayyanids retained control over much of Algeria for the next three centuries. While eastern Algeria largely fell under the Hafsid dynasty, the Emirate of Bejaia, which encompassed the Hafsid territories in Algeria, was at times independent from central Tunisian authority. At their peak, the Zayyanids held Morocco as a western vassal expanded eastward as far as Tunis, which was captured during the reign of Abu Tashfin.

Following several conflicts with local Barbary pirates sponsored by the Zayyanid sultans, Spain launched a campaign to invade Algeria and defeat the Kingdom of Tlemcen. In 1505, Spanish forces invaded and captured Mers el Kebir, and in 1509, they conquered Oran after a deadly siege. Following their decisive victories over the Algerians in the western-coastal areas of Algeria, the Spanish expanded their campaign across the western Algerian coast. In 1510, they captured Bejaia after a major siege, launched an assault on Algiers, and besieged Tlemcen. In 1511, they seized Shershell and Jijel, and attacked Mostaganem, which they failed to conquer but succeeded in forcing into tribute.

Early modern era

Main article: Regency of Algiers

 

Hayreddin Barbarossa

In 1516, the Turkish privateer brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa, who operated successfully under the Hafsids, moved their base of operations to Algiers. They succeeded in conquering Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards with help from the locals who saw them as liberators from the Christians, but the brothers eventually assassinated the local noble Salim al-Tumi and took control over the city and the surrounding regions. Their state is known as the Regency of Algiers. When Aruj was killed in 1518 during his invasion of Tlemcen, Hayreddin succeeded him as military commander of Algiers. The Ottoman sultan gave him the title of beylerbey and a contingent of some 2,000 janissaries. With the aid of this force and native Algerians, Hayreddin conquered the whole area between Constantine and Oran (although the city of Oran remained in Spanish hands until 1792).

The next beylerbey was Hayreddin's son Hasan, who assumed the position in 1544. He was a Kouloughli or of mixed origins, as his mother was an Algerian Mooresse. Until 1587 Beylerbeylik of Algiers was governed by Beylerbeys who served terms with no fixed limits. Subsequently, with the institution of a regular administration, governors with the title of pasha ruled for three-year terms. The pasha was assisted by an autonomous janissary unit, known in Algeria as the Ojaq who were led by an agha. Discontent among the ojaq rose in the mid-1600s because they were not paid regularly, and they repeatedly revolted against the pasha. As a result, the agha charged the pasha with corruption and incompetence and seized power in 1659.

Plague had repeatedly struck the cities of North Africa. Algiers lost between 30,000 and 50,000 inhabitants to the plague in 1620–21, and had high fatalities in 1654–57, 1665, 1691 and 1740–42.

 

Map of the Regency of Algiers in early 19th century

The Barbary pirates preyed on Christian and other non-Islamic shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea. The pirates often took the passengers and crew on the ships and sold them or used them as slaves. They also did a brisk business in ransoming some of the captives. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. They often made raids on European coastal towns to capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in North Africa and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. In 1544, for example, Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the island of Ischia, taking 4,000 prisoners, and enslaved some 9,000 inhabitants of Lipari, almost the entire population. In 1551, the Ottoman governor of Algiers, Turgut Reis, enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island of Gozo. Barbary pirates often attacked the Balearic Islands. The threat was so severe that residents abandoned the island of Formentera. The introduction of broad-sail ships from the beginning of the 17th century allowed them to branch out into the Atlantic.

 

Baba Ali Shaush, Dey of Algiers

In July 1627 two pirate ships from Algiers under the command of Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon sailed as far as Iceland, raiding and capturing slaves. Two weeks earlier another pirate ship from Salé in Morocco had also raided in Iceland. Some of the slaves brought to Algiers were later ransomed back to Iceland, but some chose to stay in Algeria. In 1629, pirate ships from Algeria raided the Faroe Islands.

 

Algiers, by Niels Simonsen

In 1659, the Janissaries stationed in Algiers, known as the Odjak of Algiers, joined a company of corsair captains called the Reis in overthrowing the Ottoman viceroy. A new local leader was installed known as the "Agha"; the position became the "Dey" in 1671, who would be selected by the divan, a council of some sixty military senior officers. Thus, Algiers became a sovereign military republic. The odjak initially dominated the system, but by the 18th century were the dey's instrument. Although Algiers remained nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, in reality it acted independently from the rest of the Empire, and often had wars with other Ottoman subjects and territories such as the Beylik of Tunis.

The dey was in effect a constitutional autocrat. Though elected for a life term, over the next 159 years (1671–1830), fourteen of the twenty-nine deys were assassinated. Despite usurpation, military coups and occasional mob rule, the day-to-day operation of the Deylikal government was remarkably orderly. Although the regency patronised the tribal chieftains, it never had the unanimous allegiance of the countryside, where heavy taxation frequently provoked unrest. Autonomous tribal states were tolerated, and the regency's authority was seldom applied in the Kabylia, although in 1730 the Regency was able to take control of the Kingdom of Kuku in western Kabylia. Many cities in the northern Algerian desert paid taxes to Algiers or one of its Beys.

Barbary raids in the Mediterranean continued to attack Spanish merchant shipping, resulting in the Spanish Empire attempting to invade Algiers in 1775. The Spanish Navy bombarded the city in 1783 but failed to pacify it; a subsequent bombing campaign in 1784 was joined by the naval forces of other traditional enemies of Algiers, including Naples, Portugal and the Knights of Malta. Over 20,000 cannonballs were fired, but the effort ultimately failed; Spain sued for peace in 1786 and paid 1 million pesos to the Dey. In 1792, Algiers recaptured the two remaining Spanish strongholds at Oran and Mers el Kebir. In the same year, they conquered the Moroccan Rif and Oujda, which they then abandoned in 1795.

 

Bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet, to support the ultimatum to release European slaves, August 1816

In the 19th century, Algerian pirates remained a formidable force in the Mediterranean, even forging affiliations with Caribbean powers, paying a "license tax" in exchange for safe harbor of their vessels. Attacks on American merchantmen resulted in the First and Second Barbary Wars, which ended the targeting of U.S. ships in 1815. A year later, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, under the command of Lord Exmouth, bombarded Algiers to stop similar attacks on European fishermen. These efforts proved successful, although Algerian piracy would continue until the French conquest in 1830.

French colonisation (1830–1962)

Main articles: French Algeria, Pacification of Algeria, and Algerian War

See also: French North Africa

 

Lalla Fatma N'Sumer, Algerian anti-colonial leader and national hero

Under the pretext of a slight to their consul, the French invaded and captured Algiers in 1830. According to several historians, the methods used by the French to establish control over Algeria reached genocidal proportions. Historian Ben Kiernan wrote on the French conquest of Algeria: "By 1875, the French conquest was complete. The war had killed approximately 825,000 indigenous Algerians since 1830". French losses from 1831 to 1851 were 92,329 dead in the hospital and only 3,336 killed in action. In 1872, The Algerian population stood at about 2.9 million. French policy was predicated on "civilising" the country. The slave trade and piracy in Algeria ceased following the French conquest. The conquest of Algeria by the French took some time and resulted in considerable bloodshed. A combination of violence and disease epidemics caused the indigenous Algerian population to decline by nearly one-third from 1830 to 1872. On 17 September 1860, Napoleon III declared "Our first duty is to take care of the happiness of the three million Arabs, whom the fate of arms has brought under our domination." During this time, only Kabylia resisted, the Kabylians were not colonised until after the Mokrani Revolt in 1871.

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote and never completed an unpublished essay outlining his ideas for how to transform Algeria from an occupied tributary state to a colonial regime, wherein he advocated for a mixed system of "total domination and total colonisation" whereby French military would wage total war against civilian populations while a colonial administration would provide rule of law and property rights to settlers within French occupied cities.

 

Emir Abdelkader, Algerian leader insurgent against French colonial rule, 1865

From 1848 until independence, France administered the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria as an integral part and département of the nation. One of France's longest-held overseas territories, Algeria became a destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, who became known as colons and later, as Pied-Noirs. Between 1825 and 1847, 50,000 French people emigrated to Algeria. These settlers benefited from the French government's confiscation of communal land from tribal peoples, and the application of modern agricultural techniques that increased the amount of arable land. Many Europeans settled in Oran and Algiers, and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the population in both cities.

During the late 19th and early 20th century, the European share was almost a fifth of the population. The French government aimed at making Algeria an assimilated part of France, and this included substantial educational investments especially after 1900. The indigenous cultural and religious resistance heavily opposed this tendency, but in contrast to the other colonised countries' path in central Asia and Caucasus, Algeria kept its individual skills and a relatively human-capital intensive agriculture.

During the Second World War, Algeria came under Vichy control before being liberated by the Allies in Operation Torch, which saw the first large-scale deployment of American troops in the North African campaign.

 

The six historical Leaders of the FLN: Rabah Bitat, Mostefa Ben Bulaid, Murad Didushe, Mohammed Budiaf, Krim Belkasem and Larbi Ben M'Hidi.

Gradually, dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, which lacked political and economic status under the colonial system, gave rise to demands for greater political autonomy and eventually independence from France. In May 1945, the uprising against the occupying French forces was suppressed through what is now known as the Setif and Gelma massacre. Tensions between the two population groups came to a head in 1954, when the first violent events of what was later called the Algerian War began after the publication of the Declaration of 1 November 1954. Historians have estimated that between 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependents were killed by the National Liberation Front (FLN) or by lynch mobs in Algeria. The FLN used hit and run attacks in Algeria and France as part of its war, and the French conducted severe reprisals. In addition, the French destroyed over 8,000 villages and relocated over 2 million Algerians to concentration camps.

The war led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Algerians and hundreds of thousands of injuries. Historians, like Alistair Horne and Raymond Aron, state that the actual number of Algerian Muslim war dead was far greater than the original FLN and official French estimates but was less than the 1 million deaths claimed by the Algerian government after independence. Horne estimated Algerian casualties during the span of eight years to be around 700,000. The war uprooted more than 2 million Algerians.

The war against French rule concluded in 1962, when Algeria gained complete independence following the March 1962 Evian agreements and the July 1962 self-determination referendum.

The first three decades of independence (1962–1991)

Main article: History of Algeria (1962–1999)

 

Huwari Bumedien

The number of European Pied-Noirs who fled Algeria totaled more than 900,000 between 1962 and 1964. The exodus to mainland France accelerated after the Oran massacre of 1962, in which hundreds of militants entered European sections of the city and began attacking civilians.

Algeria's first president was the National Liberation Front (FLN) leader Ahmed Ben Bella. Morocco's claim to portions of western Algeria led to the Sand War in 1963. Ben Bella was overthrown in 1965 by Huwari Bumedien, his former ally and defence minister. Under Ben Bella, the government had become increasingly socialist and authoritarian; Bumedien continued this trend. However, he relied much more on the army for his support, and reduced the sole legal party to a symbolic role. He collectivised agriculture and launched a massive industrialisation drive. Oil extraction facilities were nationalised. This was especially beneficial to the leadership after the international 1973 oil crisis.

Bumedien's successor, Shadli Benjedid, introduced some liberal economic reforms. He promoted a policy of Arabisation in Algerian society and public life. Teachers of Arabic, brought in from other Muslim countries, spread conventional Islamic thought in schools and sowed the seeds of a return to Orthodox Islam.

The Algerian economy became increasingly dependent on oil, leading to hardship when the price collapsed during the 1980s oil glut. Economic recession caused by the crash in world oil prices resulted in Algerian social unrest during the 1980s; by the end of the decade, Benjedid introduced a multi-party system. Political parties developed, such as the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a broad coalition of Muslim groups.

Civil War, coup, and aftermath (1991–1998)

Main articles: Algerian Civil War, 1996 Algerian coup d'état

 

Massacres of over 50 people in 1997–1998. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed responsibility for many of them.

In December 1991 the Islamic Salvation Front dominated the first of two rounds of legislative elections. Fearing the election of an Islamist government, the authorities intervened on 11 January 1992, cancelling the elections. Benjedid resigned and a High Council of State was installed to act as the Presidency. It banned the FIS, triggering a civil insurgency between the Front's armed wing, the Armed Islamic Group, and the national armed forces, in which more than 100,000 people are thought to have died. The Islamist militants conducted a violent campaign of civilian massacres. At several points in the conflict, the situation in Algeria became a point of international concern, most notably during the crisis surrounding Air France Flight 8969, a hijacking perpetrated by the Armed Islamic Group.

Liamin Zerual was became president in 1994, he was considered a dialoguist, and angered the eradicationist military leaders by appearing to support negotiations with the Islamists. In May 1996, the military overthrew him in a coup that lead to multiple days of street fighting in Algiers between those participating in the coup, Zerual loyalists and FIS, and GIA forces attempting to take advantage of the situation. The coup was a success, with Zerual being captured and the Islamist forces routed from the capital. The next two years saw increased brutality from insurgent forces, with many massacres being carried out from 1996 to 1998.

The new government implemented strict secularist policies, these included banning the burqa, as well as stepping up anti-insurgent efforts to weaken the Islamists. From 1998, following a years-long power struggle, Abd al-Rahman Riad led the government, and was considered to be both harshly in favor of secularization and effective in his tactics against the rebels.

Over the course of the next few years, the FIS gradually became weaker as its members were killed or captured by government forces and others joined the more radical GIA. Also from 1998, an al-Qaeda affiliated organization known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) was formed, even more radical than the GIA.

Riad's early reforms (1998 - 2011)

 

Amazigh women in Bejaia, 2013. Algerian government policies sought to increase freedom among both women and Berbers in the country.

Following the 1996 coup, the national parliament was shut down and not allowed to convene. Upon coming to power in 1998 President Riad continued this policy, essentially making himself the sole authority in the nation. The next year a new, authoritarian constitution was signed by Riad which he said would promote progress, secularism, and order. The constitution officially changed the country's name from the Democratic People's Republic of Algeria to the Republic of Algeria, and the name of its military from the People's National Army to the Armed Forces of the Republic of Algeria (AFRA). The 1999 constitution also enshrined gender equality.

Following this, Riad established a new government on a technocratic basis, setting a tradition of technocratic government that continues to this day. Early reforms involved the creation of a secular, western style education system, helped in part by advisors imported from Europe and the United States. This started a pattern of hiring outside assistance while still attempting not to be overly influenced by foreign powers. Algeria also began improving the capability of its military, which became easier as Islamist rebels were slowly defeated. Conscription was expanded while special forces made up of volunteers began to receive more modern, western equipment; this would soon be expanded to the rest of the army. The air force and navy were also invested in, with new western aircraft and ships being imported starting around 2002.

In 1999, the family code was changed to reflect the gender equality established in the constitution, banning polygamy and allowing women to freely divorce their husbands, among other changes. The country's feminist policies sought to affect every aspect of life in Algeria. Women were allowed equal service in the military, including in combat roles, and new laws sought to prevent workplace discrimination. Women were also included heavily in the government, with many achieving very prominent roles, such as foreign minister Asma Hamadi (2004 - 2016) and education minister Latifa Ghazi (2008 - 2012).

Another change was a decreased emphasis on Arab nationalism and a push for Algerianism, or civic nationalism. A major part of this was an emphasis on Algeria's pre-Islamic past and a campaign for the Amazigh population to be more prominent in Algerian society. Many Berbers were given prominent government roles and their language was made official in the government, with a push for it to become a dual national language along with Arabic, like French in Canada. Also regarding language, Riad made and effort to greatly decrease use of the French language in Algeria, with English taking its place as Algeria's most spoken foreign language in 2010.

Economic reforms were slow at first, with a focus mainly on increasing business opportunity and allowing for free trade. Economists in the Algerian government synthesized Rhine Capitalism with the East Asian model in an effort to achieve the rapid growth Germany and Japan saw following the Second World War. The country at first used its oil and gas reserves to pay for more expensive reforms, both in the military and in the energy sector, like investing in solar and nuclear power plants. Increased economic prosperity saw decreased Islamist action and secularism becoming more popular in the nation; this convinced the United States and other foreign powers to invest more in the Algerian economy, fueling growth even further.

Post-Arab Spring (2011 - present)

While economic growth slowed somewhat, Algeria largely escaped the 2008 economic crisis unscathed. Despite this continued growth, many Algerians felt repressed by Riad's authoritarian regime, and many still had Islamist sympathies. Due to this, Algeria experienced a number of protests during the Arab Spring. During this time of unrest, police forces didn't crack down on protestors as harshly as in other Arab dictatorships, instead gatherings were allowed to be held across the country demonstrating against the dictatorship. Riad announced that new reforms would be made to democratize the country, and in 2012 the first elections were held. However, only one party was allowed to run, the newly-formed Republican Party of Algeria, angering many activists; Islamist leaders who had come to lead certain protest movements were imprisoned with harsh sentences, and the country remained a dictatorship.

For other countries in the region, the Arab Spring spiraled until full-scale civil war. In neighboring Libya, longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown the First Libyan Civil War (Algeria provided some covert aid to the rebels), while Mali descended into war following a Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country. Algeria supported the MNLA rebels at the start of the war, and especially following the 2012 coup d'état. This support changed following the emergence of Islamist forces, which sought to turn the Tuareg movement into a pan-Islamic one. Following the Battle of Gao, which saw extremists seize control of the Malian rebellion, Algeria sent a group of special forces to Timbuktu in order to prevent al-Qaeda from destroying the world heritage sites there. Islamist forces attacked the city, but were repelled with heavy losses, with no Algerian soldiers killed in the fighting. Following this, Algeria negotiated a ceasefire between the MNLA and the Malian government, and began participating in the African Union-led peacekeeping mission. Their forces took a more aggressive approach to this than others, launching ground raids and airstrikes on extremist forces throughout both Mali and other countries in the Sahel. The Algerians also launched ground attacks from their border with Mali to prevent hostile forces from infiltrating.

 

Algerian F-16 takes off to strike targets in Kabyle, 2012

Starting in 2014, the Islamic State began a campaign against the Algerian government, threatening many times to execute President Riad and calling on devout Muslims to join their struggle. The military responded harshly, and within two years IS had lost almost all presence in the country.

Also in 2014, Libya collapsed into a second civil war when the House of Representatives moved to Tobruk, in the east of the country, and rebelled against the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli; the rebellion would come to be led by the Libyan National Army under Khalifa Haftar, and supported by Russia, Egypt, France, and the UAE. Algeria publicly backed the GNA, but refrained from closely involving themselves in the fighting, not wanting to fight two wars at once. They were accused however of violating the UN arms embargo on Libya, as well as secretly supporting Tuareg forces in Ubari against the HoR-backed Tubu tribe. Algeria also launched airstrikes on al-Qaeda and Islamic State held positions.

Over the course of the next few years Algeria became a major regional power and used this to push for closer trade and diplomatic relations with the European Union. Algeria strongly supported Ukraine in the Crimea dispute and Donbas war, and condemned Russian support for Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria. This increased role in international politics allowed them to increase economic ties with the west, but President Riad also brought Algeria into China's Belt and Road Initiative, allowing China to build infrastructure projects across the country. Riad also allowed western countries to send Syrian refugees to settle in Algeria, in addition to Malian, Libyan, and Nigerien refugees already coming into the country. This provoked some xenophobic sentiments among the populace, but any such movements were repressed or shut down if the government felt they had grown too large, similar to other conservative or reactionary movements in the country.

In 2019 the LNA began an offensive aimed at taking Tripoli and ending the Libyan civil war. In response, Algeria began a direct intervention with 12,000 soldiers with the objective of stopping Haftar's offensive and ultimately taking Tripoli to put and end to the HoR rebellion. Algeria's offensive was a major success, and by 2021 the LNA was defeated, with all its principle leaders captured and imprisoned in Libya. Following this, Algeria began cooperating with Chadian rebels, supporting them and convincing the Libyan government to allow them a base in the south from where they could launch attacks into northern Chad. Many analysts believe this is being done to help reduce French influence in Africa.

In 2020, Algeria agreed to sign the Abraham Accords with Israel alongside Morocco following an American-mediated agreement giving significant autonomy to the Western Sahara in exchange for the Polisario Front ending its war on Morocco and retracting their declaration of independence. Algeria agreed to work with both Israel and Morocco to promote stability in the MENA region. This began a process which allowed the Maghreb countries to work together more closely, making the Arab Maghreb Union, now renamed the Union of the Maghreb, to become a more influential body; the five nations agreed to form a common market in 2023, and there are proposals for a common currency as well.

In 2021, a coup in Mali resulted in the end of Tuareg autonomy, breaking the ceasefire agreement. Tuareg forces subsequently launched an offensive in northern Mali once again, and were this time directly supported by the Algerian government, which claimed the Malian government was now illegitimate for breaking the ceasefire. In 2023 a coup in Niger caused a crisis that saw Algeria and ECOWAS launched a joint offensive and restore the legal Nigerien government to power, thus weakening the still growing Russian influence in Africa.

 

Algerian protest in Blida, 2023. The protest movement would result the country's apparent democratization by the next year.

Despite instability in the region, the Algerian economy only grew stronger over the course of the 2010s, and this time also saw a faster liberalization of the population, with women increasingly not veiling themselves, decreased influence of religion, and even slowly increasing support for LGBTQ rights. Around 2018 President Riad began contemplating full democratization, according to some, but the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns put this on hold for the next few years. In 2023, a secular, grassroots protest movement began calling for the democratization of the country and Riad's resignation. Protests continued all throughout that year and into 2024, and on 21 May, President Riad agreed to allow free elections to parliament and to work with the new parliament to draft a new, democratic constitution. Elections were monitored by the UN and independent groups, and found to have been both free and fair. The result was a coalition government between the Republican Party, Socialist Forces Front (SFF), and the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD or Rally). The new constitution was signed by President Riad on 26 June 2025, creating a parliamentary system with figurehead president. Critics point out that no Islamic parties were allowed to run (due in part to a general ban on sectarian parties), and the fact that many government critics remain imprisoned and many still remain at risk of being arrested for holding certain political or religious views.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Algeria

 

The Sahara, the Hoggar Mountains and the Atlas Mountains compose the Algerian relief.

Since the 2011 breakup of Sudan, and the creation of South Sudan, Algeria has been the largest country in Africa. It is also the largest country of the Mediterranean basin. Its southern part includes a significant portion of the Sahara. To the north, the Tell Atlas forms with the Saharan Atlas, further south, two parallel sets of reliefs in approaching eastbound, and between which are inserted vast plains and highlands. Both Atlas tend to merge in eastern Algeria. The vast mountain ranges of Aures and Nememsha occupy the entire northeastern Algeria and are delineated by the Tunisian border. The highest point is Mount Tahat (3,003 metres or 9,852 feet).

Algeria lies mostly between latitudes 19° and 37°N (a small area is north of 37°N and south of 19°N), and longitudes 9°W and 12°E. Most of the coastal area is hilly, sometimes even mountainous, and there are a few natural harbours. The area from the coast to the Tell Atlas is fertile. South of the Tell Atlas is a steppe landscape ending with the Saharan Atlas; farther south, there is the Sahara desert.

The Hoggar Mountains (Arabic: جبال هقار), also known as the Hoggar, are a highland region in central Sahara, southern Algeria. They are located about 1,500 km (932 mi) south of the capital, Algiers, and just east of Tamanghasset. Algiers, Oran, Constantine, and Annaba are Algeria's main cities.

Climate and hydrology

Main article: Climate of Algeria

 

The Algerian Desert makes up more than 90% of the country's total area.

In this region, midday desert temperatures can be hot year round. After sunset, however, the clear, dry air permits rapid loss of heat, and the nights are cool to chilly. Enormous daily ranges in temperature are recorded.

Rainfall is fairly plentiful along the coastal part of the Tell Atlas, ranging from 400 to 670 mm (15.7 to 26.4 in) annually, the amount of precipitation increasing from west to east. Precipitation is heaviest in the northern part of eastern Algeria, where it reaches as much as 1,000 mm (39.4 in) in some years.

Farther inland, the rainfall is less plentiful. Algeria also has ergs, or sand dunes, between mountains. Among these, in the summer time when winds are heavy and gusty, temperatures can go up to 43.3 °C (110 °F).

 

The Babor mountains and the Jijel Coast. The Erraguene lake can be seen on the right.

Climate change in Algeria has wide-reaching effects on the country. Algeria was not a significant contributor to climate change, but, like other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, is expected to be among the most affected by climate change impacts. Because a large part of the country is in already hot and arid geographies, including part of the Sahara, already strong heat and water resource access challenges are expected to get worse, though this has been abated through the use of desalination technology. As early as 2014, scientists were attributing extreme heat waves to climate change in Algeria. The Algerian government has made significant effort to help abate climate change and to encourage other nations to do the same. Algeria was ranked 8th of countries in the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index.

Fauna and flora

Main article: Wildlife of Algeria

 

Algeria map of Köppen climate classification

The varied vegetation of Algeria includes coastal, mountainous and grassy desert-like regions which all support a wide range of wildlife.

In Algeria forest cover is a little bit above 1% of the total land area, equivalent to 2,649,000 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 1,667,000 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 1,839,000 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 810,000 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 12% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 26% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 86% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership, 12% private ownership and 2% with ownership listed as other or unknown.

Many of the creatures constituting the Algerian wildlife live in close proximity to civilisation. The most commonly seen animals include the wild boars, jackals, and gazelles, although it is not uncommon to spot fennecs (foxes), and jerboas. Algeria also has a small African leopard and Saharan cheetah population, but these are seldom seen. A species of deer, the Barbary stag, inhabits the dense humid forests in the north-eastern areas. The fennec fox is the national animal of Algeria.

 

The Barbary lion is the national animal of Algeria.

A variety of bird species makes the country an attraction for bird watchers. The forests are inhabited by boars and jackals. Barbary macaques are the sole native monkey. Snakes, monitor lizards, and numerous other reptiles can be found living among an array of rodents throughout the semi arid regions of Algeria. Many animals were once extinct but have been brought back through various means, including the Barbary lions, Atlas bears and crocodiles.

In the north, some of the native flora includes Macchia scrub, olive trees, oaks, cedars and other conifers. The mountain regions contain large forests of evergreens (Aleppo pine, juniper, and evergreen oak) and some deciduous trees. Fig, eucalyptus, agave, and various palm trees grow in the warmer areas. The grape vine is indigenous to the coast. In the Sahara region, some oases have palm trees. Acacias with wild olives are the predominant flora in the remainder of the Sahara. Algeria had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.22/10, ranking it 106th globally out of 172 countries.

Camels are used extensively; the desert also abounds with venomous and nonvenomous snakes, scorpions, and numerous insects.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Algeria

Algeria's government has been described as technocratic, with a strong emphasis on the qualifications and education of those in key positions. From 1998 Algeria was ruled as a civilian dictatorship justifying its rule as necessary to drive progress for the nation; since 2024, the country has seamingly democratized, while doubts remain as to how much the government has truly changed. Government critics are still at risk of arrest or even being killed, while many high-profile critics remain, including within the legislature. Islamists and others deemed as "reactionary" are generally repressed more than other, more left-wing critics.

Algerian politics today are considered some of the most stable in the region, and government supporters argue their country has the most functional democracy in Africa and the Arab World. The state is a westminster-based system, with a popularly elected ceremonial president as head of state who can serve 2 four-year terms. While Abd al-Rahman Riad has held the title of President of Algeria since 1998, he is considered eligible to run for re-election in 2028, as term limits do not apply retroactively according to the constitution.

 

The Legislative Assembly

The parliament is bicameral, with the lower house being called the Legislative Assembly, elected by proportional representation, with 650 seats. The upper house is called the Senate, which has 200 seats and is made up of representatives of Algeria's provinces, tribal leaders, trade unions, employers organizations, and government appointees. The Senate has little power to stop bills agreed to by the Legislative Assembly, but is also able to propose laws which may then be debated by the lower house. All members of both chambers may serve any number of four-year terms, or if special elections are needed, such as if an MP dies in office.

The Prime Minister of Algeria is the head of government and is generally expected to be the leader of the party with the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Prime Minister appoints the cabinet, which is generally expected to be both diverse and technocratic, with a high proportion of women and Amazigh cabinet members, each well educated and suited to their appointment.

Algeria has universal suffrage for those above the age of 18, who vote by secret ballot. According to the constitution, no political association may be formed if it is "based on differences in religion, language, race, gender, profession, or region". In addition, political campaigns must be exempt from the aforementioned subjects. The law does state that parties must have at least 35% of their candidates be women, and the Senate has representatives for all major ethnic and religious groups in the country. Elections were last held on 26 October 2024, in which the ruling Republican Party lost 320 seats from 2020 (when it was the sole legal party), but remained the largest party in the assembly. The Republicans formed a coalition with the left-wing Socialist Forces Front (SFF), which won 134 seats, and the Rally for Culture and Democracy, which had received 53 seats. The opposition is led by Democratic National Rally (DNR), which has 139 seats. The remainder of the assembly is occupied by the far-right New Dawn, with 37 seats, and independents, which make up a combined 24 seats.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Algeria

Algeria has been characterized as an emerging or rising, a middle, a quasi-regional, and a regional power. Algeria's constant foreign policy goal is to pursue its national interests. These interests are mainly growing the economy, and maintaining security from internal terrorist and external threats. Overall, Algeria aims for good relations with West Africa, the Maghreb states, the United States, the European Union, and Turkey. With the West, Algeria also aims to continue their investment in the country and for free trade. By trading with the west and joining the Belt and Road Initiative, Algeria pursues economic growth.

Algeria has sought closer relations with sub-saharan states following the Arab Spring and start of the war in Mali. Closer relations with Morocco, considered a rival country for decades, was achieved. Algeria is a founding member of the Union of the Maghreb and the Union for the Mediterranean. It is also a member of the Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Following their intervention in Libya, Algeria has had problems with countries such as United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt. There are disputes with Mali over their opposition to their authoritarian government and with Chad. In 2019, the Algerian military and the GNA forces forces began joint operations in Libya aimed at destroying the Libyan National Army under Khalifa Haftar, based in Tobruk. Algeria has also conducted airstrikes in Mali, which was criticized by the Malian government for violating its sovereignty and killing their soldiers. Diplomatic relations with Israel were normalized in 2019, and cut again following the increased allegations of genocide in Gaza. In 2024, Algeria stopped trading with Israel.

Military

Main article: Military of Algeria

 

Algerian F-35

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Algeria (AFRA) are responsible for defense against foreign threats. It is the direct successor of the National Liberation Army (Armée de Libération Nationale or ALN), the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front which fought French colonial occupation during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). While the Commander-in-Chief is the President, General Staff, Air Force, Naval Force, and Land Force usually report to the Minister of Defence. The Gendarmerie General Command and the Coast Guard Command are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior. Service in the military is compulsory for men aged 19–30, for a total of 12 months. However, conscripts rarely never see any action, and foreign deployments tend to involve mostly or entirely special forces and other volunteers.

Total military personnel include 247,000 active and 450,000 reserve. The military expenditure was 2.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024. Algeria has the largest military in North Africa with the largest defence budget in Africa ($36 billion).

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Algeria

Algeria has been categorised by the US government funded Freedom House as "not free" since it began publishing such ratings in 1972, with the exception of 1989, 1990, and 1991, when the country was labelled "partly free". Algeria has historically been found to arrest, imprison, and forcibly disappear vocal opponents of the regime. Allegations of torture have also been made in the past. Media freedom is generally poor, and Al-Jazeera was banned in the country until 2014. Other, more conservative, Islamist networks have been banned from operating, shut down, and had their leaders imprisoned. Most of these problems have abated since 2024, but conservative critics still remain at risk, according some human rights groups, and almost none of those imprisoned under Riad's regime have been freed.

Algeria follows tripartite corporatist principles in dealing with labor disputes. Both labor unions and employers' organizations are expected to act as social partners to create economic policy through cooperation, consultation, negotiation, and compromise. The government has a large role in the economy and engages in negotiations between labour unions and business interest groups to establish economic policy.

Homosexuality is legal in Algeria, making one of the few muslim countries in the world where this is the case. Nearly 50% of Algerians think that homosexuality should be accepted, according to the survey conducted by the BBC News Arabic-Arab Barometer in 2019. Algeria showed the highest LGBT acceptance compared to other Arab countries where the survey was conducted.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Provinces of Algeria, Districts of Algeria, and Municipalities of Algeria

Algeria is divided into 58 provinces (wilayas), 553 districts (dayiras) and 1,541 municipalities (baladiyahs). Each province, district, and municipality is named after its seat, which is usually the largest city.

The administrative divisions have changed several times since independence. When introducing new provinces, the numbers of old provinces are kept, hence the non-alphabetical order. With their official numbers, currently (since 1983) they are:

The current 58 provinces (wilayas) of Algeria

#	Wilaya	Area (km2)	Population	map	#	Wilaya	Area (km2)	Population
1	Adrar	402,197	439,700		30	Uwargla	211,980	552,539
2	Shlef	4,975	1,013,718		31	Oran	2,114	1,584,607
3	Laghuat	25,057	477,328		32	El Bayadh	78,870	262,187
4	Um El Buwaghi	6,768	644,364		33	Illizi	285,000	54,490
5	Batna	12,192	1,128,030		34	Borj Bu Arrrij	4,115	634,396
6	Bejaia	3,268	915,835		35	Bumerdes	1,591	795,019
7	Biskra	20,986	730,262		36	El Taref	3,339	411,783
8	Bechar	161,400	274,866		37	Tinduf	58,193	159,000
9	Blida	1,696	1,009,892		38	Tissemsilt	3,152	296,366
10	Buwira	4,439	694,750		39	El Wed	54,573	673,934
11	Tamanrasset	556,200	198,691		40	Khenshela	9,811	384,268
12	Tebessa	14,227	657,227		41	Suk Ahras	4,541	440,299
13	Tlemcen	9,061	945,525		42	Tipaza	2,166	617,661
14	Tiaret	20,673	842,060		43	Mila	9,375	768,419
15	Tizi Uzu	3,568	1,119,646		44	Ain Defla	4,897	771,890
16	Algiers	273	2,947,461		45	Naama	29,950	209,470
17	Jelfa	66,415	1,223,223		46	Ain Timushent	2,376	384,565
18	Jijel	2,577	634,412		47	Ghardaia	86,105	375,988
19	Setif	6,504	1,496,150		48	Relizane	4,870	733,060
20	Sayida	6,764	328,685		49	Timimun	8,835	162,267
21	Skikda	4,026	904,195		50	Borj Baji Mokhtar	62,215	57,276
22	Sidi Bel Abbes	9,150	603,369		51	Uled Jellal	11,410	174,219
23	Annaba	1,439	640,050		52	Beni Abbes	120,026	16,437
24	Gelma	4,101	482,261		53	In Salah	101,350	50,163
25	Constantine	2,187	943,112		54	In Gezzam	65,203	122,019
26	Medea	8,866	830,943		55	Tugurt	17,428	247,221
27	Mostaganem	2,269	746,947		56	Janet	86,185	17,618
28	M'Sila	18,718	991,846		57	El M'Ghair	131,220	50,392
29	Mascara	5,941	780,959		58	El Menia	88,126	11,202

Economy

Main article: Economy of Algeria

Republican Party of Algeria

Republican Party of Algeria الحزب الجمهوري الجزائري
Leader	Laila Zaman
Secretary-General	Abdelkrim Laghdaf
Founder	Abd al-Rahman Riad
Founded	21 February 2012; 13 years ago (2012-02-21)
Headquarters	Algiers
Membership (2019)	3,500,000
Ideology	Algerian nationalism Social democracy Secularism Progressivism Factions: Kemalism Democratic Socialism Environmentalism Laicism Nasserism Berberism Reformist Marxism Technocracy Corporatism
Political position	Centre-left Factions: Far-left to Right-wing
Colors	Green
Legislative Assembly	263 / 650
Provincial Assemblies	1,211 / 2,004
Municipalities	803 / 1,540
Municipal Assemblies	11,603 / 24,876
Party flag
Politics of Algeria Political parties Elections

The Republican Party of Algeria (Arabic: الحزب الجمهوري الجزائري Al-Ḥizb Al-Jumhūrīyyah al-Jazā'iriyyah), is a social-democratic and secularist political party in Algeria. It was formed in 2012 during the rule of president Abd al-Rahman Riad, and was the sole legal and ruling political party of the Algerian state until other parties were legalised in 2023. It is currently the largest party in the Algerian Legislative Assembly, and rules in a coalition with the Socialist Forces Front.

The party was formed as part of the nation-building efforts of President Riad, and as a result of the reopening of the national parliament due to Arab Spring protests. The parliament during this time was generally considered a rubber-stamp parliament, and the party itself wasn't believed to have real agency. This changed in 2024 when Algeria held its first multi-party elections since 1991. Since then, Algeria is widely believed to have largely democratized, though doubts remain over whether President Riad will honor his commitment to leave politics in 2028.

The Republican Party considers itself the primary vehicle for political, social, and economic progress in Algeria, and places a great deal of importance in both practical gains for Algeria and its people and the concept of progress itself. Under the dictatorship of President Riad, the party was essentially a tool used to further his reformist efforts, similar to the CHP under Ataturk. Due to this, the party became a big tent coalition of different ideologies, each with different ideas of how progress should be made in the country. Over time, however, the party has largely become dominated by its center left elements, focusing on environmentalism, infrastructure development, increased access to housing, and technological innovation.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

1. "La standardisation de la transcription n'est pas tranchée : Quelle graphie pour tamazight ?". El Watan (in French). 22 April 2020. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.