11 ATLASES
History of Algeria in maps
Algeria as it appears in 11 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Numidia, Algeria, French Algeria. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Algeria before it was Algeria? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Numidia (mod. Algeria) · Ancient Rome
Masinissa, king of Numidia, chose Rome before Zama. His later pressure on Carthage helped bring on the Third Punic War. Rome’s war against Jugurtha in 112–106 BC advanced Marius’ career, linking Numidia to changes in Roman military politics (Ch. 4). The region later supplied Rome with grain. In 430 Augustine of Hippo was dying while Vandals besieged his city.
| 264 BC | Tribal peoples & confederations — the opening position |
| 201 BC | Roman clients & allies |
| 30 BC | Roman territory |
| Former Roman lands (lost) |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria (French) · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
French Algeria · Road to WW2
| Colonial empires & possessions — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria · WW2
| Western Allies — the opening position | |
| Axis allies & puppets | |
| Western Allies |
Algeria · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria · Decolonization of Africa
Algeria was a special case. French law treated it as part of France, and a million European settlers lived there. The FLN’s war of 1954–62, preceded by Sétif, encompassed the Battle of Algiers, torture and the OAS’s scorched exit. Perhaps hundreds of thousands died, and France’s Fourth Republic fell before independence was won in July 1962. This was a settler war fought to the bitter end, and movements across southern Africa studied it as a template.
| French-ruled — the opening position | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria (French until 1962) · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
Algeria became independent of France in 1962 after a war. Its 1984 Family Code retained polygamy and a husband’s guardianship, unlike Tunisia’s Personal Status Code. In the 1990s a civil war between the army and Islamist insurgents killed somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 people. That memory made many Algerians wary of revolution in 2011.
| Authoritarian, one-party or colonial rule — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Authoritarian, one-party or colonial rule |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Algeria · Refugee crises
| Western bloc or democracy — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Related
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