African Kingdoms

Algeria

One of the largest African countries, Algeria occupies a large tract of territory between the Mediterranean and the Sahara, with modern Tunisia and Libya bordering it to the east, and Morocco to the west. Inhabited by tribes of Berbers since at least twelve thousand years ago, it was the Carthaginian settlements along the coast and a period of hegemony over the Berbers that caused the natives to gravitate towards the creation of their own kingdoms. Domination by Rome followed from 200 BC, something which lasted for seven hundred years.

North-eastern Algeria was temporarily a stronghold of the Vandals in the fifth and sixth centuries, until it was re-conquered by Eastern Rome in AD 534.  A century and a half later, the Byzantines were in no position to prevent the loss of North Africa to the Islamic empire in 698. Algeria remained under their direct control until 776, when the Rustamids took control.

200 BC - AD 429

The Berbers of North Africa are conquered by Rome and remain within the republic and empire for the next seven hundred years.

429 - 534

Under pressure from the newly settled Visigoths, the Vandals and Alans move south from Iberia and invade Roman North Africa. An independent autocracy is formed in modern Tunisia and north-eastern Algeria.

534 - 698

North Africa is re-conquered by Byzantium from the Vandals.

The Roman ruins at Batna in Algeria would still have been largely habitable during the Byzantine ownership of Algeria

698 - 776

Western North Africa is separated from Byzantium by the Islamic empire.

Rustamid Imams
AD 776 - 909

The Rustamids (variously, Rustumids, or Rostemids) ruled the central Maghreb for a century and a half from their capital at Tahert in present Algeria until it was destroyed. The state's extent is not entirely clear, but it stretched as far east as Jabal Nafusa in Libya.

776 - 784

Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rustam ibn Bahram

784 - 832

Abd al-Wahhab

Son.

800 - 812

The Aghlabid Amirs of Tunisia claim to rule Algeria.

832 - 871

Aflah ibn Abd al-Wahhab

Son.

871

Abu Bakr ibn Aflah

Son.

871 - 894

Muhammad Abul-Yaqzan ibn Aflah

Brother.

894 - 897

Yusuf Abu Hatim

Son.

897 - 901

Yaqub ibn Aflah

Son of Aflah ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

901 - 906

Yusuf Abu Hatim

Restored.

906 - 909

Yaqzan ibn Muhammad Abil-Yaqzan

Brother.

909 - 1171

With the Rustamids now militarily weak, they prove easy prey for conquest by the Fatamid Amirs of Tunisia.

1171- 1229

The Ayyubids of Egypt take control in Algeria.

1229 - 1518

Algeria becomes a battleground for Hafsids of Tunisia, the Merinids of Morocco, and the Western Algerian Abdul-Wadids & Zayyanids, with rule alternating between them for periods.

Abdul Wadids / Zayyanid Dynasty
AD 1236 - 1554

The Zayyanids (Zayyaniyyun) were a dynasty of Zanatah Berbers who ruled western Algeria. They were based at the inland city of Tlemcen (Tilimsan - the former Roman town of Pomaria) in western Algeria, and were at first loyal vassals to the Almohad caliphs in Morocco. The extent of Zayyanid territory fluctuated greatly throughout the dynasty's history. The Zayyanids experienced two peaks: during the late thirteenth and the early sixteenth centuries, they held most of Algeria, including large sections of the coast. But throughout their history, they were vulnerable to attacks from their Merinid and Hafsid neighbours, as well as to tribal unrest inside their own dominions.

In the 1230s another group of Zanatah Berbers, the Banu 'Abd al-Wad ('Abd al-Wadid dynasty), took control of the region of Tlemcen. The state they founded there was overrun several times in the thirteen and fourteenth centuries.

1236 - 1283

Yaghmurasan

1269

The Zayyanids capture Marrakesh, ending Almohad rule in Algeria.

1283 - 1304

Abu Sa'id Uthman I

1304 - 1308

Abu Zayyan I Muhammad

1308 - 1318

Abu Hammu Musa I

1318 - 1337

Abu Tashufin 'Abd al-Rahman I

1337 - 1348

The Moroccan Merinids conquer Algeria.

1348 - 1352

Abu Sa'id Uthman II

1348 - 1352

al-Zaim Abu Thabit I

Joint ruler.

1352 - 1359

The Moroccan Merinids again conquer Algeria.

1359 - 1360

Abu Hammu Musa II

d.1389.

1360

Abu Zayyan Muhammad II ibn Uthman

d.1387.

1360 - 1370

Abu Hammu Musa II

Restored.

1370 - 1372

Abu Zayyan Muhammad II

Restored.

1372 - 1383

Abu Hammu Musa II

Restored.

1383 - 1384

Abu Zayyan Muhammad II

Restored.

1384 - 1387

Abu Hammu Musa II

Restored.

1387

Abu Zayyan Muhammad II

Restored.

1387 - 1389

Abu Hammu Musa II

Restored.

1389 - 1394

Abu Tashufin Abd al-Rahman II

1394

Abu Thabit Yusuf I

1394 - 1395

Abu'l-Hajjaj Yusuf II

1395 - 1400

Abu Zayyan Muhammad III

1400 - 1402

Abu Muhammad Abdallah I

1402 - 1411

Abu Abdallah Muhammad IV al-Wathiq

1411

Abu Tashufin Abd al-Rahman III

1411

Sa'id Ibn Musa

1411 - 1424

Abu Malik Abd al-Wahid

1424 - 1428

Abu Abdallah Muhammad V

1428 - 1430

Abu Malik Abd al-Wahid

Restored.

1430

Abu Abdallah Muhammad V

Restored.

1430 - 1462

Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad I al-Aqil

1462 - 1469

Abu Abdallah Muhammad VI al-Mutawakkil

1469

Abu Tashufin III

1469 - 1504

Abu Abdallah Muhammad VII at-Thabiti

1512 - 1517

Spain conquers the country.

1504 - 1517

Abu Abdallah Muhammad VIII at-Thabiti

c.1500

The Barbary corsairs come to prominence in Algeria.

Barbary Corsairs

By about 1500 BC, the Barbary corsairs were attempting to establish an independent Algiers state - battling Spanish and Zayyanids alike. Ultimately the Barbary kings of Algiers did not succeed, but their efforts focussed regional affairs on the coastal city of Algiers rather than the western inland city of Tlemcen. The Barbary corsairs are shown here with a shaded backing.

? - 1516

Selim al-Toumi al-Tha'alibi

First Barbary corsair 'King of Algiers'.

1516 - 1518

Baba Aruj

Barbary corsair King of Algiers.

1517 - 1518

Abu Hammu Musa III

1518

Aruj al-Din Barbarossa

Captured larger part of the kingdom. Killed by Spain.

1518 - 1528

Abu Hammu Musa III

Restored.

1518/1520

Khayr al-Din Barbarossa

Brother of Aruj. King of Algiers.

1518 - 1529

Abu al-Abbas Ahmed Belkadi

King of Algiers.

1520

Algiers is attacked by the Kuku tribal leader Ahmad ibn al-Qadi and the Hafsids.

The leader of the Barbary corsairs, Khayr al-Din, retreats to Jijelli and increases his privateering. He re-conquers Algiers in 1525, massacring Arabs and Kabyles who resist him.

1528 - 1540

Abu Muhammad Abdallah II

1529 - 1546

Khayr al-Din Barbarossa

Restored King of Algiers. Won Ottoman support.

1540 - 1541

Abu Abdallah Muhammad IX

1541 - 1543

Ahmad II

1543

Abu Abdallah Muhammad IX

Restored.

1543 - 1544

Spain re-conquers the country.

1544 - 1550

A combination of Spanish encroachment along the coast and the intervention of the Ottoman empire, with the latter ostensibly taking up the Muslim cause against Christian aggression, causes Algeria to be subsumed within the Ottoman empire, being governed as an autonomous province.

1544 - 1550

Ahmad II

Restored.

1550 - 1555

al-Hassan

1555 - 1834

A combination of Spanish encroachment along the coast and the intervention of the Ottoman empire, with the latter ostensibly taking up the Muslim cause against Christian aggression, causes Algeria to be subsumed within the Ottoman empire, being governed as an autonomous province from the Barbary corsair capital at Algiers.

1834

Algiers is annexed by France and created a colony.

Modern Algeria
AD 1834 - Present Day

Taking a minor insult to the French consul as a pretext, France invaded Algeria in 1834, and a long and bloody war of attrition followed in which French rule was slowly applied over the whole country. The application of French rule saw an influx of tens of thousands of French settlers, plus many others from southern Europe, with modern, highly productive farms being created. French construction also created European-style city centres, bringing Algeria fully into the modern age. With independence in 1962, Algeria became a democratic republic in its own right, electing a president to head the state. However, democracy was often hard-line and dictatorial in nature.

1896

The French Parliament votes to annexe Madagascar, and exiles the royal family to Algeria.

1954 - 1962

Attempting to free the country from French rule, the long and bloody Algerian War of Liberation begins with the National Liberation Army fighting using guerrilla tactics.

1962 - 1963

Algeria wins independence from France. The following year, the Sand War is fought by Morocco against Algeria when the former claims portions of western Algerian territory.

1991 - 2002

During elections the Islamic Salvation Front wins the first round of voting. This prompts the military to step in and cancel the elections, leading to the long-running Algerian Civil War. Fresh elections are held in 1995, and the war begins to run out of steam from 1998.

A new threat to Algerians emerged in the early twenty-first century in the form of extreme Islamic terrorist attacks, ostensibly aimed at foreigners, but hurting ordinary Algerians