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Algeria
/ People
Over 52% of all
Algerians live in cities and towns. Algeria's largest population
centre is the capital of Algiers. The greater city, which is also
the country's industrial centre, contains a population of over 3
million.
Algeria's
overall population density of 11.7 people per square kilometre
is misleading given the heavy population concentrations in the
northern region of the country. In the north of the country there
are not less than 30 people per square kilometre, rising to as
many as 1,100 people per square metre.
The overriding
racial characteristic of the Algerian population is Arab (83%
of the population) or Berber (17% of the population) or Berber-Arab
through intermarriage. Prior to independence in 1962 one million
Europeans lived in Algeria, primarily French, as well as 150,000
Jews. After independence 90% of the Jewish and European communities
emigrated. Of the present population over 50% live in what are
classified as rural, agrarian areas.
The nomadic
Touareg tribes living in the Sahara are believed to have emigrated
to Africa from southwestern Asia in 3,000BC. The Arab historian
Ibn Khaldoun records that the Touaregs were converted to Islam
in the 9th century and apostatized 14 times before finally submitting.
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