Algeria

Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa and the largest country in Africa, bordered by Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea. Algeria's territory was shaped by indigenous Amazigh societies including the Numidians, then by Phoenician, Roman, Vandal and Byzantine influences, and from the 7th century onward by the spread of Islam and Arab tribes; between the 8th and 15th centuries it was ruled by a succession of local Islamic dynasties before the Regency of Algiers was established in 1516 under nominal Ottoman allegiance. The country was invaded by France in 1830 and formally annexed in 1848, and after continuous Algerian resistance culminating in the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954, Algeria gained independence in 1962. It descended into a civil war from 1992 to 2002 and today is a semi-presidential republic with, due largely to its petroleum and natural gas reserves, the third-largest economy in Africa.