The cave paintings found at Tassili-n-Ajjer, north of Tamanrasset, and at other locations depict vibrant and vivid scenes of everyday life in the central Maghrib between about 8000 B.C. and 4000 B.C. They were executed by a hunting people in the Capsian period of the Neolithic age who lived in a savanna region teeming with giant buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, animals that no longer exist in the now-desert area. The pictures provide the most complete record of a prehistoric African culture. This article is an overview of the History of Algeria. ... Carthage and the Berbers Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC and established Carthage (in present-day Tunisia) around 800 BC. By the sixth century BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa (east of Cherchell in Algeria). ... Islam and the Arabs, 642–1830 Unlike the invasions of previous religions and cultures, the coming of Islam, which was spread by Arabs, was to have pervasive and long-lasting effects on the Maghrib. ... // French rule in Algeria, 1830–1962 Most of Frances actions in Algeria, not least the invasion of Algiers, were propelled by contradictory impulses. ... Algerian Nationalism A new generation of Muslim leadership emerged in Algeria at the time of World War I and grew to maturity during the 1920s and 1930s. ... The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists, or the colons as they were called, in Algeria and the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence... // History of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria, 1962–present In preparation for independence, the CNRA (Conseil National de la Révolution Algérienne) had met in Tripoli in May 1962 to work out a plan for the FLNs (Front de Libération Nationale) transition from a liberation... The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. ... The Mona Lisa is perhaps the best-known artistic painting in the Western world. ... The Tassili nAjjer is a mountain range in the Sahara desert in southeast Algeria. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Cities in Algeria | Wilayat of Algeria ... Maghrib is an Arabic term for of the setting sun; from the root ghuroob (to set; to be hidden). It is also used in a manner similar to the metaphorical use of to be eclipsed, which is used in the English language. ... The Capsian culture (named after the town of Gafsa) was a Mesolithic culture of the Maghreb, which lasted from about 10000 BC to 6000 BC. It was concentrated mainly in modern Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, with some sites attested in Cyrenaica (Libya). ... The Neolithic, (Greek neos=new, lithos=stone, or New Stone Age) is traditionally the last part of the stone age. ... A buffalo is one of several species of bovine. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas recki (extinct) Stegodon (extinct) Deinotherium (extinct) Mammuthus (extinct) Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of animals, the only family in the order Proboscidea that still exists today. ... Genera Ceratotherium Dicerorhinus Diceros Rhinoceros Coelodonta (extinct) Elasmotherium (extinct) A rhinoceros (commonly called a rhino for short) is any of five surviving species of odd-toed ungulate in the family Rhinocerotidae. ... Binomial name Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758 The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Greek ίππόποταμος (river horse) is a large, plant-eating African mammal, one of only two living and three (or four) recently extinct species in the family Hippopotamidae. ...

Earlier inhabitants of the central Maghrib have left behind equally significant remains. Early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa, for example, were found in Ain el Hanech, near Saïda (ca. 200,000 B.C.). Later, Neandertal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles (ca. 43,000 B.C.) similar to those in the Levant. According to some sources, North Africa was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic flake-tool techniques. Tools of this era, starting about 30,000 B.C., are called Aterian (after the site Bir el Ater, south of Annaba) and are marked by a high standard of workmanship, great variety, and specialization. North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ... Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis King, 1864 The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of genus Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago (in the Middle Palaeolithic, early Stone Age). ... The Levallois technique is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of flint knapping developed by humans during the Palaeolithic period. ... Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to style of flint tools (or industry) dating to the Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age. ... The Aterian industry is a name given by archaeologists to a type of stone tool manufacturing dating to the middle Palaeolithic in the region around the Atlas Mountains and the north west Sahara. ... Annaba (ِArabic عنّابة, formerly Bône) is a city in the north-eastern corner of Algeria near the river Wadi Seybouse and Tunisian border. ...

Neolithic cave paintings found in Tassil-n-Ajjer (Plateau of the Chasms) region of the Sahara

The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Ibero-Maurusian or Oranian (after a site near Oran). The industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of the Maghrib between 15,000 and 10,000 B.C. Between about 9000 and 5000 B.C., the Capsian culture began influencing the IberoMaurusian, and after about 3000 B.C. the remains of just one human type can be found throughout the region. Neolithic civilization (marked by animal domestication and subsistence agriculture) developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghrib between 6000 and 2000 B.C. This type of economy, so richly depicted in the Tassili-n-Ajjer cave paintings, predominated in the Maghrib until the classical period. Neolithic cave paintings found in Tassil-n-Ajjer (Plateau of the Chasms) region of the Sahara Source: Library of Congress Country Study of Algeria File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article is about the city in Algeria. ...

The amalgam of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a distinct native population that came to be called Berbers. Distinguished primarily by cultural and linguistic attributes, the Berbers, overshadowed by larger empires, tended to be overlooked or marginalized in historical accounts. Roman, Greek, Byzantine, and Arab Muslim chroniclers typically depicted the Berbers as "barbaric" enemies, troublesome nomads, or ignorant peasants. They were, however, to play a major role in the area's history. The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centred at its capital in Constantinople. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ʻarab) are an originally Arabian ethnicity widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. ...

Reference

• Original text: Library of Congress Country Study of Algeria