Algiers

Algiers serves as the capital and most populous city of Algeria, sitting along the Mediterranean Sea in the country’s north-central region. Within its urban area, roughly 4.325 million people were estimated to live in 2025. By population, it ranks as the Mediterranean’s third-largest city, the Arab world’s tenth-largest, and Africa’s nineteenth-largest. The city also functions as the capital of Algiers Province, though it lacks its own separate governing body and instead extends across multiple communes. Its position along the Bay of Algiers, flanked by the Mitidja Plain and major mountain ranges, made it a natural hub for Ottoman and French influence, resulting in a diverse metropolitan character.

The city was formally founded in 972 AD by Buluggin ibn Ziri, but its roots stretch back much further—between 1200 and 250 BC—when it began as a Phoenician trading post. Over the centuries, it fell under the control of Numidia, the Roman Empire, and various Islamic caliphates. In 1516, it became the capital of the Ottoman Regency of Algiers, a role it held until the French invasion of 1830, after which it served as the capital of French Algeria. During World War II, from 1942 to 1944, it briefly acted as the administrative center of Free France before returning to French colonial rule. Since the Algerian Revolution in 1962, it has remained the capital of the modern Algerian state.

Today, Algiers is the country’s primary tourist destination, known for its museums, art galleries, and cultural institutions. The historic Casbah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stands out with its blend of traditional Algerian, Ottoman, and Andalusian architecture. A larger French-built district in the city showcases a range of architectural styles and trends. Often called *al bidha* (“the white”) because of its whitewashed buildings, Algiers merges colonial and indigenous urban influences. It hosted the 1975 Mediterranean Games and several other major international sporting events, and it houses the Consultative Council of the Arab Maghreb Union. Major Algerian companies and institutions, including Sonatrach Petroleum Corporation, Air Algérie, and the Bank of Algeria, are based here.

The city’s Arabic name, *al-Jazāʾir*, means “the islands,” a reference to four main islands off the western cape where people originally settled. These islands were eventually connected to the mainland in 1525 via a pier now called Kheireddine pier. The name is a shortened form of *Jazāʾir Banī Mazghanna* (“islands of Banu Mazghanna”), used by Buluggin ibn Ziri when he founded the modern city in 972 AD on the ruins of the Punic city of Icosium. This term was later employed by the Hammadid dynasty and medieval geographers like Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi. From the Arabic *al-Jazāʾir* came the French and Catalan *Alger*, and during Ottoman rule, the capital’s name spread to the entire country, giving rise to the English name Algeria. In classical antiquity, the ancient Greeks called the town *Ikósion*, Latinized as *Icosium* under Roman rule. The Greeks linked the name to their word for “twenty,” claiming it was founded by twenty companions of Hercules. Algiers is also known as *el-Behdja* (“the Joyous”), *El Mahrussa* (“the Good-guarded”), and “Algiers the White” for its whitewashed buildings. The local Berber name *Dzayer* is the origin of the demonym *dziri*, possibly connected to the Zirids, the city’s founders. Some scholars suggest that the affricate *[dz]* in *Dzayer*—a sound absent from both Arabic and Berber—may be a persistent trace of Berber, with the letter ⵣ (representing *z*) appearing on the Berber flag as a symbol of identity.

The city’s history likely began around 1200 BC, but it remained a minor settlement until the 3rd century BC, when “Ikosim” became a small Carthaginian port trading with other Mediterranean ports. After the Battle of Cirta around 202 BC, Numidia gained control of the town and its neighboring regions, though the Punic Wars gradually weakened the Berber nation. In 104 BC, following the capture and execution of Jugurtha in Rome, the western half of his kingdom was given to Mauretania under Bocchus I. Around 42 AD, Emperor Claudius divided Mauretania into two provinces, with Mauretania Caesariensis including Icosium.