Algeria today:
Algeria has mineral and energy reserves, which are among the largest in the world. Such deposits are available generally in the south.
Mining activity in Algeria is very diverse; there are more than 30 mineral used in various human needs, including iron, salt, zinc, lead, barite, marble, tungsten, gold and precious metals, such as diamond, precious stones and rare metals.
The country also has large reserves of gypsum, limestone, sand, clay, and cement concentrated in the north of the country.
Decolonization Case Study: Algeria
In the constitution of the 1946 Fourth Republic of France, Algeria was considered to be a department of France, with the same legal status as a province inside of France, and not just a colony. Roughly one million people of French ancestry lived in Algeria, among a population of about ten million Arabs, Berbers, M'zabs, Khabylie, etc. The two groups were divided by land ownership, religion, legal system and language.
Because France had envisioned Algeria as a permanent part of the French nation, they invested much more in education and infrastructure, and there was a higher percentage of westernized Algerian elites than in sub-Saharan French Africa. French Premier Pierre Mendes-France set the tone of the French response when he declared, “ One does not compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic. They have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French… Between them and metropolitan France there can be no separation.”
Starting in 1944, Algerian nationalists started to openly advocate for an end to colonialism, the creation of a federation of independent Algeria and France, and the end to special privileges held by white settlers. In 1954 the guerrillas of the National Liberation Front (FLN) launched attacks against military outposts, police posts, and other targets controlled by the French government.
In 1956 representatives of the various rebel groups, including the FLN, met and formed the National Council of the Algerian Revolution (CNRA). They then created military ranks and placed participants in the uprising into three categories, mujahidin (combatants), musabilin (partisans), or fidayin (terrorists). During that same year, they broadened their attacks to include the French civilian population.
The French government responded to the revolt with force, committing over 400,000 troops to Algeria. By 1958 most of the urban cells of the FLN were destroyed. However, the fight in the rural and mountainous regions of Algeria intensified. The FLN conducted a brutal campaign that the French countered with a massive show of military force that included aerial bombardments. Resettlement camps were established to isolate people thought to be supporting the rebels. Over two million Algerians were forced from their homes between 1957 – 60.
In 1958, public opinion in France became so divided over Algeria that there was an attempt by army generals to overthrow the government. Instead, Charles De Gaulle agreed to take charge and called for a new constitution. The result was the Fifth Republic which, among other things, redefined the relationship between France and the African colonies.
As the political will weakened in Paris, the military suppression of the rebels began to see real gains. By the end of 1959, the French army was the closest it would get to a complete military victory. However, due to mounting domestic and international pressure, DeGaulle made a dramatic shift in French policy by suggesting Algeria had a right to “self determine.” Fearful of being abandoned by the French government, the French colonists with the support of some members of the French army staged insurrections that were immediately put down.
An agreement between the Algerian nationalists and the French government temporarily protected the rights of the colonists for a 3 yr. period. After which, the colonists could either return to France or seek Algerian citizenship. Many had already fled the fighting and many more would leave in the upcoming years.
On July 1, 1962, some six million Algerians voted for independence. On July 5, Algeria officially declared its independence from France. The FLN military officers became the rulers of independent Algeria in 1962.
The French have estimated over 350,000 were killed during the revolution while Algerian sources put the total around 1.5 million. Millions of others were forced from their homes or escaped Algeria to neighboring Morocco and Tunisia.