ALGERI — Mosque of Sidi Abderrahman with the cemetery.
A. is a typically Mediterranean region, with predominantly tree-based crops (vines, olives; wine production places A. fourth in the world), but it also supplies a good quantity of cereals, early produce, and tobacco. The mineral resources (iron, phosphates, zinc, lead) are far from negligible, but the industries that process them locally are of little significance.
Communications are facilitated by a good railway network (5000 km), connected with Tunisia and Morocco.
Algiers is the second French port in terms of shipping traffic and, after Alexandria, the most active commercial centre in Africa. It now has 360,000 inhabitants; Oran more than 200,000 and Constantine more than 100,000; six other centres exceed 40,000 inhabitants (Bona, Philippeville, Sidi-bel-Abbès, Tlemcen, Blida, and Tizi-Ouzou).
| Departments | Area in sq. km | Population, 1936 census | Density per sq. km | Capitals (population in thousands) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algiers | 54,701 | 2,240,911 | 41 | Algiers (367) |
| Constantine | 87,502 | 2,727,766 | 31 | Constantine (114) |
| Oran | 67,353 | 1,623,356 | 24 | Oran (201) |
| Ain Sefra | 650,151 | 193,347 | 0.3 | Colomb Bechar (5) |
| Ghardaia | 143,712 | 166,366 | 1 | Laghouat (10) |
| Touggourt | 134,865 | 243,363 | 2 | Touggourt (12) |
| Oases of the Sahara | 1,066,500 | 39,575 | 0.03 | Ourgla (6) |
| TOTAL | 2,204,784 | 7,234,684 | 3 |
For Christian history and archaeology V. AFRICA (III: Ancient Christian history; v: Christian monuments); ALGERI.