Modern States of North Africa: Map & History

Pierre Deval and other French residents of Algiers left for France, while the Minister of War, Clermont-Tonnerre, proposed a military expedition. However, the Count of Villèle, an ultra-royalist, President of the council and the monarch's heir, opposed any military action. The Bourbon Restoration government finally decided to blockade Algiers for three years. Meanwhile, the Barbary pirates were able to exploit the geography of the coast with ease. Before the failure of the blockade, the Restoration decided on 31 January 1830 to engage in a military expedition against Algiers.

From Wikipedia: French Algeria · Background: Invasion of Algiers (June 1830) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Even before the decision was made to annex Algeria, major changes had taken place. In a bargain-hunting frenzy to take over or buy at low prices all manner of property—homes, shops, farms and factories—Europeans poured into Algiers after it fell. French authorities took possession of the beylik lands, from which Ottoman officials had derived income. Over time, as pressures increased to obtain more land for settlement by Europeans, the state seized more categories of land, particularly that used by tribes, religious foundations, and villages.

From Wikipedia: French Algeria · Government and administration: Land and colonisers (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The bulk of Algeria's wealth in manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and trade was controlled by the grands colons. The modern European-owned and -managed sector of the economy centered on small industry and a highly developed export trade, designed to provide food and raw materials to France in return for capital and consumer goods. Europeans held about 30% of the total arable land, including the bulk of the most fertile land and most of the areas under irrigation. By 1900, Europeans produced more than two-thirds of the value of output in agriculture and practically all agricultural exports. The modern, or European, sector was run on a commercial basis and meshed with the French market system that it supplied with wine, citrus, olives, and vegetables. Nearly half of the value of European-owned real property was in vineyards by 1914.

From Wikipedia: French Algeria · French rule: Economic organization (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On 1 December 1830, King Louis-Philippe named the Duc de Rovigo as head of military staff in Algeria. De Rovigo took control of Bône and initiated colonisation of the land. He was recalled in 1833 due to the overtly violent nature of the repression. Wishing to avoid a conflict with Morocco, Louis-Philippe sent an extraordinary mission to the sultan, mixed with displays of military might, sending war ships to the Bay of Tangier. An ambassador was sent to Sultan Abd al-Rahman of Morocco in February 1832, headed by the Count Charles-Edgar de Mornay and including the painter Eugène Delacroix. However the sultan refused French demands that he evacuate Tlemcen.

From Wikipedia: French Algeria · Popular revolts against the French annexation: Conquest of the Algerian territories under the July Monarchy (1830–1848) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

By the beginning of the 16th century the Libyan coast had minimal central authority and its harbours were havens for unchecked bands of pirates. The Spaniards occupied Tripoli in 1510, but they were more concerned with controlling the port than with the inconveniences of administering a colony. In 1530 the city, along with Malta and Gozo, was ceded by Charles I of Spain to the Knights of St John as compensation for their recent expulsion from the island of Rhodes at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Christian rule lasted then until 1551, when Tripoli was besieged and conquered by famed Ottoman admirals Sinan Pasha and Turgut Reis. Declared as Bey and later Pasha of Tripoli, Turgut Reis received submission from the tribes of the interior and several cities like Misrata, Zuwara, Gharyan, and Gafsa in the next decade.

From Wikipedia: Ottoman Tripolitania · History: Ottoman conquest (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Several factors, rooted in Libya's history, affected the political development of the newly independent country. They reflected the differing political orientations of the provinces and the ambiguities inherent in Libya's monarchy. First, after the first Libyan general election, 1952, which was held on 19 February, political parties were abolished. The National Congress Party, which had campaigned against a federal form of government, was defeated throughout the country. The party was outlawed, and Bashir Saadawi was deported. Second, provincial ties continued to be more important than national ones, and the federal and provincial governments were constantly in dispute over their respective spheres of authority. A third problem derived from the lack of a direct heir to the throne. To remedy this situation, Idris in 1953 designated his sixty-year-old brother to succeed him.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Libya · History: Political development (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The monarchy came to an end on 1 September 1969 when a group of military officers led by Muammar Gaddafi staged a coup d'état against King Idris while he was in Turkey for medical treatment. The revolutionaries arrested the army chief of staff and the head of security in the kingdom. After hearing about the coup, King Idris dismissed it as "unimportant".

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Libya · History: 1969 coup and end of the monarchy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Since Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade rule ended in 2011, Libya has struggled to establish basic institutions and rule of law. The 1951 Constitution as amended in 1963 has been at the center of political debate over the past years. In fact, the document continues to be widely regarded as an important instrument and a solid base towards the solution of Libya's political crisis.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Libya · Legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Tunisia is a presidential republic with a president serving as head of state, a prime minister as head of government, a bicameral parliament, and a civil law court system. The Constitution of Tunisia, adopted 26 January 2014, guarantees rights for women and states that the President's religion "shall be Islam". In October 2014 Tunisia held its first elections under the new constitution following the Arab Spring. Tunisia was the only democracy in North Africa until 2021. After a democratic backsliding, the country now classifies as "hybrid regime" in the Democracy Index (The Economist). Between 2020 and 2022 the V-Dem Democracy indices score for electoral democracy dropped from 0.727 to 0.307. After the 2022 constitutional referendum, Tunisia became a unitary presidential republic.

From Wikipedia: Tunisia · Government and politics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Ranked the most competitive economy in Africa by the World Economic Forum in 2009, Tunisia is an export-oriented country in the process of liberalizing and privatizing an economy that, while averaging 5% GDP growth since the early 1990s, has suffered from corruption benefiting politically connected elites. Tunisia's Penal Code criminalises several forms of corruption, including active and passive bribery, abuse of office, extortion and conflicts of interest, but the anti-corruption framework is not effectively enforced. However, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index published annually by Transparency International, Tunisia was ranked the least corrupt North African country in 2016, with a score of 41.

From Wikipedia: Tunisia · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Hundreds of international festivals, national, regional or local punctuate the calendar year. Music and theatrical festivals dominate the national cultural scene.

From Wikipedia: Tunisia · Culture: Festivals (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The ancient tribes of Mauritania were the Niger-Congo, and Bafour peoples. The Bafour were among the first Saharan peoples to abandon their previously nomadic lifestyle and adopt a primarily agricultural one. In response to the gradual desertification of the Sahara, they eventually migrated southward. The Bafour peoples were displaced by the Berber people when that group arrived in the 3rd to 7th centuries. Many of the Berber tribes have claimed to have Yemeni (and sometimes other Arab) origins. Little evidence supports those claims; however, a 2000 DNA study of the Yemeni people suggested that some ancient connection might exist between the peoples.

From Wikipedia: Mauritania · History: Early history (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Mauritanian Parliament is composed of a single chamber, the National Assembly. Composed of 176 members, representatives are elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies.

From Wikipedia: Mauritania · Government and politics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Despite being rich in natural resources, Mauritania has a low GDP. A majority of the population still depends on agriculture and livestock for a livelihood, even though most of the nomads and many subsistence farmers were forced into the cities by recurrent droughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for almost 50% of total exports. Gold and copper mining companies are opening mines in the interior such as Firawa mine. The country's gold production in 2015 was 9 metric tons.

From Wikipedia: Mauritania · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mustafa Ould Salek's Military Committee for National Recovery proved incapable of either establishing a strong base of power or extracting the country from its destabilizing conflict with the Sahrawi resistance movement, the Polisario Front. It quickly fell, to be replaced by another military government, the Military Committee for National Salvation.

From Wikipedia: Mauritania · History: CMRN and CMSN military governments (1978–1984) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mauritania has one of the richest oral traditions in the Sahara. Poetry in classical Arabic and in Hassaniya Arabic has historically enjoyed high prestige, with poets holding respected social roles. The T'heydinn, a cycle of epic poems preserved within Moorish oral heritage, forms a central component of traditional storytelling and musical performance. Many non-Arab communities also maintain their own oral literatures, including the epic narratives of the Soninké and the praise-song traditions of Halpulaar griots (géwél).

From Wikipedia: Mauritania · Culture: Literature (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The economic base for Libya's revolution has been its oil revenues. However, Libya's petroleum reserves were small compared with those of other major Arab petroleum-producing states. As a consequence, Libya was more ready to ration output in order to conserve its natural wealth and less responsive to moderating its price-rise demands than the other countries. Petroleum was seen both as a means of financing the economic and social development of a woefully underdeveloped country and as a political weapon to brandish in the Arab struggle against Israel.

From Wikipedia: History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi · Libyan Arab Republic (1969–1977): Petroleum politics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Remaking of the economy was parallel with the attempt to remold political and social institutions. Until the late 1970s, Libya's economy was mixed, with a large role for private enterprise except in the fields of oil production and distribution, banking, and insurance. But according to volume two of Gaddafi's Green Book, which appeared in 1978, private retail trade, rent, and wages were forms of exploitation that should be abolished. Instead, workers' self-management committees and profit participation partnerships were to function in public and private enterprises.

From Wikipedia: History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi · Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011): Economic reforms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

As early as 1969, Gaddafi waged a campaign against Chad. Scholar Gerard Prunier claims part of his hostility was apparently because Chadian President François Tombalbaye was Christian. Libya was also involved in a sometimes violent territorial dispute with neighbouring Chad over the Aouzou Strip, which Libya occupied in 1973. This dispute eventually led to the Libyan invasion of Chad. The prolonged foray of Libyan troops into the Aozou Strip in northern Chad, was finally repulsed in 1987, when extensive US and French help to Chadian rebel forces and the government headed by former Defence Minister Hissein Habré finally led to a Chadian victory in the so-called Toyota War. The conflict ended in a ceasefire in 1987. After a judgement of the International Court of Justice on 13 February 1994, Libya withdrew troops from Chad the same year and the dispute was settled.

From Wikipedia: History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi · Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011): Wars against Chad and Egypt (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A renewed serious threat to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya came in February 2011, with the 2011 Libyan revolution. Inspiration for the unrest is attributed to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, connecting it with the wider Arab Spring. In the east, the National Transitional Council was established in Benghazi. The novelist Idris Al-Mesmari was arrested hours after giving an interview with Al Jazeera about the police reaction to protests in Benghazi on 15 February.

From Wikipedia: History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi · 2011 civil war and collapse of Gaddafi's government (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The politics of Libya has been in a tumultuous state since the start of the Arab Spring and the NATO intervention related Libyan crisis in 2011. The crisis resulted in the collapse of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, amidst the First Libyan Civil War and 2011 foreign military intervention. The crisis was deepened by factional violence in the aftermath of the First Civil War, resulting in the outbreak of the Second Libyan Civil War in 2014. The control over the country is currently split between the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk and the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli and their respective supporters, as well as various jihadist groups and tribal elements controlling different parts of the country.

From Wikipedia: Libya · Politics and elections (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which account for over half of GDP and 97% of exports. Libya holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa and is an important contributor to the global supply of light, sweet crude. During 2010, when oil averaged at $80 a barrel, oil production accounted for 54% of GDP. Apart from petroleum, the other natural resources are natural gas and gypsum. The International Monetary Fund estimated Libya's real GDP growth at 122% in 2012 and 16.7% in 2013, after a 60% plunge in 2011.

From Wikipedia: Libya · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Following the defeat of loyalist forces, Libya was torn among numerous rival, armed militias affiliated with distinct regions, cities and tribes, while the central government had been weak and unable to effectively exert its authority over the country. Competing militias pitted themselves against each other in a political struggle between Islamist politicians and their opponents. On 7 July 2012, Libyans held their first parliamentary elections since the end of the former regime. On 8 August, the National Transitional Council officially handed power over to the wholly elected General National Congress, which was then tasked with the formation of an interim government and the drafting of a new Libyan Constitution to be approved in a general referendum.

From Wikipedia: Libya · History: Interwar period and the Second Libyan Civil War (2011–2020) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Many Arabic speaking Libyans consider themselves as part of a wider Arab community. This was strengthened by the spread of Pan-Arabism in the mid-20th century, and their reach to power in Libya where they instituted Arabic as the only official language of the state. Under Gaddafi's rule, the teaching and even use of indigenous Berber language was strictly forbidden. In addition to banning foreign languages previously taught in academic institutions, leaving entire generations of Libyans with limitations in their comprehension of the English language. Both the spoken Arabic dialects and Berber, still retain words from Italian, that were acquired before and during the Libia Italiana period.

From Wikipedia: Libya · Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The first civil war came during the Arab Spring movements which overturned the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt. Libya first experienced protests against Gaddafi's regime on 15 February 2011, with a full-scale revolt beginning on 17 February. Libya's authoritarian regime led by Muammar Gaddafi put up much more of a resistance compared to the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. While overthrowing the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia was a relatively quick process, Gaddafi's campaign posed significant stalls on the uprising in Libya. The first announcement of a competing political authority appeared online and declared the Interim Transitional National Council as an alternative government. One of Gaddafi's senior advisors responded by posting a tweet, wherein he resigned, defected, and advised Gaddafi to flee. By 20 February, the unrest had spread to Tripoli.

From Wikipedia: Libya · History: First Libyan Civil War and the fall of Gaddafi (2011) (CC BY-SA 4.0)