Algerian nationalism

Algerian nationalism is pride in the Algerian identity and culture. It has been historically influenced by the conflicts between the Regency of Algiers and European countries, the French conquest of Algeria and the subsequent French colonial rule in Algeria, the Algerian War, and since independence by Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, pan-Arabism, and Islamism.

Early manifestations

Formation of the Algerian identity

It is hard to designate when Algerian identity formed. Medieval Islamic chroniclers divided the Maghreb region into three distinctive geographical and cultural regions before the Regency of Algiers (Dawla al-Jaza'ir) was established.

al-Maghrib al-Adna (the near Maghrib; also known as Ifriqiya), which included the lands extending from Alexandria to Tarabulus (modern-day Tripoli) in the west.

al-Maghrib al-Awsat (the middle Maghrib), which extended from Tripoli to Bijaya (Béjaïa).

al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (the far Maghrib), which extended from Tahart (Tiaret) to the Atlantic Ocean.

The exact borders of these regions were flexible and were not fixed at that time. After the collapse of the Almohad Caliphate the empire was divided by 3 dynasties: The Merinids in al-Aqsa (Morocco), the Zayyanids in al-Awsat (between Algiers and western Kabylia), and finally the Hafsids in Ifriqiya (from Béjaïa to Tripoli), but there existed dynasties controlling these regions previously, and the borders were constantly changing between these 3 rival dynasties.

The area of the Central Maghreb (Maghreb al-Awsat) or what could be seen as the predecessor of Algeria were defined as being between Algiers in the west, and Annaba in the east by most medieval chroniclers such as Ibn Khaldun, although this was not always the case and some defined different borders for it.