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Modern Day Algeria is a leading member state of the Arab Maghrib, the term applied to the western part of Arab North Africa. Algeria is colonised predominantly by Muslim Arabs but it has a large Berber minority. The most remarkable forces in the nation's history have been the spread of Islam, arabization, colonization, and the fight for freedom.
The French moving in Algeria, beginning in 1830, had a profound impact. In addition to enduring the affront of being governed by a foreign, non-Muslim power, many Algerians lost their lands to the new government or to colonists. orthodox leaders were eliminated, coopted, or made irrelevant; social structures were stressed to the breaking point. Viewed by the Europeans with condescension at best and contempt at worst--never as equals--the Algerians endured 134 years of colonial subjugation. This time saw the formation of new social classes, which, after exposure to ideas of equality and political liberty, would help propel the nation to freedom. During the years of French domination, the fights to survive, to co-exist, to gain equality, and to achieve freedom shaped a large part of the Algerian national identity.
The War of freedom, hard and long, was the most recent major turning point in the nation's history. Although often fratricidal, it ultimately united Algerians and seared the value of freedom and the philosophy of anticolonialism into the national consciousness.
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