. Chambers's encyclopaedia; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people . part of the Turkish Em-pire till 1830, and is now a French colony. It lies between 2° 8\V. long, and 8^ 32 E. long. It is bounded on the north by theMediterranean, on the east by Tunis, on the south by Sahara, and I 108 ALGERIA. on the west by Marocco. The French have extended tlieir domin-ions more than 200 miles into the interior, but those of tlie deys—the former rulers of A.—comprehended territories lying nearlytwice as far south. The area of A. is now calculated to be about150,000 square miles; and the pop. (
. Chambers's encyclopaedia; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people . part of the Turkish Em-pire till 1830, and is now a French colony. It lies between 2° 8\V. long, and 8^ 32 E. long. It is bounded on the north by theMediterranean, on the east by Tunis, on the south by Sahara, and I 108 ALGERIA. on the west by Marocco. The French have extended tlieir domin-ions more than 200 miles into the interior, but those of tlie deys—the former rulers of A.—comprehended territories lying nearlytwice as far south. The area of A. is now calculated to be about150,000 square miles; and the pop. (1877) 2,867,626, includingabout 300,000 Europeans. The chief towns are Algiers, Bona,Constantine, and Tlemzen. Upwards of 7,000,000 acres are undercultivation. Physically, A. forms a jtart of the northern border oftlie great plateau of North Africa, which here rises from the sea inthree terraces. The Atlas Mountains run parallel to the coast-line. Behind these, a vast tract of heathy plains, called the Seb-khas, interspersed witli salt-lakes, stretclies southwards, until. bounded by a second chain of mountains of various heights; be-yond which, again, lies the great desert of Saliara, extending tothe banks of the Niger. The plains and valleys which open outtowards the sea in the north of A., such as those round Bona, Al-giers, Oran, &c., are extremely fertile, abound in wood and water,•consist mostly of a calcareous soil, and are well adapted for agri-culture. They form the Tell, which was once one of the granaries ofItaly. In strong contrast to these are the SeMhas or lesser des-erts, covered wicli herbs and brushwood, but almost destitute offresh water, except wliere here and there they are interrupted byan oasis. The most southern part of the country beyond theAtlas partakes of the nature of the Sahara, but contains oasescovered with palm-trees, and well peopled. This is a part of the date-country, or Blad-el-Djerid. There are no rivers of anyimportance in the entire
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidchamberssenc, bookyear1888
