Provinces of Algeria

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Updates: 

Jean-Jacques Sudre sent me a good deal of information about the subdivisions prior to 1902, which I've incorporated into the Change history.

Mario Pezza sent me data taken from the Journal Officiel de la République Algérienne  of 2002-07-10. Using his spreadsheet, I took steps toward fixing some small discrepancies that I had already noted. I adjusted the 1998 populations of four provinces by one or two each, bringing the total closer to the reported figure. In most cases, the areas that I already had seemed more plausible than the ones in the new spreadsheet, but I already knew that the area of Tindouf province according to Quid was much too small, so I replaced it with the spreadsheet figure. Curiously, the spreadsheet seems to have a compensating error in the area of neighboring Béchar province.

Algeria took a new census on 1998-06-25. The data by province are shown in the primary subdivisions table below. I have also updated the change history with some additional information.

Country overview: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Algeria was a French colony. The borders, except near the Mediterranean coast, were ill-defined. The administrative division into departments and territories was based on French practice. During much of the colonial period, Algerian departments had a legal status which was supposedly equal to that of the European departments of France. Algeria became independent in 1962. Since then, it has re-organized twice. After the most recent change, in 1984, the new subdivisions were called wilayas. The southern border has been clearly defined, but the southern parts of the Tunisian and Moroccan borders are still in dispute.

When Algeria was under French administration, the official division names were in French. With independence, Arabic was made the national language. Many place names were changed. However, the French language has continued to occupy an important position as a lingua franca, and place names have continued to be written in the Roman alphabet using French phonetics. In 2002-02, a constitutional amendment recognized Tamazigh (the written language of the largest Berber group) as a national language.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al-Jumhuriya al-Jazairiya ad-Dimuqratiya ash-Shabiya (formal)
2. Danish: Algeriet
3. Dutch: Algerije, Democratische Volksrepubliek Algerije (formal)
4. English: Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria (formal)
5. Finnish: Algeria
6. French: Algérie f, République f algérienne démocratique et populaire (formal)
7. German: Algerien n, Algier n (obsolete)
8. Icelandic: Alsír
9. Italian: Algeria f
10. Norwegian: Den demokratiske folkerepublikk Algerie (formal) (Bokmål), Den demokratiske folkerepublikken Algerie (formal) (Nynorsk), Algerie
11. Portuguese: Argélia, República f Popular Democrática da Argélia f (formal)
12. Spanish: Argelia f, República f Argelina Democrática y Popular (formal)
13. Swedish: Algeriet

Origin of name: 

Arabic al-Jazairiya from capital city Algiers, which comes from Arabic al-jaza`ir: the islands, for four islands in the harbor (now connected to the mainland by jetties)

Primary subdivisions: 

Algeria is divided into 48 wilayat (provinces; sing. wilaya).

Postal codes: 

Algeria uses five-digit postal codes. The first two digits are the same as the two-digit ISO province code.

Further subdivisions:

See the Communes of Algeria page.

The provinces are subdivided into 160 dayrat (sub-prefectures), and further into 1,541 communes. Under French administration, the country was divided into départements (departments), which were subdivided into arrondissements, which in turn were subdivided into communes.

Origins of names: 

1. Adrar: Tamashek adrar: mountain
2. Alger: Arabic al-jaza`ir: the islands, for four islands in the harbor
3. Annaba: corruption of Arabic madinat al-`unnab: city of the jujube tree
4. Béchar: after Wadi Bashshar, possibly from Arabic bashar: to bring good news (i.e., finding water)
5. Béjaïa: ethnic name, possibly from Arabic baqaya: survivors
6. Constantine: rebuilt in 311 by Roman emperor Constantine the Great
7. El Oued: = the Wadi (intermittent stream)
8. Oran: Arabic Wahran (name of a Berber chief)
9. Sétif: ancient Sitifi, possibly from Berber sedif: black
10. Sidi Bel Abbès: Arabic Saydi Bal-`Abbas (a person's honorific and name)
11. Skikda: Arabic corruption of Latin Rusicade, from Punic ruš: cape
12. Tizi-Ouzou: Berber tizi: mountain pass, uzzu: prickly furze
13. Tlemcen: Arabic tilimsan: place of the rushes

Change history: 

1. 1831-12-01: By ordinance, Algeria was divided into civil and military territory. Generally speaking, the civil territories were in the north along the coast, while the military territories were in the Sahara region.
2. 1845-04-24: By ordinance, Algeria was divided into three provinces. Their names were Alger (English: Algiers), Constantine, and Oran, after their capitals. Each province was further subdivided into three territories.
3. 1848-12-09: By French presidential decree, the civil territory in each province was elevated to a department of the same name, with a status nominally equal to the departments of European France. The departments were subdivided into arrondissements, communes, and districts (civilian commisariats). The military territory was divided into three provinces, with external capitals Alger, Constantine, and Oran. The provinces later became divisions. They were further divided into subdivisions, which in turn were divided into cercles (circles). The subdivisions were to the military territories as the arrondissements were to the civil territories, and the cercles were on a par with the districts.
4. 1870-10-24: By decree No. 134, the departments united the civil and military territories, strengthening the equivalence between arrondissements and subdivisions. There were five or six subdivisions. As time went by, the civil territories grew at the expense of the military territories. Certain parts of the military territory were organized as annexes. An annex was the area dominated by a fort, and was part of a cercle.
5. 1900: According to Jean-Jacques Sudre, in 1900, mentioning only "clearly definable entities", Algeria was divided into the entities shown in this table (dep = department, div = division, arr = arrondissement, sub = subdivision).

1. 1902-12-24: Parts of the military territories - the cercles marked with an asterisk (*) above, with minor alterations - were consolidated into a unit called Territoires du Sud. As a result, Algeria was divided into three departments and one territory. The departments were divided into arrondissements, as shown below.

1. 1905-08-14: Territoires du Sud organized into four territories: Aïn Sefra, Ghardaia, Oasis (no capital), and Touggourt.
2. 1955-08-07: Bône department formed by taking the eastern arrondissements of Constantine department: Bône and Guelma. Twelve new arrondissements created, making a total of 32.
3. 1956-06-28: The three northern departments of 1955 were restored and given the status of igamies. (An igamie is the jurisdiction of an igame, which is an acronym for inspecteur général de l'administration en mission extraordinaire = administrative inspector general on special mission.) Each igamie was subdivided into four new departments. For details, see the table below. The departments were further subdivided into arrondissements.
4. 1957-01-10: The four territories joined a union called Organisation commune des régions sahariennes = Common Organization of Saharan Regions.
5. 1957-05-20: Thirty-four new arrondissements were created.
6. 1957-07-01: New department codes assigned to the thirteen departments.
7. 1957-08-07: Territoires du Sud (formerly department no. 9T) split into two departments. The western part, Aïn Sefra territory, became Saoura department; the eastern part, Ghardaïa, Oasis, and Touggourt territories, became Oasis department. (Details provided by Huang Qingqi.)
8. 1958-03-17: Saïda department created by taking parts of Oran, Saoura, and Tiaret departments. Aumale (department no. 9N) department created by taking Aumale, Bou-Saâdaa, Ouled-Djellal, and Tablata arrondissements from Médéa department. Bougie (9P) department created by taking Djidjelli arrondissement from Constantine department and Akbou, Bougie, Kerrata, Lafayette, and Sidi-Aïch arrondissements from Sétif department. Barika arrondissement transferred from Batna department to Sétif. Tébessa arrondissement transferred from Bône to Batna.
9. 1959-11-07: Aumale and Bougie departments abolished and restored to their original departments, except that Ouled-Djellal arrondissement from Aumale department merged with Barika arrondissement of Sétif department to become Barika arrondissement of Batna department. Tébessa arrondissement restored from Batna to Bône. Le Telagh arrondissement transferred from Saïda to Oran. This table shows the resulting subdivision of Algeria. Note: total area has changed since 1902, because of border adjustments in desert areas.

1. 1960-12-03: Six new arrondissements created in Oasis department; two new arrondissements created in Saoura department.
2. 1962-07-01: Algeria became independent from France.
3. ~1962: Name of Bône department changed to Annaba.
4. 1964: Name of Orléansville department changed to El Asnam.
5. 1974-06: Fifteen departments reorganized to form thirty-one. The resulting division was as shown below. New FIPS codes were assigned to those departments whose names had changed.

1. 1980: Name of El Asnam department and its capital changed to Ech Chéliff, later spelled Chlef.
2. 1983-12-15: Thirty-one departments re-organized to form 48 provinces (as shown in the first table). The new provinces were predominantly formed by taking the old departments as they were, or by splitting them into two provinces. Aïn Defla split from Chlef; Aïn Témouchent split from Sidi Bel Abbès; Bordj Bou Arréridj split from Sétif; Boumerdès formed from parts of Alger and Tizi Ouzou; El Bayadh split from Saïda; El Oued split from Biskra; El Tarf formed from parts of Annaba and Guelma; Ghardaïa split from Laghouat; Illizi split from Ouargla; Khenchela formed from parts of Oum el Bouaghi and Tébessa; Mila formed from parts of Constantine, Jijel, Oum el Bouaghi, and Sétif; Naama split from Saïda; Relizane split from Mostaganem; Souk Ahras split from Guelma; Tindouf split from Béchar; Tipaza split from Blida; Tissemsilt formed from parts of Alger and Tiaret.

Other names of subdivisions: 

The boundaries of subdivisions have changed, although the names may have stayed the same. Since the subdivision name is usually the same as the name of its capital, the easiest way to track the changes is to consider them as city names. Also note that diacritical marks may be different, depending on the method of transliteration used.

1. Adrar: Duperré (obsolete)
2. Alger: Algeri (Italian); Algiers (English); Algier (Danish, German); al-Jazair, al-Djazair, El Djazaïr (Arabic); Argel (Portuguese, Spanish); Dzayer, Djezaïr (variant)
3. Annaba: Anaba (Portuguese, Spanish); Bona (Portuguese-obsolete, Spanish-obsolete); Bône (obsolete)
4. Béchar: Colomb-Béchar (obsolete)
5. Béjaïa: Bougie, Bedjaya (French); Bidjaia (variant); Bugia (Italian); Bujia (Portuguese-obsolete)
6. Biskra: Beskra (variant)
7. Blida: El Boulaïda, al-Boulaida (variant)
8. Bordj Bou Arréridj: Bordj Bou Ariridj, Borj Bou Arreridj (variant)
9. Boumerdès: Boumerdas (variant)
10. Chlef: El Asnam, Orléansville (obsolete); Chelif, Ech Cheliff (variant)
11. Constantine: Constantina (Portuguese, Spanish); Costatina (Italian); Qoussantina, Qacentina (Arabic)
12. Djelfa: El Djelfa (variant)
13. El Bayadh: El Bayad, El Beyyadh (variant); Géryville (obsolete)
14. El Oued: El Ouadi, El Wad (variant)
15. El Tarf: Et Tarf (variant)
16. Ghardaïa: Ghardaya (variant)
17. Illizi: Polignac, Fort Polignac (obsolete); Ilizi (variant)
18. Jijel: Djidjel (variant); Djidjelli (obsolete)
19. Khenchela: Khenchla (variant)
20. Mascara: Mouaskar (variant)
21. Médéa: El Mediyya, Lemdiyya (variant)
22. Mostaganem: Mestghanem (variant)
23. Msila: M'Sila (variant)
24. Oasis: Oásis Saharianos (Portuguese); Oasis Sahariennes (variant); Saharan Oases (English)
25. Oran: Orán (Spanish); Orano (Italian); Orão (Portuguese); Ouahran, Ouahrane, Wahran (variant)
26. Ouargla: Wargla (variant)
27. Oum el Bouaghi: Oum el Bouagui (variant); Canrobert (obsolete)
28. Relizane: Ghelizane, Ghilizane (variant)
29. Saoura: La Saoura (variant)
30. Sétif: Stif (variant)
31. Skikda: Philippeville (obsolete); Skidda (variant)
32. Souk Ahras: Souq Ahras (variant)
33. Tamanghasset: Tamanrasset, Tamenghasset, Tamenghest (variant); Fort Laperrine (obsolete)
34. Tébessa: Tbessa (variant)
35. Tiaret: Tihert (variant)
36. Tissemsilt: Vialar (obsolete)
37. Tlemcen: Tilimsene, Tlemsane, Tilimsen (variant); Tremecém (Portuguese-obsolete)