History of Algiers Timeline

The old Bibliothèque Nationale d'Alger is a Moorish palace built in 1799–1800, later complemented by a new National Library built in a style reminiscent of the British Library.

Image source: National Library of Algeria

In 1830, Algiers was a Casbah, a fortified city built on ruins of earlier civilizations, but after the French conquest its walls were demolished and the city expanded into a European side, eventually unified in 1832 into a single municipality.

Following unification in 1832 came the creation of 14 additional communes around Algiers in 1835. The communes of El Biar and Mustapha were attached before being detached in 1870.

Notre Dame d'Afrique, accessible by cable car, is one of the city's most outstanding monuments: located in the district of Z'will ghara, the Roman Catholic basilica was built around 1858.

Image source: Notre-Dame d'Afrique

The church of the Holy Trinity, built in 1870, stands at the southern end of rue d'Isly near the site of the demolished Fort Bab Azoun. Its marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to British residents of Algiers, including John Tipton, the first English consul in 1580, and a tablet recording the 1631 raid on Baltimore, Ireland.

Image source: List of churches in the Archdiocese of New Orleans

Algiers was a walled city from the time of the deys until the close of the 19th century. After their 1830 occupation, the French built ramparts with forts Bab Azoun and Bab-el-Oued. These forts and part of the ramparts were demolished at the beginning of the 20th century, replaced by a line of forts on the heights of Bouzaréah, at an elevation of 396 metres.

In 1904, the commune of Mustapha was definitively integrated into the city of Algiers, which was divided into 12 districts for a total area of 15.64 km².

The Grand Post Office, built in 1910 by Voinot and Tondoire, is a neo-Moorish type construction located in full centre town of Algiers.

Image source: Grande Poste d'Alger

In 1959, Greater Algiers was created with the grouping of 9 municipalities: Algiers, Saint-Eugène, Bouzareah, El Biar, Dely Brahim, Birmendreis, Kouba, Hussein-Dey and Maison-Carrée.

The monument was opened in 1982 on the 20th anniversary of Algeria's independence.

Image source: Maqam Echahid

In December 1992, the Kasbah of Algiers was enlisted as a cultural World Heritage site by UNESCO. The city remained a theatre of many political demonstrations of all descriptions until 1993.

In 1997, after expanding to include 24 new municipalities, the Wilaya of Algiers was granted special status and became the 'Governorate of Greater Algiers', headed by minister-governor Cherif Rahmani. The GGA was dissolved in 2000, deemed unconstitutional.

Image source: Algiers Province

On 5 July 2006, a new international air terminal was opened for service at Houari Boumediene Airport.

Image source: Houari Boumediene Airport

The Algiers tramway was opened on 8 May 2011, adding modern public transit alongside the Metro that would open later that year.

Image source: Algiers tramway

Opened on 1 November 2011, the Algiers Metro services 5 districts of the city (Bab El Oued, Sidi M'Hamed, Hussein Dey, El Harrach, Bir Mourad Raïs) via Line 1 providing 19 stations with a total length of 18.5 km.

Image source: Algiers Metro

Considerable land reclamation along the waterfront allowed for developments such as Marina Mall in 2012, followed by Sablettes Promenade in 2016, the El kettani waterfront in 2025, and ongoing projects like the Algiers Medina and New bay of Algiers.

On 27 August 1816, the Bombardment of Algiers took place by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth (descendant of Thomas Pellew, taken in an Algerian slave raid in 1715), assisted by Dutch men-of-war, destroying the corsair fleet harboured in Algiers.

Image source: Bombardment of Algiers (1816)

On 29 April 1827, foreign consuls gathered at the Palace of the Dey for a conference with Hussein Dey. Amid the Bakri-Busnach affair, a commercial-political conflict troubling France and the Regency, tensions escalated dramatically.

Image source: French conquest of Algeria

As tensions rose while the French Armed Forces prepared for invasion, the naval fleet departed Toulon on 25 May 1830 and successfully reached the western coast of the Regency near what is today Sidi Fredj on 14 June 1830.

Image source: Invasion of Algiers (1830)

The Algerian forces met their French opponents in the Battle of Staouéli on 19 June 1830 and were defeated, enabling the colonial army to advance into the city. Hussein Dey surrendered to French General de Bourmont on 5 July 1830.

Under French rule, Algiers served as the capital of French Algeria, formally declared 'an integral part of the French Republic' through an annexation on 22 June 1834.

Image source: French Algeria

Starting on 7 January 1957, the 10th Parachute Division of the French Army, on orders of French Minister of Justice François Mitterrand who authorized any means 'to eliminate the insurrectionists', led attacks against Algerian independence fighters during the Algerian War (1954–1962), a bloody struggle in which hundreds of thousands died.

Image source: The Battle of Algiers

The demonstrations of 13 May during the crisis of 1958 provoked the fall of the Fourth Republic in France, as well as the return of General de Gaulle to power.

Image source: May 1958 crisis in France

Algeria achieved independence on 5 July 1962 following the Algerian Revolution, with Algiers as its capital. It has remained the capital of the modern Algerian state ever since.

Image source: Algerian War

In October 1988, one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Algiers was the site of demonstrations demanding the end of the single-party system and creation of real democracy, baptized the 'Spring of Algiers'.

The 1989 Algerian constitutional referendum adopted a new constitution that put an end to one-party rule and saw the creation of more than fifty political parties, as well as official freedom of the press.

Image source: Constitution of Algeria

In 1991, a political entity dominated by religious conservatives called the Islamic Salvation Front engaged in a political test of wills with the authorities. In the 1992 elections, the Islamists garnered large support in the first round. Mass protests from 1990/1991 led up to the Algerian Civil War, a result of a political and societal crisis.

Image source: Islamic Salvation Front

On 11 December 2007, two car bombs exploded in Algiers. As of 2008 it was speculated the attack was carried out by an Al Qaeda cell within the city. Indigenous terrorist groups have been active in Algeria since around 2002.

Sidi M'Hamed has always been the hub for expression and chants for change, having witnessed the Battle of Algiers, the mass riots of 1988, mass protests leading up to the Algerian Civil War, and Hirak Echaabi in 2019.

Image source: Hirak (Algeria)

Snow is very rare in Algiers; the last snowfall was in 2012, when the city received 100 millimetres of snowfall, its first snowfall in eight years.

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Algiers was 48.7 °C on 21 July 2023; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −3.3 °C.