The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (al-dzāyīr in Algerian Arabic) is a North African country with a 1280 km (800 mi) long coastline on the southwestern shore of the Mediterranean opposite France and Spain. French troops captured the city of Algiers in 1830 and subdued the country gradually over several decades of fighting. The country remained a French colony through World War II. A bitter struggle in the 1950s led to independence in 1962. Algeria is divided into 58 provinces. This page describes lighthouses in five provinces of the central Algerian coast from Algiers eastward through Béjaïa. There are separate pages for lighthouses of Western Algeria and Eastern Algeria. Arabic is an official language of Algeria and most residents speak a variety of Arabic called Darja. French is widely used in government and media and more than half of the population also speaks French. The Arabic word for a lighthouse is mnarh or manara (منارة). Ra's is a cape, jaza'ir or jazirat is an island, shi'b is a reef, shira' is a bay, and marfa is a harbor. In French phare is the word for a lighthouse, île is an island, cap is a cape, pointe is a promontory or point of land, roche is a rock, récife is a reef, baie is a bay, estuaire is an estuary or inlet, détroit is a strait, rivière is a river, and havre is a harbor. Aids to navigation in Algeria are operated by the Office National de Signalisation Maritime (ONSM). Most of the historic French lighthouses are being maintained and most still have resident keepers. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume E of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Eastern Algeria | West: Western Algeria
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Posted August 8, 2005. Checked and revised June 17, 2024. Lighthouses: 32. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.