Algeria, a south Mediterranean country, is the tenth largest country of the world.  It is a land of contrast where the beauty of the Mediterranean is contiguous to the majesty of the Sahara.  Throughout history, it has been meeting point of ideas and people.

Algeria offers pleasures of the high mountain and the sea.   A writer once remarked about Algiers, "there are still heavens indeed".  Everywhere a visitor is welcome unalloyed hospitality and affection.  Palm trees, oases, prehistoric remains, handicrafts, golden sanded coasts...  Algeria has everything to quench a visitor's thirst.

The country is characterized by four distinct parallel geographical regions running est to west.  The Tell region is the northern band of terrain extending along the country's northern coastal area, between 80 and 190 km (50-120 miles) wide.  This region is a narrow, discontinuous coastal strip in which majority of the country's population lives.

The Tell is formed of hills and fertile valleys which contains the majority of Algeria's arable land.  The main coastal cities of Algiers, Oran and Annaba are located on the plains of Tell.

The southern perimeter of this region is bounded by the Tell Atlas mountain range which extends from the Moroccan frontier of Cap Carbon to the east near Bejaya.  The Bejaya plain is another highly productive agricultural area.  The highest peak of the Tell Atlas range is Jebel Warsenis with an elevation of 1,985m.  Algeria's main river, Chelif, flows from the Tell Atlas for 725 km to the Mediterranean Sea.

The second geographical region is known as the High Plateau, a tableland interspersed with large shallow basins which collect water during the rainy season, becoming dry beds of salt flats called chotts or shotts in the hot season.

The region extends on a southwest to northeast axis from the east of Shott ash-Shargui to Shott al-Hodna, terminating east of Batna.  The High Plateau is mostly barren, arid wasteland, although its western area is known for its abundance of esparto grass, a needlegrass which grows in the deserts of North Africa and which is an age-old material used for making ropes, sandals, baskets and other traditional items.

The third geographical region is known as the Sahara Atlas which is formed of three mountain chains: the Jibal Amor in the southwest; the Jibal Awlad Nair in the centre and the Monts du Zab in the northeast.  The Saharan Atlas receive more rain than the High Plateau with the result that the region contains large areas of plateau land.

The fourth and the largest region of Algeria is the Sahara desert, which covers 90% of the country's total land area.  This is mostly a desolate flatland covered with gravel, but there are wide expanses of sand desert composed of two uruq, or dune chains called the Great Western Irq and the Great Eastern Irq.  At the Sahara's geographical centre lies the Hajjar Massif, a volcanic highland 800km wide and 3000m in elevation.  Jebel Tahat, located in the Hajjar is the highest peak in Algeria at 3003m (9,852 ft). There are also scattered oasis settlements throughout the Sahara where dates are cultivated and small scale farming is carried out.

(Source : Algeria in Focus)