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Capital | Tizi-Ouzou | Largest city | Béjaïa | Language official |
Kabyle |
others | Arabic,Greek | Religion main |
Islam (Sunni) |
others | Catholic, Greek Orthodox | Ethnic Groups main |
Kabyles |
others | Arabs, Greeks | Demonym | Kabyle |
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Population | Approx. 5 million |
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Currency | Kabyle Dinar |
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Kabylie or Kabylia (Kabyle: Tamurt Iqbayliyen, Tamurt n Leqbayel or Tamurt idurar), is a country in the north of Africa that is bordered by Algeria. Is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Kabylia is divided in several provinces that were once part of Algeria: the whole of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia (Bgayet), most of Bouira and parts of the wilayas of Bordj Bou Arreridj, Jijel, Boumerdes, and Setif. Gouraya National Park and Djurdjura National Park are also located in Kabylie.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
By the hypothesis that North Africa was once covered with water, the only land left for people to have inhabited is what appears to now be the Atlas.
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a 19th century jar, Kabyles Art Museum, Kabylie
Mountains. The Kabyle people have always inhabited the peaks of the Algerian Highlands, a part of the Atlas Mountains in eastern Algeria. Except for the Germanic clan known as the Vandals, no other peoples have ever co-existed with them on their territory - neither the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Turks or the French. While most of these invaders established military forts on seashore cities, the contact with the local peoples past the Atlas chain, has remained minimal. No invader succeeded in imposing its rule over the Kabyle people until the French, late in the middle of the 19th century - a cohabitation which eventually led to a conflict of sovereignty, resulting in the notorious Algerian War, which lasted eight years from 1954 to 1962.
Though the region was the last stronghold against French colonization, the area was gradually taken over by the French from 1857 onwards, despite vigorous local resistance by the local population. Much land was confiscated in this period from the more recalcitrant tribes and given to French Pieds-Noirs. Many arrests and deportations were carried out by the French, mainly to New Caledonia. Colonization also resulted in an acceleration of the emigration into other areas of the country and outside of it.
Tensions developed between Kabyle leaders and the central government on several occasions, initially in 1963, and later on in the 1980s when issues over language arose.
Bejala
Post-Doomsday[]
After Doomsday, Algeria fell into chaos, with warlords and Islamic leaders seceding into various nations and cities, turning Algeria into a small rump state around Algiers. One of the first organized states that seceded was Kabylie. As Algeria recovered from the chaos and as many of the former nations of Algeria invaded and annexed each other, Kabylie was in a relative peaceful moment, having closed its borders and established defences. In the late 1980s Kabylie opened up diplomatically, establishing relations with both nearby states, and two across the Algerian section of the Sahara - Tamanrasset and Tamahaq.
Hellenic Influence[]
In 1996, as the Confederation of Greece made contact with Algeria and much of the area entered the Greek sphere of influence. With the help of the Greeks, an Algerian government reformed in 2003 from remnants of the old government and some of the city-states. This new government annexed many of the break-away nations, usually through peaceful means, though using their military in the case of several aggressive holdouts.
Several, one of which being Kabylie, did not want rejoin the Algerian state, and refused to do so. Due to a combination of Greek pressure, peaceful relations, and military strength - combined with distance and isolation in the case of Tamanrasset and Tamahaq - they remained so.
Sicilian Problems and Alliance with the Greece[]
A Greek building in Kabylie. More styles of architecture have been added to the city in recent years, including the Hellenic-Style
In 2004, Sicily, which the Kabylians call "the Neo-Roman Empire" invaded nearby Sardinia and Tunisia. These started a massive wave of panic and fear in all Algeria and former Algeria, which led the majority of the nations of Algeria to ally with Greece and its allies, including Kabylie.
On March 16 of 2009, a group of Kabylian pirates, supported by Sicily, attacked a League of Nations ship near the coast. The only casualty of that incident was seen on a video that was shown first on Kabylian News TV in which a League of Nations Staff Member from The Alpine Confederation was decapitated. On January 3, 2010, a joint ADC-Kabylian operation captured the pirate ship, and killed the pirates and saved all of the staff, except the one already executed.
Eventually in 2009, the Second Sicilian War broke out, and the Kabylians allied with the Greeks and the ADC, aiding their forces when they invaded Tunisia in September of 2010. Greece has offered Kabylie the chance to join the newly-founded Greek Federation, but they declined, saying that they would prefer to stay independent for the time being. It is, however, considered very likely that they will join the Atlantic Defense Community in the near future.
Geography[]
Landscape of Kabylie.Landscape, near Azazga Main features:
Kabylie landscape
- The Great Kabylia, which runs from Thénia (west) to Bejaia (east), and from the Mediterranean Sea (north) to the valley of Soummam (south), that is tosay, 200 km by 100 km, beginning 50 km fromAlgiers, the capital of Algeria.
- Kabylia of Bibans and Kabylia of Babors, which form the Little Kabylia.
Three large chains of mountains occupy most of the area:
- In the north, the mountain range of maritime Kabylia, culminating with Tifrit n'Ait El Hadj (Tamgout 1278 m)
- In the south, the Djurdjura, dominating the valley of Soummam, culminating with Lalla-Khedidja (2308 m)
- Between the two lies the mountain range of Agawa, which is the most populous and is 800 m high on average. The largest town of Great Kabylia, Tizi Ouzou, lies in that mountain range. Larbaa Nat Iraten(formerly "Fort-National" in French occupation), which numbered 28,000 inhabitants in 2001, is the highest urban centre of the area.
Ecology[]
There are a number of flora and fauna associated with this region. Notable is a population of the endangered primate, Barbary Macaque, Macaca sylvanus, whose prehistoric range encompassed a much wider span than the present limited populations in Algeria, Morocco and Gibraltar.
a Kabylie prairie
Population[]
The area is populated by the Kabyles, the second most populous Berber people after the Chleuhs in Morocco. Their name means "tribe" (from the Arabic "qabîlah" قبيلة). They speak the Kabyle variety of Berber.
Economy[]
The traditional economy of the area is based on arboriculture and on the craft industry. The mountain and hill farming is gradually giving way to local industry.
Today Kabylie is the most industrialized part of the former Algeria. Industries include: pharmaceutical industry in Bejaia, agro-alimentary in Ifri and Akbou, mechanical industry in Tizi Ouzou and other little towns of western Kabylia, and petrochemical industry and refining of petrole in Begaia.
Bejaia's port is the 6th largest of the Mediterranean Sea.
Culture[]
Language[]
Kabyle people
The principal language used by the Kabyls is Kabyle, which is spoken both at home and professionally. Speakers take great pride in the Kabyle language. Also recently a mix of Greek and Kabyle has arisen in the port cities.
Greek Revival architecture in Tizi-Ouzu
Religion[]
The vast majority of Kabyle are nominal Sunni Muslims, though secularizing influences are strong. Small minorities are Roman Catholic or secular. There has been a growth of Protestant Evangelicals in recent years.
Architecture and Arts[]
Although architecture remains Neo-Islamic, Neo-Hellenic designs have arisen in recent years thanks to the Confederation of Greece. Western Arts have also increased in recent years.
Foreign Relations[]
Kabylie has good relations with other Berber nations and the Tuareg nations. Although it has relations with Algeria, the relations are tense, because Kabylie was part of Algeria in the past. Kabylie is one of the allies of the Greek Federation, and has been one ever since the Sicilians invaded Tunisia, though they took a year to involve themselves in the Second Sicily War after the Federation was attacked. Kabylie is a member of the LoN and has been since its founding in 2008 thanks to Greece.
In part due to their status as an ally of the Federation, Kabylie applied for the ADC on December 20th, 2010, after the conclusion of the Second Sicily War, with Greek support, alongside Rhodope.
Politics[]
Two political "algerianist" parties have their principal base of supporters in Kabylia: the FFS, led by Hocine Aït Ahmed, and the RCD, led by Saïd Sadi. Both parties are secularist, Berberist and "Algerianist".
Parties:
- Rally for Culture and Democracy
- Socialist Forces Front
- Party for Kabylie-Greece Unification
- Kabyl Party of Algerian Reunification
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