Algerian school children. *Photo from Wikipedia
July 5 is Independence Day, celebrating the independence of Algeria from France in 1962.
North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East, thus, the region’s inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas, including the Carthaginians, Romans, and Vandals. The region was conquered by the Muslims in the early 8th century, but broke off from the Umayyad Caliphate after the Berber Revolt of 740. Later, various Berbers, Arabs, Persian Muslim states, Sunni, Shia or Ibadi communities were established that ruled parts of modern-day of Algeria.
During the Ottoman period, Algiers was the center of the Barbary slave trade which led to many naval conflicts. The last significant event in the country’s recent history has been the Algerian War. The war against French rule concluded in 1962, when Algeria gained complete independence following the March 1962 Evian agreements and the July 1962 self-determination referendum.
Algeria, officially the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a sovereign state in North Africa on the Mediterranean coast. Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the west by Morocco, to the southwest by the Western Saharan territory, Mauritania, and Mali, to the southeast by Niger, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.
In commemoration of the day, we introduce you to an Algerian soba noodle chef.
*Click the photo below and read his stories!
“It’s not easy for both Japanese and foreigners to form relationships. I also needed to bottle up my emotions in order to get one step ahead here in Japan. Otherwise a foreigner like me couldn’t have run a buckwheat noodle shop here.”
*Reference: Wikipedia
