Ethnic groups in Algeria
Ethnic groups in Algeria are not as common as those in other African countries. The population of Algeria consists of mostly Arabs (Mainly from the Qaysi Arab tribes such as Hilal and Sulaym), and Berbers (particularly in the Kabylia and Aurès areas) and in the Sahara oasis, or admixtures of Berbers with invaders from earlier periods.
The Berbers are descendants of the original inhabitants of Algeria and are divided into many subgroups. The Kabyles (Kaba’il), mostly farmers, live in the compact mountainous section in the northern part of the country between Algiers and Constantine. The Chaouia (Shawiyyah) live in the Aurès Mountains of the northeast. The Mzab, or Mozabites, include sedentary date growers in the Ued Mzab oasis. Desert groups include the Tuareg, Tuat, and Wargla (Ouargla).
Andalusians, Ottomans (Turkish, Bosniaks, Greeks...), Moriscos.
Europeans are of French, Corsican, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese ancestry. Algeria’s European population was estimated at less than 1% of the population in 2005. Algeria was also the home of a Jewish community. Within a month after Algeria became independent, about 70,000 Jews emigrated to France and 10,000 to Israel. Almost all the rest left Algeria during the next seven years; fewer than 100 Jews remained as of 1998, and virtually all synagogues had been converted to mosques.