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50 free Algeria trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the tenth largest on earth, and most of it is Sahara, which is why nine in ten Algerians live along the Mediterranean strip that produced Numidia, Saint Augustine, the Barbary corsairs and one of the twentieth century's most bitter wars of independence. This quiz covers the geography, from the Tell Atlas to Mount Tahat in the Hoggar, and the whole sweep of the history: Masinissa and Jugurtha, the Barbarossa brothers, the fly-whisk incident of 1827, Emir Abdelkader, Setif in 1945, the FLN's Toussaint Rouge, the Evian Accords and independence on 5 July 1962, then Ben Bella, Boumediene, the Black Decade and the Hirak that toppled Bouteflika. Culture and modern life get equal room: couscous and the fennec fox, rai from Oran, Camus and Fanon, the world's tallest minaret in Algiers, the UNESCO sites of Timgad, Djemila, Tipasa, the M'zab and Tassili n'Ajjer, Sonatrach and the gas that heats Europe, and the Desert Foxes' 1982 upset of West Germany and two Africa Cup of Nations titles. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Algeria, its cities, history and culture, so the dates and figures will hold up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Algeria is the largest country in Africa and ranks where in the world by area?
Tenth
It spans over 2.38 million square kilometres, most of it Sahara.
Q 02The name Algeria derives from Algiers, whose Arabic name al-Jazā'ir means what?
The islands
It referred to small islands once lying off the city's coast.
Q 03Which two languages are official in Algeria?
Arabic and Tamazight
French remains widely used in media and education but has no official status.
Q 04Roughly what share of Algerians live in the northern coastal area?
90%
About 1.5 million people in the Sahara remain nomadic or partly nomadic.
Q 05Algeria's highest peak, Mount Tahat, stands in which Saharan mountain range?
The Hoggar
Charles de Foucauld built a hermitage at nearby Assekrem in 1911.
Q 06Which Berber king unified Numidia in 203-202 BC after backing Rome at the Battle of Zama?
Masinissa
Livy praised him as an exceptional ruler; his grandson Jugurtha later provoked Rome.
Q 07Numidia's capital Cirta is today which Algerian city?
Constantine
Renamed for Constantine the Great, it is nicknamed the City of Bridges for its gorge-spanning spans.
Q 08Saint Augustine was bishop of Hippo Regius, which is now which Algerian city?
Annaba
He was born at Tagaste, modern Souk Ahras; his mother was Saint Monica.
Q 09Which emperor founded Timgad, the 'Pompeii of Africa' in the Aurès Mountains, around 100 AD?
Trajan
Its full name honoured his mother, sister and father.
Q 10Which Berber queen defeated the Arab armies in the Aurès Mountains in the 7th century?
Kahina
Also called Dihya, she followed the leader Kusayla, who had killed Oqba at Tahouda in 683.
Q 11Algiers was founded in 950 by which Sanhaja Berber emir?
Buluggin ibn Ziri
He built on the site of ancient Icosium and also founded Médéa and Miliana.
Q 12The Zayyanid dynasty, which ruled the central Maghreb from 1236 to 1550, made which city its capital?
Tlemcen
The city grew rich on trans-Saharan trade in leather, precious metals and slaves.
Q 13The medieval port of Béjaïa gave the French language its word for what?
Candle
The city exported beeswax; 'bougie' still means candle in French.
Q 14The Regency of Algiers was founded in 1516 by which corsair brothers?
Q 21Who was independent Algeria's first president?
Ahmed Ben Bella
Boumédiène, his defence minister, overthrew him in 1965.
Q 22Algeria's civil war, the 'Black Decade', ran between which years?
1992 and 2002
A state of emergency then lasted until the Arab Spring protests of 2010-12.
Q 23Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April 2019 after mass protests against his bid for which term in office?
A fifth
Abdelmadjid Tebboune won the December election on a record low turnout.
Algeria's flag is green and white with a red crescent and star; on what date in 1962 was it adopted?
Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa
They seized Algiers against Spanish expansion and placed it under Ottoman protection.
Q 15What did the Dey strike the French consul with in 1827, later France's pretext to invade?
A fly-whisk
The dispute was over debts and grain payments; the Regency fell after three centuries.
Q 16Who led Algerian resistance against the French from 1831 to 1847 and later saved Christians in Damascus?
Abdelkader
He was held in France for five years before Napoleon III released him.
Q 17The 1945 massacre that catalysed the independence movement took place in Guelma and which town?
Sétif
Brutal colonial reprisals convinced many that armed struggle was the only route.
Q 18The Algerian War began with coordinated FLN attacks on 1 November 1954, a date remembered as what?
Toussaint Rouge
'Red All Saints' Day'; the war brought down France's Fourth Republic.
Q 19Which March 1962 agreement led to the ceasefire and independence referendum?
The Évian Accords
France's electorate approved them on 8 April 1962.
Q 20Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962, ending how many years of French colonial rule?
132
More than 900,000 European pieds-noirs left between 1962 and 1964.
3 July
A similar flag had been used by the government in exile from 1958.
Q 25What is Algeria's currency?
The dinar
The state has invested about 100 billion dinars in research facilities.
Q 26Sonatrach, Algeria's state oil and gas group, holds what distinction?
Largest firm in Africa
It is a major gas supplier to Europe; Algeria's gas reserves rank ninth in the world.
Q 27Which animal is the national animal of Algeria?
The fennec fox
The national football team is nicknamed the Desert Foxes after it.
Q 28Which dish is recognised as Algeria's national dish?
Couscous
It is a staple across the Maghreb and reached French kitchens through the pieds-noirs.
Q 29Raï, the popular music of younger singers called cheb and cheba, originated in which port city?
Oran
Between the wars Oran was 'little Paris', full of cabarets and nightclubs.
Q 30Albert Camus, born in Mondovi in French Algeria in 1913, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in which year?
1957
He was 44, the second-youngest laureate and the first born in Africa.