PROVINCES OF ALGERIA

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'Algeria' is currently divided into 48 wilayas (provinces), 553 dairas (circles, or counties) and 1541 baladiyahs (municipalities, in French: commune). The capital city of a baladiyah, daïra, or province (which is also the largest city of those) always gives those entities their name, even Algiers, the capital of the country gave it its name (''El Djazayar'', the Arabic name for both the city and the country).
According to the Algerian constitution, a wilaya is a territorial collectivity enjoying economic and diplomatic freedom, the APW, or ''"Popular Provincial Parliament/Provincial Popular Parliament"'' (the '''A'ssemblé 'P'opulaire 'W'ilayale'', in French) is the political entity governing a province, directed by the "Wali" (Governor), who is chosen by the Algerian President to handle the APW's decisions, the APW has also a president, who is elected by the members of the APW, which is elected by Algerians.
The administrative divisions have changed several times since independence. When introducing new wilayas, the numbers of old provinces are kept, hence the non alphabetical order. With their official numbers, currently (since 1983) they are:
#Adrar
#Chlef
#Laghouat
#Oum el-Bouaghi
#Batna
#Béjaïa
#Biskra
#Béchar
#Blida
#Bouira
#Tamanghasset
#Tébessa
#Tlemcen
#Tiaret
#Tizi Ouzou
#Algiers
#Djelfa
#Jijel
#Sétif
#Saida
#Skikda
#Sidi Bel Abbes
#Annaba
#Guelma
#Constantine
#Médéa
#Mostaganem
#M'Sila
#Muaskar
#Ouargla
#Oran
#El Bayadh
#Illizi
#Bordj Bou Arréridj
#Boumerdès
#El Tarf
#Tindouf
#Tissemsilt
#El Oued
#Khenchela
#Souk Ahras
#Tipasa
#Mila
#Aïn Defla
#Naama
#Aïn Témouchent
#Ghardaïa
#Relizane
==1974-1983==

The 15 departments were reorganized to form 31 departments:
#Adrar
#Algiers
#Annaba
#Batna
#Béchar
#Béjaïa
#Biskra
#Blida
#Bouira
#Constantine
#Djelfa
#El Asnam (Currently Chlef)
#Guelma
#Jijel
#Laghouat
#Mascara
#Médéa
#Mostaganem
#M'Sila
#Oran
#Ouargla
#Oum el Bouaghi
#Saïda
#Sétif
#Sidi Bel Abbès
#Skikda
#Tamanrasset
#Tébessa
#Tiaret
#Tizi-Ouzou
#Tlemcen
==1962-1974==

Immediately after independence, Algeria retained its 15 former French départements, which became wilayas, for the most part, with some name changes:
#Alger (Algiers)
#Annaba (Formerly Bône, English: Bona)
#Batna
#Constantine
#El Asnam (Currently Chlef, formerly Orléansville)
#El Wahat (Currently Ouargla, formerly Oasis)
#Médéa
#Mostaganem
#Saïda
#Saoura (Currently Béchar)
#Sétif
#Tiaret
#Tizi-Ouzou
#Tlemcen
==1954-1962==
During the Algerian War of Independence, the FLN adopted an organizational system divided by 6 numbered ''wilayas'':
#Aures
#Constantine
#Kabylie
#Algiers
#Oran
#Sahara
with France sometimes described as a "wilaya 7".

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See also

See also

Municipalities of Algeria