Algeria

When I was 10, our class did a project where we chose an African country to research. I chose Algeria because its shape looked like the head of a pig. Various Empires have come and gone through its history, with the local Berber population Arabised through the North African conquests in the century of massive Muslim expansion following the death of Muhammad. In the same way as the ethnic groups 'leading Christianity' changed, the same was true of Islam. Local populations kept their identity while Arabic provided a common language and additional sense of being part of the Ummah (Community). The Ummah is a supra-national community that stands apart from ancestry or geography, and is formed instead from a common history. History then becomes the glue, and history is added to each day. Separated by just the Mediterranean, Algeria became the destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants during French colonisation (1830 - 1962).