Sig, Algeria

Sig (known under the Romans as Tasacora and under the French as Saint-Denis-de-Sig) is a town with wide streets and tree-filled squares. Formerly located in Oran Province and now located in Mascara Province, north-western Algeria. Its population was 61,373 in 2008.

The town's public garden is on the bank of the Sig river just down stream the confluence of the le-Mebtoûh and the Matarah. Sig is surrounded by fertile land irrigated by the Barrages des Cheurfas (dams) 25 kilometres (16 mi) upstream with the overflow stored in the Petit Barrage (little dams) 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) upstream from the town. The local land supports the growing of olives (groves of which surround the town), cotton, flax, grains, tobacco, and wine, much of which is proceed locally and exported. The other local industry is quarrying which for diatomite in Kieselguhr which is located neadby.

Sig is located about 29 kilometres (18 mi) south the Gulf of Arzew, separated by the Sig plains and north-west of Mount Touakas (349 metres (1,145 ft) high). Sig is about 44 kilometres (27 mi) east of Oran and 450 kilometres (280 mi) from Algiers. The temperatures there usually rise from May to the end of August. It can reach up to 44 °C (111 °F) and become very hot in a desert-like terrain.

Algeria

Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2

Algeria (Arabic: الجزائر‎ al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⵍⵣⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a sovereign state in North Africa on the Mediterranean coast. Its capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the country's far north. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, and the largest in Africa and the Arab world. Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the west by Morocco, to the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, to the southeast by Niger, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The country is a semi-presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes. Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been President since 1999.

Ancient Algeria has known many empires and dynasties, including ancient Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Idrisid, Aghlabid, Rustamid, Fatimids, Zirid, Hammadids, Almoravids, Almohads, Ottomans and the French colonial empire. Berbers are generally considered to be the indigenous inhabitants of Algeria. Following the Arab conquest of North Africa, most indigenous inhabitants were Arabised; thus, although most Algerians are Berber in origin, most identify with Arab culture. En masse, Algerians are a mix of Berbers, Arabs, Turks and Black Africans.

Algerian wine

Algerian wine is wine made in Algeria. While not a significant force on the world's wine market today, Algeria has played an important role in the history of wine. Algeria's viticultural history dates back to its settlement by the Phoenicians and continued under Algeria's rule by the Roman empire. Just prior to the Algerian War of Independence, Algerian wine (along with the production of Morocco and Tunisia) accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total international wine trade. With as much land under vine as the countries of Germany and South Africa, Algeria continues to maintain a wine industry with over 70 wineries in operation.

History

The roots of Algerian winemaking can be traced to the settlement of the Phoenicians and the influences of nearby Carthage. Under Roman rule, winemaking continued until the Muslim conquests of North Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries. During this time the wine industry was severely limited due to the prohibition of alcohol under Islamic dietary laws. When Algeria came under French rule in 1830 vineyards were replanted in order to serve the needs of the local pieds-noir. When the phylloxera epidemic destroyed the French vineyards in the mid-19th century, Algerian wine exports into France filled the void. An influx of winemakers from the German wine region of Baden brought with them more modern winemaking techniques and helped to increase the overall quality of Algeria wine. Even after the French resumed normal levels of wine production, Algerian wine was still widely used in regions like the Languedoc as a blending component that added color and strength to the wines.

1213 Algeria

1213 Algeria, provisional designation 1931 XD, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 33 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by French astronomer Guy Reiss at the North African Algiers Observatory on 5 December 1931. Three nights later, the body was independently discovered by Belgian–American astronomer George Van Biesbroeck at Williams Bay in the U.S state of Wisconsin.

The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,029 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.13 and is tilted by 13 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. It has a rotation period of 16 hours and an albedo between 0.06 and 0.09, according to the surveys carried out by the IRAS, Akari, and WISE/NEOWISE missions.

The minor planet was named in honour of the North African country Algeria, location of the discovering observatory and a French colony at the time.

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