Different forms of the name Algeria include: Arabic: الجزائر, romanized: al-Jazāʾir, Algerian Arabic: دزاير, romanized: dzāyer, French: l'Algérie. The country's full name is officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria[16] (Arabic: الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, romanized: al-Jumhūriyah al-Jazāʾiriyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyah ash‑Shaʿbiyah; French: République algérienne démocratique et populaire, abbr. RADP; Berber Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⴳⴷⵓⴷⴰ ⵜⴰⵣⵣⴰⵢⵔⵉⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⴳⴷⴰⵢⵜ ⵜⴰⵖⴻⵔⴼⴰⵏⵜ,[17][18][g] Berber Latin alphabet: Tagduda tazzayrit tamagdayt taɣerfant[20]). Etymology Algeria's name derives from the city of Algiers, which in turn derives from the Arabic al-Jazāʾir (الجزائر, 'the islands'), referring to four small islands off its coast,[21] a truncated form of the older Jazāʾir Banī Mazghanna (جزائر بني مزغنة, 'islands of Bani Mazghanna').[22][23][page needed][24][page needed] The name was given by Buluggin ibn Ziri after he established the city on the ruins of the Phoenician city of Icosium in 950.[25] It was employed by medieval geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi. Algeria took its name from the Regency of Algeria[26][27][28] or Regency of Algiers,[29] when Ottoman rule was established in the central Maghreb in early 16th century. This period saw the installation of a political and administrative organisation which participated in the establishment of the Watan el djazâïr (وطن الجزائر, 'country of Algiers') and the definition of its borders with its neighboring entities on the east and west.[30] The Ottoman Turks who settled in Algeria referred both to themselves[31][32][33] and the peoples as "Algerians".[34][26] Acting as a central military and political authority in the regency, the Ottoman Turks shaped the modern political identity of Algeria as a state possessing all the attributes of sovereign independence, despite still being nominally subject to the Ottoman sultan.[35][36] Algerian nationalist, historian and statesman Ahmed Tewfik El Madani regarded the regency as the "first Algerian state" and the "Algerian Ottoman republic".[32][37][38] History Main article: History of Algeria Prehistory and ancient history Main articles: Prehistoric North Africa and North Africa during Antiquity Roman ruins at Djémila Around ~1.8-million-year-old stone artifacts from Ain Hanech (Algeria) were considered to represent the oldest archaeological materials in North Africa.[39] Stone artifacts and cut-marked bones that were excavated from two nearby deposits at Ain Boucherit are estimated to be ~1.9 million years old, and even older stone artifacts to be as old as ~2.4 million years.[39] Hence, the Ain Boucherit evidence shows that ancestral hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in northern Africa much earlier than previously thought. The evidence strongly argues for early dispersal of stone tool manufacture and use from East Africa, or a possible multiple-origin scenario of stone technology in both East and North Africa. Neanderthal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles (43,000 BC) similar to those in the Levant.[40][41] Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic Flake tool techniques.[42] Tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian (after the archaeological site of Bir el Ater, south of Tebessa). The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Iberomaurusian (located mainly in the Oran region). This industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of the Maghreb between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic civilisation (animal domestication and agriculture) developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghreb perhaps as early as 11,000 BC[43] or as late as between 6000 and 2000 BC. This life, richly depicted in the Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, predominated in Algeria until the classical period. The mixture of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a distinct native population that came to be called Berbers, who are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa.[44] Ancient Roman ruins of Timgad on the street leading to the local Arch of Trajan From their principal center of power at Carthage, the Carthaginians expanded and established small settlements along the North African coast; by 600 BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa, east of Cherchell, Hippo Regius (modern Annaba) and Rusicade (modern Skikda). These settlements served as market towns as well as anchorages. As Carthaginian power grew, its impact on the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilisation was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and political organisation supported several states. Trade links between Carthage and the Berbers in the interior grew, but territorial expansion also resulted in the enslavement or military recruitment of some Berbers and in the extraction of tribute from others. Masinissa (c. 238–148 BC), first king of Numidia By the early 4th century BC, The north is divided into two Masaesyli kingdom in west led by Syphax and Massylii kingdom in east. Berbers formed the single largest element of the Carthaginian army. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers rebelled from 241 to 238 BC after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War.[45] They succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthage's North African territory, and they minted coins bearing the name Libyan, used in Greek to describe natives of North Africa. The Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars.[46] In 146 BC, the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew. By the 2nd century BC, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged. Two of them were established in Numidia, behind the coastal areas controlled by Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania, which extended across the Moulouya River in modern-day Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilisation, unequalled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravids more than a millennium later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BC. The lands which make up modern-day Algeria were part of Byzantine North Africa (The empire in 555 under