The Petite Kabylie or Petite Kabylia (French: La Kabylie; Arabic: al-Qabā'il, القبائل which translates the tribes) is a mountainous region of Northern Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

. The Kabyle people themselves know it as Tamurt Idurar (The Mountain Land) or Tamurt n Leqvayel (Land of the Kabyles). The Petite Kabylie along with the Grand Kabylie form part of the Atlas

Atlas Mountains

The Atlas Mountains is a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert...

 range and borders the Mediterranean. The entire Kabylie spreads over several administrative divisions (wilayas) of Algeria - all of Tizi Ouzou

Tizi Ouzou

Tizi Ouzou is a city in Kabylia, Algeria, where it ranks second in population after Béjaïa. It is the capital and largest city of Tizi Ouzou Province and of Great Kabylia .-Etymology:The name comes from the Kabylian Berber Tizi n Uzezzu and is pronounced Tizuzzu, commonly...

 and Bejaia

Béjaïa

Béjaïa, Vgaiet or Bejaya is a Mediterranean port city on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Under French rule, it was formerly known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie...

 (Bgayet), most of Bouira

Bouira

Bouïra is the capital of Bouïra Province, Algeria.-Demographics:It has 75,086 inhabitants as of the 1998 census, which gives it 15 seats in the PMA.-Geography:...

 (Tubiret), Bordj Bou Arreridj

Bordj Bou Arreridj

Bordj Bou Arréridj population 140,000 , is the capital city of Bordj Bou Arréridj Province, Algeria. It is situated 148 miles by road east of Algiers, near the Hodnar Massif in the southern Kabylia Mountains, at an elevation of 916 metres....

 and parts of the wilayas of M'Sila

M'Sila

M'Sila ; is the capital of M'Sila Province, Algeria, and is co-extensive with M'Sila District. It has a population of over 100,000...

 (Tamsilt), Jijel

Jijel

Jijel is the capital of Jijel Province in northeastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne, and has an estimated population of 148,000 inhabitants .Jijel is the administrative and trade centre for a region specializing in cork processing, leather...

, Boumerdes

Boumerdès

Boumerdès is the capital city of Boumerdès Province, Algeria. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea. It had a population of 28,500 in 1998 and 15,000 in 1987....

, and Setif

Sétif

Sétif |Colonia]]) is a town in northeastern Algeria. It is the capital of Sétif Province and it has a population of 239,195 inhabitants as of the 1998 census. Setif is located to the east of Algiers and is the second most important Wilaya after the country's capital. It is 1,096 meters above sea...

. While a French colony, the entirety of the Kabylie was divided into two départements, the Greater (Haute Kabylie) and the Lesser (Basse Kabylie).

Ecology

Some of the Petite Kabylie is forested with Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests

Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests

Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests is an ecoregion, in the temperate coniferous forest Biome, which occupies the high mountain ranges of North Africa and southern Spain. The term is also a botanically recognized plant association in the African and Mediterranean literature...

. This locale offers one of the few remaining disjunctive habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s for the endangered Barbary Macaque

Barbary Macaque

The Barbary Macaque , or Common macaque, is a macaque with no tail. Found in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco with a small population, of unknown origin, in Gibraltar, the Barbary Macaque is one of the best-known Old World monkey species. Besides humans, they are the only primates that...

, Macaca sylvanus, a primate

Primate

A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

species which prehistorically held a much wider range.