Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر al-JazÄʼir, literally "the Islands"; Berber: Ldzayer, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria in North Africa. According to the 1998 census the population of the city proper was 1,519,570, whereas the population for the metropolitan area was 2,135,630. Nicknamed al-Bahjah (البهجة) or Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, it is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea.