Algiers
Overview
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...
. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population at about 3,574,000 as of 2010.
Called El-Behdja (البهجة) or alternatively Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
.
Unanswered Questions
Discussions
Timeline
1830 Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch.
1942 World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers.
1958 May 1958 crisis: a group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.
2007 2007 Algiers bombings: Two bombings in the Algerian capital of Algiers, kills 33 people and wounds a further 222 others.
2007 Two car bombs explode at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
Encyclopedia
is the capital and largest city of Algeria
. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population at about 3,574,000 as of 2010.
Called El-Behdja (البهجة) or alternatively Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea
. The modern part of the city is built on the level ground by the seashore; the old part, the ancient city of the dey
s, climbs the steep hill behind the modern town and is crowned by the casbah
or citadel, 400 feet (122 m) above the sea. The casbah and the two quays form a triangle.
Alger and Catalan
Alguère) from the Arabic name الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, which translates as "The Islands", referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Jazā’ir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزائر بني مازغان Jazā’ir Banī Mazghannā, "The Islands of the Sons of Mazghanna", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi
.
n commercial outpost called Ikosim which later developed into a small Roman
town called Icosium
existed on what is now the marine quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of what used to be a Roman street. Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun
. The city was given Latin
rights by Vespasian
. The bishop
s of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century.
The present-day city was founded in 944 by Bologhine ibn Ziri, the founder of the Berber
Zirid
–Sanhaja
dynasty, which was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily
in 1148, although the Zirids had already lost control of Algiers before the final fall of the dynasty. The city was occupied by the Almohades in 1159, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Abd-el-Wadid sultans of Tlemcen
. Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a large measure of independence under amirs of its own due to Oran
being the chief seaport and center of power of the Abd-el-Wahid.
As early as 1302 the islet of Peñón in front of Algiers harbour had been occupied by Spaniards. Thereafter, a considerable amount of trade began to flow between Algiers and Spain
. However, Algiers continued to be of comparatively little importance until after the expulsion of the Moors
from Spain, many of whom sought asylum in the city. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, the Spaniards fortified the islet of Peñon and imposed a levy intended to suppress corsair
activity.
. Hayreddin, succeeding Oruc after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards in the Fall of Tlemcen (1517)
, was the founder of the pashaluk
, which subsequently became the bey
lik, of Algeria. Barbarossa lost Algiers in 1524 but regained it with Capture of Algiers (1529)
, and then formally invited the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
to accept sovereignty over the territory and to annex Algiers to the Ottoman Empire
.
Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. In October 1541 in the Algiers expedition
, the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
sought to capture the city, but a storm destroyed a great number of his ships, and his army of some 30,000, chiefly made up of Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their Pasha
, Hassan.
Formally part of the Ottoman Empire but essentially free from Ottoman control, starting in the 17th century Algiers turned to piracy and ransoming. Due to its location on the periphery of both the Ottoman and European economic spheres, and depending for its existence on a Mediterranean that was increasingly controlled by European shipping, backed by European navies, piracy became the primary economic activity. Repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland. The United States
fought two wars (the First
and Second Barbary War
s) over Algiers' attacks on shipping.
The city under Ottoman control was enclosed by a wall on all sides, including along the seafront. In this wall, five gates allowed access to the city, with five roads from each gate dividing the city and meeting in front of the Ketchaoua Mosque. In 1556, a citadel was constructed at the highest point in the wall. A major road running north to south divided the city in two: The upper city (al-Gabal, or 'the mountain') which consisted of about fifty small quarters of Andalusian
, Jewish, Moorish
and Kabyle
communities, and the lower city (al-Wata, or 'the plains') which was the administrative, military and commercial centre of the city, mostly inhabited by Turkish dignitaries and other upper-class families.
In 1817, the city was bombarded by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth
(a descendant of Thomas Pellew, taken in an Algerian slave raid in 1715), assisted by Dutch
men-of-war, destroying the corsair fleet harboured in Algiers.
and its relationship to France
. On July 4, 1830, under the pretext of an affront to the French consul—whom the dey
had hit with a fly-whisk
when the consul said the French government was not prepared to pay its large outstanding debts to two Algerian merchants—a French army under General de Bourmont
attacked the city in the 1830 invasion of Algiers
. The city capitulated the following day. Algiers became the capital of French Algeria
.
Many Europeans settled in Algiers, and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the city's population. During the 1930s, the architect Le Corbusier
drew up plans for a complete redesign of the colonial city. Le Corbusier was highly critical of the urban style of Algiers, describing the European district as "nothing but crumbling walls and devastated nature, the whole a sullied blot". He also criticised the difference in living standards he perceived between the European and African residents of the city, describing a situation in which "the 'civilised' live like rats in holes" whereas "the 'barbarians' live in solitude, in well-being". However, these plans were ultimately ignored by the French administration.
During World War II
, Algiers was the last city to be seized from the Germans by the Allies during Operation Torch
.
In 1962, after a bloody independence struggle in which up hundreds of thousands (estimates range between 500,000 to 1,500,000) died (mostly Algerians but also French and Pieds-Noirs
) at the hands of the French Army
and the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale
, Algeria finally gained its independence, with Algiers as its capital. Since then, despite losing its entire pied-noir
population, the city has expanded massively. It now has about five million inhabitants, or 10 percent of Algeria's population—and its suburbs now cover most of the surrounding Mitidja
plain.
Algiers was the host city for both the 1978 and 2007 All-Africa Games
. The city was also designated the Arab Capital of Culture for 2007.
Algiers also played a pivotal role in the Algerian War (1954–1962), particularly during the Battle of Algiers when the 10th Parachute Division of the French Army, starting on January 7, 1957, and on the orders of then French Minister of Justice François Mitterrand
(who authorized any means "to eliminate the insurrectionists"), led attacks against the Algerian fighters for independence. Algiers remains marked by this battle, which was characterized by merciless fighting between Algerian forces who, on the one hand, resorted to attacking the French community and pro-French Algerians, and the French Army who, on the other, carried out a bloody repression including the quasi-systematic use of torture on protesters of the colonial order. Two such victims were the nationalist leader, Larbi Ben M'Hidi
, and a young professor of mathematics, Maurice Audin
, both of whom have since been honored by the municipality with principal arteries of the city named after them. The demonstrations of May 13 during the crisis of 1958 provoked the fall of the Fourth Republic
in France, as well as the return of General de Gaulle
to power.
on July 5, 1962. Run by the military that had liberated it, Algiers became a member of Non-Aligned Movement
during the Cold War
. In October 1988, one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall
, Algiers was the site of demonstrations demanding the end of the single party system and the creation of a real democracy
baptized the “Spring of Algiers”. The demonstrators were repressed by the authorities (more than 300 dead), but the movement constituted a turning point in the political history of modern Algeria. In 1989, a new constitution was adopted that put an end to the reign of the single party and saw the creation of more than fifty political parties, as well as official freedom of the press.
engaged in a political test of wills with the authorities. In the 1992 elections for the Algerian National Assembly, the Islamists garnered a large amount of support in the first round, helped by a massive abstention from disillusioned Algerian voters by the turn of events. Fearing an eventual win by the Islamists, the army cancelled the election process, setting off a civil war
between the State and armed religious conservatives which would last for a decade.
On December 11, 2007, two car bombs exploded in Algiers. One bomb targeted two United Nations buildings and the other targeted a government building housing the Supreme Court. The death toll is at least 62, with over two hundred injured in the attacks. However, only 26 remained hospitalized the following day. As of 2008, it is speculated that the attack was carried out by the Al Qaida cell within the city.
Indigenous terrorist groups have been actively operating in Algeria since around 2002.
with warm summers and mild winters. Its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea
aids in moderating the city's temperatures. As a result Algiers usually does not see the extreme temperatures that are experienced in the adjacent interior deserts. The climate of Algiers, like that of other Mediterranean cities, features wet "winters" and dry summers. Algiers on average receives roughly 600 millimetres (24 in) of rain per year, the bulk of which is seen between October and April.
There are many public buildings of interest, including the whole Kasbah
quarter, Martyrs Square (Sahat ech-Chouhada ساحة الشهداء), the government offices (formerly the British
consulate), the "Grand", "New", and Ketchaoua Mosque
s, the Roman Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame d'Afrique
, the Bardo Museum (a former Turkish mansion), the old Bibliothèque Nationale d'Alger—a Turkish
palace built in 1799–1800—and the new National Library, built in a style reminiscent of the British Library
.
The main building in the Kasbah was begun in 1516 on the site of an older building, and served as the palace of the deys until the French conquest. A road has been cut through the centre of the building, the mosque turned into barracks
, and the hall of audience allowed to fall into ruin. There still remain a minaret
and some marble arches and columns. Traces exist of the vaults in which were stored the treasures of the dey.
The Great Mosque
(Jamaa-el-Kebir الجامع الكبير) is the oldest mosque in Algiers. It was first built by Yusuf ibn Tashfin
, but reconstructed many times. The pulpit (minbar
منبر) bears an inscription showing that the building existed in 1097. The minaret was built by the sultan of Tlemcen
, in 1324. The interior of the mosque is square and is divided into aisles by columns joined by Moorish
arches.
The New Mosque (Jamaa-el-Jedid الجامع الجديد), dating from the 17th century, is in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted by a large white cupola, with four small cupolas at the corners. The minaret is 90 feet (27 m) high. The interior resembles that of the Grand Mosque.
The church of the Holy Trinity (built in 1870) stands at the southern end of the rue d'Isly near the site of the demolished Fort Bab Azoun باب عزون. The interior is richly decorated with various coloured marbles. Many of these marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to the British residents (voluntary and involuntary) of Algiers from the time of John Tipton, the first English consul, in 1580 (NB Some sources give 1585). One tablet records that in 1631 two Algerine pirate crews landed in Ireland
, sacked Baltimore
.
The Ketchaoua mosque (Djamaa Ketchaoua جامع كتشاوة), at the foot of the Casbah, was before independence in 1962 the cathedral of St Philippe, itself made in 1845 from a mosque dating from 1612. The principal entrance, reached by a flight of 23 steps, is ornamented with a portico
supported by four black-veined marble columns. The roof of the nave is of Moorish plaster
work. It rests on a series of arcades supported by white marble columns. Several of these columns belonged to the original mosque. In one of the chapels was a tomb containing the bones of San Geronimo
. The building seems a curious blend of Moorish and Byzantine
styles.
Algiers possesses a college with schools of law, medicine, science and letters. The college buildings are large and handsome. The Bardo Museum in Tunisia
holds some of the ancient sculptures and mosaics discovered in Algeria, together with medals and Algerian money.
The port of Algiers is sheltered from all winds. There are two harbours, both artificial—the old or northern harbour and the southern or Agha harbour. The northern harbour covers an area of 235 acre (95 ha) (95 ha
). An opening in the south jetty
affords an entrance into Agha harbour, constructed in Agha Bay. Agha harbour has also an independent entrance on its southern side.
The inner harbour was begun in 1518 by Khair-ad-Din Barbarossa (see History, below), who, to accommodated his pirate vessels, caused the island on which was Fort Penon to be connected with the mainland by a mole
. The lighthouse which occupies the site of Fort Penon was built in 1544.
Algiers was a walled city from the time of the deys until the close of the 19th century. The French, after their occupation of the city (1830), built a rampart
, parapet
and ditch
, with two terminal forts, Bab Azoun
باب عزون to the south and Bab-el-Oued باب الواد to the north. The forts and part of the ramparts were demolished at the beginning of the 20th century, when a line of forts occupying the heights of Bouzareah
بوزريعة (at an elevation of 1300 feet (396 m) above the sea) took their place.
Notre Dame d'Afrique
, a church built (1858–1872) in a mixture of the Roman
and Byzantine
styles, is conspicuously situated overlooking the sea, on the shoulder of the Bouzareah
hills, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the north of the city. Above the altar is a statue of the Virgin depicted as a black woman. The church also contains a solid silver statue of the archangel Michael, belonging to the confraternity of Neapolitan
fishermen.
Villa Abd-el-Tif, former residence of the dey
, was used during the French period, to accommodate French artists, chiefly painters, and winners of the Abd-el-Tif prize
, among whom Maurice Boitel
, for a while of two years. Nowadays, Algerian artists are back in the villa's studios.
The ethnic distribution is 53% from an Arabic-speaking background, 44% from a Berber-speaking background and 3% foreign-born, mostly from China
, Vietnam
, and Mali
.
Algiers is an important economic, commercial and financial center, with in particular a stock exchange with a capitalisation of 60 million euros. The city has the highest cost of living of any city in North Africa
, as well as the 50th highest worldwide, as of March 2007, having gained one position compared to the previous year.
Mohamed Ben Ali El Abbar, president of the Council d administration of the emirate group EMAAR, presented five "megaprojects" to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, during a ceremony which took place Saturday, July 15 with the Palate of the People of Algiers. The projects will transform the city of Algiers and its surroundings by equipping them with a retail area, and restoration and leisure facilities.
The first project will concentrate on the reorganization and the development of the infrastructures of the railway station "Aga" located in the downtown area. Ultramodern, the station, intended to accommodate more than 80.000 passengers per day, will become a center of circulation in the heart of the grid system, surrounded by commercial offices and buildings and hotels intended for travelers in transit. A shopping centre and three high-rise office buildings rising with the top of the commercial zone will accompany the project.
The second project will relate to the bay of Algiers and aims to revitalize the sea front. The development of the 44 km (27 mi) sea front will include marinas, channels, luxury hotels, offices, apartments of great standing, luxury stores and leisure amenities. A crescent-shaped peninsula will be set up on the open sea. The project of the bay of Algiers will also comprise six small islands, of which four of round form, connected to each other by bridges and marinas and will include tourist and residential complexes.
The third project will relate to restructuring an area of Algiers, qualified by the originators of the project of "city of wellness". El Abbar indicated to the journalists that the complex would be "agréable for all those which will want to combine tourism and wellbeing or tourism and relaxation". The complex will include a university, a research center and a medical centre. It should also include a hospital complex, a care, centre, a hotel zone, an urban centre and a thermal spa with villas and apartments. The university will include a medical school and a school for care male nurses which will be able to accommodate 500 students. The university campus will have the possibility of seeing setting up broad ranges of buildings of research laboratories and residences.
Another project relates to technological implantation of a campus in Sidi Abdellah, 25 km (16 mi) south-east from Algiers. This 90 hectares (222 acre) site will include shopping centres, residential zones with high standard apartments and a golf course surrounded by villas and hotels. Two other residential zones, including 1.800 apartments and 40 high standard villas, will be built on the surrounding hills.
The fifth project is that of the tourist complex Colonel Abbès, which will be located 25 km (16 mi) west from Algiers. This complex will include several retail zones, meeting places, and residential zones composed of apartments and villas with views of the sea.
A Hewlett Packard office for French-speaking countries in Africa is in Algiers.
Some 20 km (12 mi) to the west of Algiers are such seaside resorts as Sidi Fredj (ex-Sidi Ferruch), Palm Beach, Douaouda
, Zéralda
, and the Club of the Pines (residence of State); there are tourist complexes, Algerian and other restaurants, souvenir shops, supervised beaches, and other amenities. The city is also equipped with important hotel complexes such as the hotel Hilton, El-Aurassi or El Djazair. Algiers also has the first water park
in the country. The tourism
of Algiers is growing but is not as developed as that of the larger cities in Morocco
or Tunisia
.
4 urban ropeways:
connecting the downtown area to Dergana is expected to open by the end of 2010. Subway lines connecting Tafourah-Large Harrach Post office-El were expected in 2008, in addition to three Regional Express Network
(RER) lines: Algiers-Aga-Thenia, Algiers-Aga-Elafroun, Algiers-Aga-Zeralda. Three new cable car
s, reconstruction of roads and restoration of the city station—which will accommodate the High-speed rail
line connecting Annaba, Algiers and Oran—are also ongoing. Congestion control measures including new roundabouts and motorways are also being added to the city.
Dubai's Emaar Properties
invested $20 billion for the development of several projects for Algeria. It covers the construction of a new town called Sidi Abdellah, a tourist resort and a health resort on the western outskirts of Algiers. The redevelopment of Algiers waterfront is being considered as part of the development contract, which is planned to include a shopping mall
, Marriott hotel, a business district with shopping centre and the largest mosque in Algiers.
New residential developments aim to solve Algiers current housing shortage.
. The city has a number of professional clubs in the variety of sports, which have won national and international titles. Among the sports facilities within the city, there is an enormous sporting complex – Complex of OCO
– Mohamed Boudiaf. This includes the Stade 5 Juillet 1962
(capacity ), a venue for athletics, an Olympic swimming pool
, a multisports room (the Cupola), an 18-hole golf course, and several tennis courts.
The following major sporting events have been held in Algiers (not-exhaustive list):
then under French
colonial rule the official programme listed the venue as "Stade-Velodrome Municipal d'Alger" and the participants as:
The match days were Thursday May 21 and Sunday May 24.
Home side Racing Universitaire d'Alger (R.U.A. for whom Nobel Prize
winning author/philosopher Albert Camus
had played in goals for their junior team) had already won both the North African Champions Cup
and the North African Cup
in the 30s (R.U.A. would win each twice by the decade's end). Goals by Willie Thomson and Joe Tulip
saw Queens book a place in the invitational tournament final with a 2–1 victory against them.
In the final Queens faced a Racing de Santander side who had just finished 4th in Spain's La Liga
notching home and away double victories against both Real Madrid
and F.C. Barcelona. Racing had seen off Floriana in their semi final. Norrie Haywood's goal and a 1–0 scoreline saw victory for La Belle Equipe Ecossaise. The trophy can still be seen in Queens' club museum today.
In addition, many of the wards and cities within Algiers maintain sister-city relationships with other foreign cities.
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...
. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population at about 3,574,000 as of 2010.
Called El-Behdja (البهجة) or alternatively Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. The modern part of the city is built on the level ground by the seashore; the old part, the ancient city of the dey
Dey
Dey was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers and Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards...
s, climbs the steep hill behind the modern town and is crowned by the casbah
Casbah
The Casbah ) is specifically the citadel of Algiers in Algeria and the traditional quarter clustered around it. More generally, a kasbah is the walled citadel of many North African cities and towns...
or citadel, 400 feet (122 m) above the sea. The casbah and the two quays form a triangle.
Etymology
The city name is derived (via FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Alger and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
Alguère) from the Arabic name الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, which translates as "The Islands", referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Jazā’ir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزائر بني مازغان Jazā’ir Banī Mazghannā, "The Islands of the Sons of Mazghanna", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt ibn-'Abdullah al-Rūmī al-Hamawī) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" refers to his Greek descent; "al-Hamawi" means that he is from Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah...
.
History
A PhoeniciaPhoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n commercial outpost called Ikosim which later developed into a small Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
town called Icosium
Icosium
Icosium was first a Phoenician, then a Roman city whose site is currently occupied by the casbah area of the modern city of Algiers. According to Greek legend, Icosium was founded by 20 companions of Hercules, the Greek name, Ικοσιον, being claimed to derive from εικοσι, the Greek word for...
existed on what is now the marine quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of what used to be a Roman street. Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun
Bab Azoun
Bab Azoun is the name of a city gate of Algiers.The rue Bab Azoun which runs parallel to the boulevard de la Republique and crosses the rue Bab El Oued in the city center....
. The city was given Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
rights by Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
. The bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century.
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
Zirid
Zirid
The Zirid dynasty were a Sanhadja Berber dynasty, originating in modern Algeria, initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. Their capital was Kairouan...
–Sanhaja
Sanhaja
The Sanhaja or Senhaja were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations of the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and Masmuda...
dynasty, which was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily
Roger II of Sicily
Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
in 1148, although the Zirids had already lost control of Algiers before the final fall of the dynasty. The city was occupied by the Almohades in 1159, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Abd-el-Wadid sultans of Tlemcen
Tlemcen
Tlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located inland in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards...
. Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a large measure of independence under amirs of its own due to Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
being the chief seaport and center of power of the Abd-el-Wahid.
As early as 1302 the islet of Peñón in front of Algiers harbour had been occupied by Spaniards. Thereafter, a considerable amount of trade began to flow between Algiers and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. However, Algiers continued to be of comparatively little importance until after the expulsion of the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
from Spain, many of whom sought asylum in the city. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, the Spaniards fortified the islet of Peñon and imposed a levy intended to suppress corsair
Corsair
Corsairs were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds...
activity.
Ottoman rule
In 1516, the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the corsair brothers Oruc and Hayreddin Barbarossa to expel the Spaniards. Oruc came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Selim, and seized the town and ousted the Spanish in the Capture of Algiers (1516)Capture of Algiers (1516)
The Capture of Algiers in 1516 was accomplished by Hayreddin Barbarossa and Aruj against the Habsburg garrison of Spain located in the city of Algiers.-Background:...
. Hayreddin, succeeding Oruc after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards in the Fall of Tlemcen (1517)
Fall of Tlemcen (1517)
The Fall of Tlemcen occurred in 1517, when the Ottoman corsair Uruj Barbarossa captured the city of Tlemcen from its Sultan, Abu Zayan, the last member of the Beni-Zian lineage....
, was the founder of the pashaluk
Pashaluk
Pashaluk or Pashalik is a term for one type of the Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire.It is the abstract word derived from pasha, denoting the quality, office or jurisdiction of a pasha or the territory administered by him....
, which subsequently became the bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
lik, of Algeria. Barbarossa lost Algiers in 1524 but regained it with Capture of Algiers (1529)
Capture of Algiers (1529)
The Capture of Algiers was accomplished when the Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa took the Algerian city of Algiers from the Kabyles as well as the Habsburg Spanish in 1529.-Background:...
, and then formally invited the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
to accept sovereignty over the territory and to annex Algiers to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. In October 1541 in the Algiers expedition
Algiers expedition (1541)
The Algiers expedition of 1541 occurred when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor attempted to lead a fleet against the Ottoman Empire stronghold of Algiers in modern Algeria...
, the King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
sought to capture the city, but a storm destroyed a great number of his ships, and his army of some 30,000, chiefly made up of Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their Pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
, Hassan.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fought two wars (the First
First Barbary War
The First Barbary War , also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States and the North African Berber Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States...
and Second Barbary War
Second Barbary War
The Second Barbary War , also known as the Algerine or Algerian War, was the second of two wars fought between the United States and the Ottoman Empire's North African regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria known collectively as the Barbary states. The war between the Barbary States and the U.S...
s) over Algiers' attacks on shipping.
The city under Ottoman control was enclosed by a wall on all sides, including along the seafront. In this wall, five gates allowed access to the city, with five roads from each gate dividing the city and meeting in front of the Ketchaoua Mosque. In 1556, a citadel was constructed at the highest point in the wall. A major road running north to south divided the city in two: The upper city (al-Gabal, or 'the mountain') which consisted of about fifty small quarters of Andalusian
Andalusian people
The Andalusians are the people of the southern region in Spain approximated by what is now called Andalusia. They are generally not considered an ethnically distinct people because they lack two of the most important markers of distinctiveness: their own language and an awareness of a presumed...
, Jewish, Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
and Kabyle
Kabyle people
The Kabyle people are the largest homogeneous Algerian ethno-cultural and linguistical community and the largest nation in North Africa to be considered exclusively Berber. Their traditional homeland is Kabylie in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers...
communities, and the lower city (al-Wata, or 'the plains') which was the administrative, military and commercial centre of the city, mostly inhabited by Turkish dignitaries and other upper-class families.
In 1817, the city was bombarded by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...
(a descendant of Thomas Pellew, taken in an Algerian slave raid in 1715), assisted by Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
men-of-war, destroying the corsair fleet harboured in Algiers.
French rule
The history of Algiers from 1815 to 1962 is bound to the largest history of AlgeriaAlgeria
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...
and its relationship to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. On July 4, 1830, under the pretext of an affront to the French consul—whom the dey
Dey
Dey was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers and Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards...
had hit with a fly-whisk
Fly-whisk
A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. It is used as a regalia in some cultures.In Indonesian art, a fly-whisk is one of the items associated with Shiva. The fly-whisk is frequently seen as an attribute of both Hindu, Daoist, and Buddhist deities...
when the consul said the French government was not prepared to pay its large outstanding debts to two Algerian merchants—a French army under General de Bourmont
Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont
Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont emigrated from France soon after the outbreak of the French Revolution. A lifelong royalist, he fought with the counter-revolutionary Army of Condé for two years, then joined the insurrection in France from three more years before going into exile...
attacked the city in the 1830 invasion of Algiers
Invasion of Algiers in 1830
The Invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large-scale military operation by which the Kingdom of France, ruled by Charles X, invaded and conquered the Ottoman Regency of Algiers...
. The city capitulated the following day. Algiers became the capital of French Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
.
Many Europeans settled in Algiers, and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the city's population. During the 1930s, the architect Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
drew up plans for a complete redesign of the colonial city. Le Corbusier was highly critical of the urban style of Algiers, describing the European district as "nothing but crumbling walls and devastated nature, the whole a sullied blot". He also criticised the difference in living standards he perceived between the European and African residents of the city, describing a situation in which "the 'civilised' live like rats in holes" whereas "the 'barbarians' live in solitude, in well-being". However, these plans were ultimately ignored by the French administration.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Algiers was the last city to be seized from the Germans by the Allies during Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
.
Pied-noir
Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term referring to French citizens of various origins who lived in French Algeria before independence....
) at the hands of the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
and the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale
Front de Libération Nationale
Front de Libération Nationale may refer to:* National Liberation Front , a socialist political party founded in 1954 for independence from France for Algeria...
, Algeria finally gained its independence, with Algiers as its capital. Since then, despite losing its entire pied-noir
Pied-noir
Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term referring to French citizens of various origins who lived in French Algeria before independence....
population, the city has expanded massively. It now has about five million inhabitants, or 10 percent of Algeria's population—and its suburbs now cover most of the surrounding Mitidja
Geography of Algeria
Algeria comprises 2,381,741 square kilometers of land, more than four-fifths of which is desert, in northern Africa, between Morocco and Tunisia. It is the largest country in Africa. Its Arabic name, Al Jazair , derives from the name of the capital Algiers , after the small islands formerly found...
plain.
Algiers was the host city for both the 1978 and 2007 All-Africa Games
All-Africa Games
The All-Africa Games, sometimes called the African Games or the Pan African Games, are a regional multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa...
. The city was also designated the Arab Capital of Culture for 2007.
Algerian War
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
(who authorized any means "to eliminate the insurrectionists"), led attacks against the Algerian fighters for independence. Algiers remains marked by this battle, which was characterized by merciless fighting between Algerian forces who, on the one hand, resorted to attacking the French community and pro-French Algerians, and the French Army who, on the other, carried out a bloody repression including the quasi-systematic use of torture on protesters of the colonial order. Two such victims were the nationalist leader, Larbi Ben M'Hidi
Larbi Ben M'hidi
Mohammed Larbi Ben M'hidi ), commonly known as Larbi Ben M'hidi or simply as Ben M'hidi, was a prominent Algerian leader during the war of independence. He was captured by French paratroopers in February 1957 , while supervising the guerilla actions of the FLN in the Battle of Algiers...
, and a young professor of mathematics, Maurice Audin
Maurice Audin
Maurice Audin was a French mathematics assistant at the University of Algiers, a member of the Algerian Communist Party and an activist in the anticolonialist cause, who was one of the "disappeared" during the Battle of Algiers.In the centre of Algiers, beside the university, the intersection of...
, both of whom have since been honored by the municipality with principal arteries of the city named after them. The demonstrations of May 13 during the crisis of 1958 provoked the fall of the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
in France, as well as the return of General de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
to power.
Independence
Algeria achieved independenceIndependence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
on July 5, 1962. Run by the military that had liberated it, Algiers became a member of Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. In October 1988, one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, Algiers was the site of demonstrations demanding the end of the single party system and the creation of a real democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
baptized the “Spring of Algiers”. The demonstrators were repressed by the authorities (more than 300 dead), but the movement constituted a turning point in the political history of modern Algeria. In 1989, a new constitution was adopted that put an end to the reign of the single party and saw the creation of more than fifty political parties, as well as official freedom of the press.
Crisis of the 1990s
The city became the theatre of many political demonstrations of all descriptions until 1992. In 1991, a political entity dominated by religious conservatives called the Islamic Salvation FrontIslamic Salvation Front
The Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
engaged in a political test of wills with the authorities. In the 1992 elections for the Algerian National Assembly, the Islamists garnered a large amount of support in the first round, helped by a massive abstention from disillusioned Algerian voters by the turn of events. Fearing an eventual win by the Islamists, the army cancelled the election process, setting off a civil war
Algerian Civil War
The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. It is estimated to have cost between 150,000 and 200,000 lives, in a population of about 25,010,000 in 1990 and 31,193,917 in 2000.More than 70 journalists were...
between the State and armed religious conservatives which would last for a decade.
On December 11, 2007, two car bombs exploded in Algiers. One bomb targeted two United Nations buildings and the other targeted a government building housing the Supreme Court. The death toll is at least 62, with over two hundred injured in the attacks. However, only 26 remained hospitalized the following day. As of 2008, it is speculated that the attack was carried out by the Al Qaida cell within the city.
Indigenous terrorist groups have been actively operating in Algeria since around 2002.
Districts of Algiers
- The CasbahCasbahThe Casbah ) is specifically the citadel of Algiers in Algeria and the traditional quarter clustered around it. More generally, a kasbah is the walled citadel of many North African cities and towns...
(of Al Qasbah , “the Citadel”), Ier District of Algiers: called Al-Djazaïr Al Mahroussa (“Well Kept Algiers”), it is founded on the ruins of old Icosium. It is a small city which, built on a hill, goes down towards the sea, divided in two: the High city and the Low city. One finds there masonries and mosques of the 17th century; Ketchaoua mosque (built in 1794 by the Dey Baba Hassan) flanked by two minarets, mosque el Djedid (built in 1660, at the time of Turkish regency) with its large finished ovoid cupola points some and its four coupolettes, mosque El Kébir (oldest of the mosques, it was built by almoravide Youssef Ibn Tachfin and rebuilt later in 1794), mosque Ali Betchnin (Raïs, 1623), Dar Aziza, palate of Jénina. In the Kasbah, there are also labyrinths of lanes and houses that are very picturesque; and if one gets lost there, it is enough to go down again towards the sea to reposition oneself.
- Bab El OuedBab El OuedBab el-Oued is a neighbourhood in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, along the coast north of the city centre.During the existence of French Algeria, Bab el-Oued became the main neighbourhood of poor pied-noirs, including many poor fishermen...
: Literally the River's Gate, the popular district which extends from the Casbah beyond "the gate of the river". It is the capital's darling and best liked borough. Famous for its square with “the three clocks” and for its “market Triplet”, it is also a district of workshops and manufacturing plants.
- Edge of sea : from 1840, the architects Pierre-August Guiauchain and Charles Frédéric ChassériauCharles Frédéric ChassériauBaron Charles Frédéric Chassériau was a French architect, who served as chief architect of the cities of Marseille, Constantine and Algiers. He was the son of the Napoleonic general Victor Frédéric Chassériau and the father of three children, including the art collector Arthur Chassériau...
designed new buildings apart from the Kasbah, town hall, law courts, buildings, theatre, palace of the Governor, casino ... to form an elegant walk bordered by arcades which is the boulevard today Che GuevaraChe GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
(ex-boulevard of RepublicRepublicA republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
).
- KoubaKoubaKouba is a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria.The Algiers Metro line runs from Algiers' Central Post Office to Kouba....
(will daira of Hussein-dey): Kouba is an old village which was absorbed by the expansion of the town of Algiers. Of village, Kouba quickly developed under the French colonial era then continued growing due to formidable demographic expansion that Algiers knew after the independence of Algeria in 1962. It is today a district of Algiers which is largely made up of houses, villas and buildings not exceeding five stories.
- El HarrachEl HarrachEl Harrach is a suburb of the Algerian capital Algiers....
, a suburb of Algiers, is located about 10 km to the east of the city.
- The communes of Hydra, Ben AknounBen AknounBen Aknoun is a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria....
, El-Biar and BouzareahBouzareahBouzareah is a suburb of Algiers, the capital of Algeria, North Africa, and its eleventh district. It had a population of 69,200 people in 1998 and an altitude of over 600 meters AMSL. The city's name is Arabic and means "of the grain" or "from the grain"...
form what the inhabitants of Algiers call the heights of Algiers. These communes, sometimes famous knacks, shelter the majority of the foreign embassies of Algiers, of many ministries and university centers, which makes it one of the administrative and policy centers of the country.
- The street Didouche Mourade is located in the 3rd district Of Algiers. It extends from the Grande Post office to the Heights of Algiers. It crosses in particular the place Audin , the Faculty of Algiers , The Crowned Heart and the park of Galland . It is bordered by smart stores and restaurants along most of its length. It is regarded as the heart of the capital.
Climate
Algiers has a Mediterranean climateMediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
with warm summers and mild winters. Its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
aids in moderating the city's temperatures. As a result Algiers usually does not see the extreme temperatures that are experienced in the adjacent interior deserts. The climate of Algiers, like that of other Mediterranean cities, features wet "winters" and dry summers. Algiers on average receives roughly 600 millimetres (24 in) of rain per year, the bulk of which is seen between October and April.
Local architecture
Kasbah
A kasbah or qassabah is a type of medina, Islamic city, or fortress .It was a place for the local leader to live and a defense when a city was under attack. A kasbah has high walls, usually without windows. Sometimes, they were built on hilltops so that they could be more easily defended...
quarter, Martyrs Square (Sahat ech-Chouhada ساحة الشهداء), the government offices (formerly the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
consulate), the "Grand", "New", and Ketchaoua Mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s, the Roman Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame d'Afrique
Notre Dame d'Afrique
Notre Dame d'Afrique is a Catholic church that is the basilica of Algiers, Algeria.The basilica was inaugurated in 1872, after fourteen years of construction...
, the Bardo Museum (a former Turkish mansion), the old Bibliothèque Nationale d'Alger—a Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
palace built in 1799–1800—and the new National Library, built in a style reminiscent of the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
.
The main building in the Kasbah was begun in 1516 on the site of an older building, and served as the palace of the deys until the French conquest. A road has been cut through the centre of the building, the mosque turned into barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
, and the hall of audience allowed to fall into ruin. There still remain a minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
and some marble arches and columns. Traces exist of the vaults in which were stored the treasures of the dey.
The Great Mosque
Great Mosque of Algiers
The Great Mosque of Algiers or “Djama’a al-Kebir” is a mosque in Algiers, Algeria, located very close to Algiers Harbor. An inscription on the minbar منبر) or the pulpit testifies to fact that the mosque was built in 1097. It is also known by several other names such as Grand Mosque d'Alger,...
(Jamaa-el-Kebir الجامع الكبير) is the oldest mosque in Algiers. It was first built by Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusef ibn Tashfin also, Tashafin, or Teshufin; or Yusuf; was a king of the Almoravid empire, he founded the city of Marrakech and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Zallaqa....
, but reconstructed many times. The pulpit (minbar
Minbar
A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
منبر) bears an inscription showing that the building existed in 1097. The minaret was built by the sultan of Tlemcen
Tlemcen
Tlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located inland in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards...
, in 1324. The interior of the mosque is square and is divided into aisles by columns joined by Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
arches.
The New Mosque (Jamaa-el-Jedid الجامع الجديد), dating from the 17th century, is in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted by a large white cupola, with four small cupolas at the corners. The minaret is 90 feet (27 m) high. The interior resembles that of the Grand Mosque.
The church of the Holy Trinity (built in 1870) stands at the southern end of the rue d'Isly near the site of the demolished Fort Bab Azoun باب عزون. The interior is richly decorated with various coloured marbles. Many of these marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to the British residents (voluntary and involuntary) of Algiers from the time of John Tipton, the first English consul, in 1580 (NB Some sources give 1585). One tablet records that in 1631 two Algerine pirate crews landed in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, sacked Baltimore
Baltimore, County Cork
Baltimore is located in western County Cork, Ireland. Baltimore is the principal village of the parish of Rath and the Islands, the southernmost parish in Ireland...
.
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
supported by four black-veined marble columns. The roof of the nave is of Moorish plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
work. It rests on a series of arcades supported by white marble columns. Several of these columns belonged to the original mosque. In one of the chapels was a tomb containing the bones of San Geronimo
San Geronimo
The alleged finding of human remains, designated San Geronimo, in 1853 afforded striking confirmation of an incident recorded by a Spanish Benedictine named Diego de Haëdo, who published a topography of Algeria in 1612...
. The building seems a curious blend of Moorish and Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
styles.
Algiers possesses a college with schools of law, medicine, science and letters. The college buildings are large and handsome. The Bardo Museum in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
holds some of the ancient sculptures and mosaics discovered in Algeria, together with medals and Algerian money.
The port of Algiers is sheltered from all winds. There are two harbours, both artificial—the old or northern harbour and the southern or Agha harbour. The northern harbour covers an area of 235 acre (95 ha) (95 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
). An opening in the south jetty
Jetty
A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...
affords an entrance into Agha harbour, constructed in Agha Bay. Agha harbour has also an independent entrance on its southern side.
The inner harbour was begun in 1518 by Khair-ad-Din Barbarossa (see History, below), who, to accommodated his pirate vessels, caused the island on which was Fort Penon to be connected with the mainland by a mole
Mole (architecture)
A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway between places separated by water. The word comes from Middle French mole and ultimately Latin mōlēs meaning a large mass, especially of rock and has the same root as molecule.Historically, the term "mole"...
. The lighthouse which occupies the site of Fort Penon was built in 1544.
Algiers was a walled city from the time of the deys until the close of the 19th century. The French, after their occupation of the city (1830), built a rampart
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
, parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
and ditch
Ditch (fortification)
A ditch in military engineering is an obstacle, designed to slow down or break up an attacking force, while a trench is intended to provide cover to the defenders...
, with two terminal forts, Bab Azoun
Bab Azoun
Bab Azoun is the name of a city gate of Algiers.The rue Bab Azoun which runs parallel to the boulevard de la Republique and crosses the rue Bab El Oued in the city center....
باب عزون to the south and Bab-el-Oued باب الواد to the north. The forts and part of the ramparts were demolished at the beginning of the 20th century, when a line of forts occupying the heights of Bouzareah
Bouzareah
Bouzareah is a suburb of Algiers, the capital of Algeria, North Africa, and its eleventh district. It had a population of 69,200 people in 1998 and an altitude of over 600 meters AMSL. The city's name is Arabic and means "of the grain" or "from the grain"...
بوزريعة (at an elevation of 1300 feet (396 m) above the sea) took their place.
Notre Dame d'Afrique
Notre Dame d'Afrique
Notre Dame d'Afrique is a Catholic church that is the basilica of Algiers, Algeria.The basilica was inaugurated in 1872, after fourteen years of construction...
, a church built (1858–1872) in a mixture of the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
styles, is conspicuously situated overlooking the sea, on the shoulder of the Bouzareah
Bouzareah
Bouzareah is a suburb of Algiers, the capital of Algeria, North Africa, and its eleventh district. It had a population of 69,200 people in 1998 and an altitude of over 600 meters AMSL. The city's name is Arabic and means "of the grain" or "from the grain"...
hills, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the north of the city. Above the altar is a statue of the Virgin depicted as a black woman. The church also contains a solid silver statue of the archangel Michael, belonging to the confraternity of Neapolitan
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
fishermen.
Villa Abd-el-Tif, former residence of the dey
Dey
Dey was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers and Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards...
, was used during the French period, to accommodate French artists, chiefly painters, and winners of the Abd-el-Tif prize
Abd-el-Tif prize
The Abd-el-Tif prize was an award for painter artists. Decreed on contest, it was created in 1907 under the impulse of Leonce Bénédite, conservative of the Museum of Luxembourg and Claude Jonnart, general governor of Algeria, in order to make it possible to young talented artists to remain one year...
, among whom Maurice Boitel
Maurice Boitel
Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007 in Audresselles (Pas-de-Calais), was a French painter.-Artistic life:Maurice Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris, with painters like Bernard Buffet, Yves...
, for a while of two years. Nowadays, Algerian artists are back in the villa's studios.
Monuments
- Notre Dame d'AfriqueNotre Dame d'AfriqueNotre Dame d'Afrique is a Catholic church that is the basilica of Algiers, Algeria.The basilica was inaugurated in 1872, after fourteen years of construction...
, accessible by one cable carAerial tramwayAn aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
, is one of the city's most outstanding monuments: located in the district of Z' will ghara, the basilica was built around 1858. - Monument des MartyrsMonument des MartyrsThe Martyrs Memorial is an iconic concrete monument commemorating the Algerian war for independence. The monument was opened in 1982 on the 20th anniversary of Algeria's independence. It is fashioned in the shape of three standing palm leaves which shelter the "Eternal Flame" beneath...
( Maquam E' chahid ): an iconic concrete monument commemorating the Algerian war for independence. The monument was opened in 1982 on the 20th anniversary of Algeria's independence. It is fashioned in the shape of three standing palm leaves which shelter the "Eternal Flame" beneath. At the edge of each palm leaf stands a statue of a soldier, each representing a stage of Algeria's struggle.
- The El Jedid mosque at the Place des Martyrs near the port.
- Place of the Emir Abdelkader (formerly Bugeaud): in memory of the famous emir Abd El-Kader, resistant during French conquest of AlgeriaFrench conquest of AlgeriaThe French conquest of Algeria took place between 1830 and 1847. Using an 1827 diplomatic slight by Hussein Dey, the ruler of the Ottoman Regency of Algiers, against its consul as a pretext, France invaded and quickly seized Algiers in 1830, and rapidly took control of other coastal communities...
. - Grand Post Office (1910, by Voinot and Tondoire): construction of the neo-Moorish type which is in full centre town of Algiers.
- The Jardin d'essai (Garden of Test; El-Hamma): situated in the east of Algiers, it extends over 80 hectares (198 acre) and contains exotic plants and gardens. It was created in 1832 by A. Hardy.
- Villa Abd-el-Hair , with the top of the Garden of test, one of the old residences of the dey, where until 1962, were placed the artists prizes winner of Price Abd-el-Hair, and in particular Maurice BoitelMaurice BoitelMaurice Boitel Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007 in Audresselles (Pas-de-Calais), was a French painter.-Artistic life:Maurice Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris, with painters like Bernard Buffet, Yves...
and Andre Hamburg. - Citadel .
- Riadh El-Feth (shopping centre and art gallery).
- Ketchaoua Mosque (This mosque became the Saint-Philippe cathedral during colonization before becoming again a mosque).
- National Library , is in the district of El HAMMA. Architecture modèrne.
- The Great Mosque of AlgiersGreat Mosque of AlgiersThe Great Mosque of Algiers or “Djama’a al-Kebir” is a mosque in Algiers, Algeria, located very close to Algiers Harbor. An inscription on the minbar منبر) or the pulpit testifies to fact that the mosque was built in 1097. It is also known by several other names such as Grand Mosque d'Alger,...
at the Rue de la Marine. It is the oldest mosque of Algiers and was built during the reign of the Almoravid sultan Yusuf ibn TashfinYusuf ibn TashfinYusef ibn Tashfin also, Tashafin, or Teshufin; or Yusuf; was a king of the Almoravid empire, he founded the city of Marrakech and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Zallaqa....
.
Demographics
Algiers has a population of about 5,000,000 (2011 estimates).The ethnic distribution is 53% from an Arabic-speaking background, 44% from a Berber-speaking background and 3% foreign-born, mostly from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, and Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
.
- 1940 – 300,000 people lived in Algiers.
- 1960 – 900,000 people lived in Algiers.
- 1963 – 600.000 people lived in Algiers.
Year Population 1977 (Census) 1,353,826 1987 (Census) 1,507,241 1998 (Census) 1,519,570 2007 (Estimate) 2,072,993
Economy
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, as well as the 50th highest worldwide, as of March 2007, having gained one position compared to the previous year.
Mohamed Ben Ali El Abbar, president of the Council d administration of the emirate group EMAAR, presented five "megaprojects" to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, during a ceremony which took place Saturday, July 15 with the Palate of the People of Algiers. The projects will transform the city of Algiers and its surroundings by equipping them with a retail area, and restoration and leisure facilities.
The first project will concentrate on the reorganization and the development of the infrastructures of the railway station "Aga" located in the downtown area. Ultramodern, the station, intended to accommodate more than 80.000 passengers per day, will become a center of circulation in the heart of the grid system, surrounded by commercial offices and buildings and hotels intended for travelers in transit. A shopping centre and three high-rise office buildings rising with the top of the commercial zone will accompany the project.
The second project will relate to the bay of Algiers and aims to revitalize the sea front. The development of the 44 km (27 mi) sea front will include marinas, channels, luxury hotels, offices, apartments of great standing, luxury stores and leisure amenities. A crescent-shaped peninsula will be set up on the open sea. The project of the bay of Algiers will also comprise six small islands, of which four of round form, connected to each other by bridges and marinas and will include tourist and residential complexes.
The third project will relate to restructuring an area of Algiers, qualified by the originators of the project of "city of wellness". El Abbar indicated to the journalists that the complex would be "agréable for all those which will want to combine tourism and wellbeing or tourism and relaxation". The complex will include a university, a research center and a medical centre. It should also include a hospital complex, a care, centre, a hotel zone, an urban centre and a thermal spa with villas and apartments. The university will include a medical school and a school for care male nurses which will be able to accommodate 500 students. The university campus will have the possibility of seeing setting up broad ranges of buildings of research laboratories and residences.
Another project relates to technological implantation of a campus in Sidi Abdellah, 25 km (16 mi) south-east from Algiers. This 90 hectares (222 acre) site will include shopping centres, residential zones with high standard apartments and a golf course surrounded by villas and hotels. Two other residential zones, including 1.800 apartments and 40 high standard villas, will be built on the surrounding hills.
The fifth project is that of the tourist complex Colonel Abbès, which will be located 25 km (16 mi) west from Algiers. This complex will include several retail zones, meeting places, and residential zones composed of apartments and villas with views of the sea.
A Hewlett Packard office for French-speaking countries in Africa is in Algiers.
Tourist installations
Douaouda
Douaouda is a town and commune in Tipaza Province in northern Algeria.-References:...
, Zéralda
Zéralda
Zeralda is a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria....
, and the Club of the Pines (residence of State); there are tourist complexes, Algerian and other restaurants, souvenir shops, supervised beaches, and other amenities. The city is also equipped with important hotel complexes such as the hotel Hilton, El-Aurassi or El Djazair. Algiers also has the first water park
Water park
A waterpark is an amusement park that features waterplay areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds , lazy rivers, or other recreational bathing, swimming, and barefooting environments...
in the country. The tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
of Algiers is growing but is not as developed as that of the larger cities in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
or Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
.
Public transport
- ETUSA (urban and suburban bus transportation for Algiers) operates bus service in Algiers and the surrounding suburbs. 54 lines are currently operating, with service from 5:30 a.m. to 12:45 a.m.
- SNTFSNTFNational company for rail transport is Algeria's national railway operator. The SNTF, a state-owned company, currently has a monopoly over Algeria's network of , even though it is currently exploiting only...
(national railroad company) operates commuter-rail lines connecting the capital to the surrounding suburbs.
- Algiers MetroAlgiers MetroThe Algiers Metro in Algiers, Algeria, is a transport project dating from the 1970s that was designed to address the need for mass transport caused by the city's growth. Formally launched in the 1980s, the project slowed down due to financial difficulties and security issues in the 1990s...
, opened November 1, 2011.
- Algiers tramwayAlgiers tramwayThe Algiers tramway is a tram system which was partially put into service on May 8, 2011 in the Algerian capital Algiers. The opened section has a length of and 13 stops and is operated by ETUSA, the public transport operator of the Algiers metropolitan area, with Alstom Citadis trams...
, opened on May 8, 2011.
- Houari Boumediene Airport is located 20 km (12 mi) from the city. The airport serves domestics, many European cities, West AfricaWest AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, the Middle EastMiddle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. On July 5, 2006, a new international air terminal was opened for service. The terminal is managed by Aéroports de ParisAéroports de ParisAéroports de Paris or ADP is the airport authority that owns and manages the fourteen civil airports and airfields in the Île-de-France area. Among its notable airports are Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Orly Airport and Le Bourget Airport...
.
4 urban ropeways:
- El Madania – Belouizdad
- Notre Dame d’Afrique – Bologhine
- Memorial des Martyres/Riad el Feth – Jardin d’essais
- Palais de la culture – Oued Kniss
Province projects
Several ongoing projects aim to solve Algiers deficit and transportation problems. A tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
connecting the downtown area to Dergana is expected to open by the end of 2010. Subway lines connecting Tafourah-Large Harrach Post office-El were expected in 2008, in addition to three Regional Express Network
RER
The RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
(RER) lines: Algiers-Aga-Thenia, Algiers-Aga-Elafroun, Algiers-Aga-Zeralda. Three new cable car
Cable car
A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems.-Aerial lift:Aerial lifts where the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable:...
s, reconstruction of roads and restoration of the city station—which will accommodate the High-speed rail
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
line connecting Annaba, Algiers and Oran—are also ongoing. Congestion control measures including new roundabouts and motorways are also being added to the city.
Dubai's Emaar Properties
Emaar Properties
Emaar Properties , based in the United Arab Emirates, is a Public Joint Stock Company listed on the Dubai Financial Market. Established in 1997 with an initial paid-up capital of AED 1 bn, Emaar Properties is currently the Persian Gulf region's largest land and real estate developer...
invested $20 billion for the development of several projects for Algeria. It covers the construction of a new town called Sidi Abdellah, a tourist resort and a health resort on the western outskirts of Algiers. The redevelopment of Algiers waterfront is being considered as part of the development contract, which is planned to include a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
, Marriott hotel, a business district with shopping centre and the largest mosque in Algiers.
New residential developments aim to solve Algiers current housing shortage.
Sports
Algiers is the largest sporting centre of AlgeriaAlgeria
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 city has a number of professional clubs in the variety of sports, which have won national and international titles. Among the sports facilities within the city, there is an enormous sporting complex – Complex of OCO
Oco
Oco is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain....
– Mohamed Boudiaf. This includes the Stade 5 Juillet 1962
Stade 5 Juillet 1962
Stade 5 Juillet 1962 or 5 July 1962 Stadium , also known as El Djezair Stadium , is a football and athletics stadium located in Algiers, Algeria. The stadium was inaugurated in 1972 with a capacity of 105,000...
(capacity ), a venue for athletics, an Olympic swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, a multisports room (the Cupola), an 18-hole golf course, and several tennis courts.
The following major sporting events have been held in Algiers (not-exhaustive list):
- Mediterranean GamesMediterranean GamesThe Mediterranean Games are a multi-sport games held every four years, mainly for nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea, where Europe, Africa and Asia meet. The idea was proposed at the 1948 Summer Olympics by Muhammed Taher Pasha, chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, and they were first...
1975. - All-Africa GamesAll-Africa GamesThe All-Africa Games, sometimes called the African Games or the Pan African Games, are a regional multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa...
1978, 2007. - African Cup of NationsAfrican Cup of NationsThe Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Cup of Nations or African Nations Cup, officially CAN , is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football , and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been...
19901990 African Cup of Nations-Semi-finals:-----Third Place Play-off:-Final:-Top scorers:4 goals Djamel Menad3 goals Djamel Amani Rashidi Yekini2 goals Rabah Madjer Chérif Oudjani Emmanuel Maboang Abdoulaye Traoré Webster Chikabala...
. - African Handball Nations ChampionshipAfrican Handball Nations ChampionshipThe African Handball Nations Championship is the official competition for senior national handball teams of Africa, and takes place every two years...
1989, 2001.
- Pan Arab GamesPan Arab GamesThe Arab Games are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab World. They are organized by the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees. The first Games took place in 1953 in Alexandria, Egypt. Intended to be held every four years since, political turmoil as well as financial...
2004. - FIBA Africa ChampionshipFIBA Africa ChampionshipThe FIBA Africa Championship is the men's basketball continental championship of Africa, played biennially under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, the basketball sport governing body, and the African zone thereof...
2005. - Men's U19 World ChampionshipBoys' U19 Volleyball World ChampionshipThe FIVB Boys' Youth Volleyball World Championship is a men's under-19 only international volleyball tournament. The competition first took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 1989.-Results summary:-Medals table:-See also:...
2005.
Football clubs
Principal clubs of association football of the city (having already evolved/moved in Division 1):- MC El EulmaMC El EulmaMC El Eulma is an Algerian football club based in El Eulma. The club was founded in 1936 and its colors are green and red. Their stadium, the Complexe Sportif d'El Alia, has a capacity of some 30,000....
- MC Alger
- USM AlgerUSM AlgerUnion Sportive Médina d'Alger, , known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is an football club based in the city of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its colours are red and black. Their venue, the Stade Omar Hammadi, has a capacity of some 10,000...
- CR BelouizdadCR BelouizdadChabab Riadhi de Belouizdad is an Algerian football club based in Mohamed Belouizdad, a district of Algiers. It was founded in 1962...
- NA Hussein DeyNA Hussein DeyNasr Athlétique de Hussein Dey is an Algerian football club based in Hussein Dey, Algiers. The club was founded in 1947 by the merger of three clubs from Hussein Dey: Nedjma Sport de Hussein Dey, l’Idéal Club de la Glacière and l’Espérance Sportive de Léveilley. Their home stadium is Stade Frères...
- Paradou ACParadou ACParadou AC is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. They play their home games at the Omar Hammadi Stadium.Founded in 1994 by members of the Hydra AC junior team, the club play in blue and yellow...
- USM El HarrachUSM El HarrachUnion Sportive de la Médina d'El Harrach is an Algerian football club based in El Harrach, a district of Algiers. It was founded in 1935...
- RC KoubaRC KoubaRaed Chabab Kouba is an Algerian football club based in Kouba, a district of Algiers. It was founded in 1942. They play at the Stade Omar Benhaddad.-Performance in CAF competitions:* African Cup of Champions Clubs: 1 appearance...
- OMR El AnnasserOMR El AnnasserOlympic Mostakbel Ruisseau de El Annasser is an Algerian football club based in Mohamed Belouizdad, quarter of Algiers.-History:It was founded in 1962, the year of the Algerian Independence. The club played one season in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 and was just one year later relegated to...
- DNC Algiers (now defunct)
1936 Algiers invitational football tournament
In 1936 the local journalists association organised a four team invitational tournament in Algiers. With AlgeriaAlgeria
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...
then under French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
colonial rule the official programme listed the venue as "Stade-Velodrome Municipal d'Alger" and the participants as:
- Le Queen of the SouthQueen of the South F.C.Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club founded in 1919 and located in Dumfries. The club currently plays in the Scottish First Division, the second tier of Scottish football. They are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers, but usually referred to as Queens or QoS...
– La Belle Equipe Ecossaise de Première Division - Racing-Club de SantanderRacing de SantanderReal Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santander, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1913, it currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at Estadio El Sardinero, with a capacity for 22,400 spectators....
– Favori des Championnats d'Espagne - Floriana F. C. de Malte – Champion Officiel et Vainqueur de la Coupe
- R.U.A. – Champion de l'Afrique du Nord 1935
The match days were Thursday May 21 and Sunday May 24.
Home side Racing Universitaire d'Alger (R.U.A. for whom Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning author/philosopher Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
had played in goals for their junior team) had already won both the North African Champions Cup
North African Champions Cup
The North African Champions Cup was a football competition involving the then French territories of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.It was played between the champions of the Tunisian and Moroccan leagues and the 3 Algerian regional leagues. Morocco did not enter their champions until the 1928/29 season...
and the North African Cup
North African Cup
The North African Cup was a football competition involving the then French territories of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia from 1930 to 1956. The tournament was contested between the clubs of five leagues, with Morocco and Tunisia contributing one league each, and Algeria contributing leagues from the...
in the 30s (R.U.A. would win each twice by the decade's end). Goals by Willie Thomson and Joe Tulip
Joe Tulip
Joe Tulip was an English footballer best known for his time at Dumfries club Queen of the South.-Early years:The left-winger from Mickley in Northumberland joined Queens from Crawcrook Albion in 1933. The previous season Tulip had a brief spell at Blackburn Rovers.-Queen of the South:Joe Tulip was...
saw Queens book a place in the invitational tournament final with a 2–1 victory against them.
In the final Queens faced a Racing de Santander side who had just finished 4th in Spain's La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
notching home and away double victories against both Real Madrid
Real Madrid C.F.
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
and F.C. Barcelona. Racing had seen off Floriana in their semi final. Norrie Haywood's goal and a 1–0 scoreline saw victory for La Belle Equipe Ecossaise. The trophy can still be seen in Queens' club museum today.
International relations
- See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Algeria
Twin towns – Sister cities
Algiers is twinned with:| Cairo Cairo Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life... , Egypt Egypt Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world... Amman Amman Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost... , Jordan Jordan Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing... Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , People's Republic of China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... Tunis Tunis Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants.... , Tunisia Tunisia Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area... Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... El Aaiun El Aaiún El-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Administered by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of what the Moroccan government call the region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, and POLISARIO call Occupied Territories... , Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognised state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about... |
Montreal Montreal Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America... , Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... Izmir Izmir Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey... , Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... Tyre, Lebanon Santiago, Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... Sofia Sofia Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated... , Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east... Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent... , Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... |
Bordeaux Bordeaux Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... Geneva Geneva Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland... , Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... Rome Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population... , Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... Dubai Dubai Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi... , United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a... |
São Paulo São Paulo São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among... , Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent... , Argentina Argentina Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires... Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010... , People's Republic of China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... Tripoli Tripoli Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three... , Libya Libya Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.... Dakar Dakar Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland... , Senegal Senegal Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north... Rabat Rabat Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000... , Morocco Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... Surakarta Surakarta Surakarta, also called Solo or Sala, is a city in Central Java, Indonesia of more than 520,061 people with a population density of 11,811.5 people/km2. The 44 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and... , Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an... ,(Start since 24 July 2011) |
In addition, many of the wards and cities within Algiers maintain sister-city relationships with other foreign cities.
Films about Algiers
- AlgiersAlgiers (film)Algiers is a 1938 American drama film directed by John Cromwell and starring Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie, and Hedy Lamarr. The Walter Wanger production was a remake of the successful 1937 French film Pépé le Moko, which derived its plot from the Henri La Barthe novel of the same name...
, 1938, directed by John CromwellJohn Cromwell (director)Elwood Dager Cromwell , known as John Cromwell, was an American film actor, director and producer.-Biography:...
; - The Battle of AlgiersThe Battle of Algiers (film)The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 war film based on occurrences during the Algerian War against French colonial occupation in North Africa, the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers. It was directed by Gillo Pontecorvo...
, 1966, directed by Gillo PontecorvoGillo PontecorvoGillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He worked as a film director for more than a decade before his best known film La battaglia di Algeri was released...
; - Tahya ya Didou, Alger Insolite, 1970, Mohammed Zinet;
- Bab El-Oued CityBab El-Oued CityBab El-Oued City is a 1994 Algerian drama film directed by Merzak Allouache. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Award.-Cast:* Nadia Kaci - Yamina* Mohamed Ourdache - Said...
, 1994, directed by Merzak AllouacheMerzak AllouacheMerzak Allouache is an Algerian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 16 films since 1976. His 1996 film Salut cousin! was submitted to the 69th Academy Awards in the category for Best Foreign Language Film....
; - Viva Laldjérie, 2003, directed by Nadir Moknèche, with BiyounaBiyounaBiyouna is an Algerian singer, dancer, actress born in 1952 in Belcourt, Algiers, Algeria.-Early life:Having a very early passion for singing, she was a member of several groups: first in Fadela Dziria's group where she played tambourine, another that she directed with her accomplice Flifla, and...
and Lubna AzabalLubna AzabalLubna Azabal is a Belgian actress, born in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother. After studing at the Conservatoire royal of Brussels, she began a theatrical career in Belgium. In 1997, she took her first film role when Belgian film-maker Vincent Lannoo chose her to act beside Olivier...
; - Bab el Web, 2004, directed by Merzak Allouache, with Samy NaceriSamy NaceriSamy Naceri is a French actor known for his work in the four Taxi movies and The Code .-Childhood and Career:...
, Julie Gayet, FaudelFaudelFaudel , born Faudel Belloua on June 6, 1978 in Mantes-la-Jolie, is a French singer of Algerian descent.-Early years:...
; - It was once in the wadi, 2005, directed by Djamel Bensalah;
- Beur, White, Red, 2005, directed by Mahmoud Zemmouri.
- Delice PalomaDelice PalomaDélice Paloma is the latest film of Nadir Moknèche with Biyouna. The film tells the story of Madame Aldjeria, her past life, her glory, her dream , and her downfall as queen of petty dealing, 'the mafieuse' , against the backdrop of Algiers and the Algeria of Independence to today.-Synopsis:' You...
, 2007, directed by Nadir Moknèche, with BiyounaBiyounaBiyouna is an Algerian singer, dancer, actress born in 1952 in Belcourt, Algiers, Algeria.-Early life:Having a very early passion for singing, she was a member of several groups: first in Fadela Dziria's group where she played tambourine, another that she directed with her accomplice Flifla, and...
and Nadia Kaci.