Algiers

Algiers (French Alger, (Arabic: ????? ??????? ) El-Jezair, i.e. The Islands), nicknamed Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") from the glistening white of its buildings as seen sloping up from the sea, presenting a striking appearance, is the capital and largest city of Algeria, North Africa. It is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea, to which it gives its name, and is built on the slopes of the Sahel, a chain of hills parallel to the coast. Its geographical co-ordinates are: {{coor dm|36|47|N|3|4|E|}}.

History

In Roman times a small town called Icosium existed on what is now the marine quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of a Roman street. Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun. Bishops of Icosium -- which was created a Latin city by Vespasian -- are mentioned as late as the 5th century.

Related Topics:
Bab-el-Oued - Bab Azoun - Vespasian - 5th century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The present city was founded in 944 by Buluggin ibn Ziri, the founder of the Zirid-Senhaja dynasty, which was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily in 1148. The Zirids had before that date lost Algiers, which in 1159 was occupied by the Almohades, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Abd-el-Wadid sultans of Tlemcen.

Related Topics:
944 - Buluggin ibn Ziri - Zirid - Senhaja - Roger II of Sicily - 1148 - 1159 - Almohades - 13th century - Tlemcen

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a large measure of independence under amirs of its own, Oran being the chief seaport of the Abd-el-Wahid. The islet in front of the harbour, subsequently known as the Penon, had been occupied by the Spaniards as early as 1302. Thereafter a considerable trade grew up between Algiers and Spain.

Related Topics:
Tlemcen - Amir - Oran - 1302 - Spain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Algiers, however, continued to be of comparatively little importance until after the expulsion from Spain of the Moors, many of whom sought an asylum in the city. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, the Spaniards fortified the Penon. In 1516 the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the brothers Arouj and Khair-ad-Din (Barbarossa) to expel the Spaniards. Arouj came to Algiers, caused Selim to be assassinated, and seized the town. Khair-ad-Din, succeeding Arouj, drove the Spaniards from the Penon (1550) and was the founder of the pashalik, afterwards deylik, of Algeria.

Related Topics:
Moors - 1510 - Africa - 1516 - Barbarossa - 1550

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See List of Pasha and Dey of Algiers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary corsairs. In October 1541 the 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 Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their pasha, Hassan. From the 17th century, Algiers, free of Ottoman control and sited 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, turned to piracy. Repeated attempts were made by various European nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed European hegemony in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Cornwall. In 1816 the city was bombarded by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth (a descendant of Thomas Pellew, taken in an Algierian slave raid in 1715), assisted by Dutch men-of-war, and the corsair fleet burned. On the 4th of July in 1830, on the pretext of an affront to their consul - whom the dey had hit with a fly-whisk when he said the French government was not prepared to pay its large outstanding debts to two Algerian Jewish merchants - a French army under General de Bourmont attacked the city, which capitulated on the following day.

Related Topics:
Barbary corsairs - 1541 - Charles V - Pasha - Ottoman - Hegemony - 1816 - Lord Exmouth - 1715 - Dutch - 1830 - Dey - General de Bourmont

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The history of Algiers from 1830 to 1962 is bound to the larger history of Algeria and its struggles with France.

Related Topics:
1830 - 1962 - Algeria - France

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1962, after a bloody independence struggle in which hundreds of thousands of Algerians died (a million Algerians according to official Algerian history) at the hands of the French army and the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale or F.L.N., Algeria finally gained its independence, with Algiers as its capital. Since then, despite losing its entire European or pied-noir population, the city has expanded massively - it now has 3 million inhabitants, or 10% of Algeria's population - and its suburbs now cover most of the surrounding Metidja plain.

Related Topics:
1962 - Front de Libération Nationale - Pied-noir - Metidja

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~