Béjaïa (; ; ar, بجاية‎, Latn, ar, Bijāya, ), formerly Bougie and Bugia, is a

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

city and

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

on the Gulf of Béjaïa in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province,

Kabylia Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which ...

. Béjaïa is the largest principally Kabyle-speaking city in the region of

, Algeria.

Geography

The town is overlooked by the mountain ', whose profile is said to resemble a sleeping woman. Other nearby scenic spots include the ''Aiguades'' beach and the '' Pic des Singes'' (Peak of the Monkeys); the latter site is a

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

for the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

Barbary macaque, which prehistorically had a much broader distribution than at present. All three of these geographic features are located in the

Gouraya National Park The national park of Gouraya ( ar, الحديقة الوطنية قورايا) is one of the coastal national parks of Algeria. It is located in Béjaïa Province, near the shrine of Sidi Touati. History The park became an Algerian National ...

. The

Soummam river The Soummam River (pronounced om'm is a river in northern Algeria, born from the confluence of the Sahel River and the Bou Sellam River near Akbou and flowing into the Mediterranean Sea at Béjaïa. Description The waters that reach the sea in ...

runs past the town. Under French rule, it was known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie in French. The French and Italian versions, due to the town's wax trade, eventually acquired the

metonymic Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name ...

meaning of "

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candle ...

". ''Available online to subscribers''

History

Antiquity and Byzantine era

According to

Al-Bakri Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...

, the bay was first inhabited by

Andalusians The Andalusians ( es, andaluces) are a European ethnic group, native to Andalusia, an autonomous community in southern Spain. Andalusia's statute of autonomy defines Andalusians as the Spanish citizens who reside in any of the municipalitie ...

.Bejaia - Algeria
''Muslimheritage.com'' Béjaïa stands on the site of the ancient city of Saldae, a minor port in Carthaginian and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times, in an area at first inhabited by Numidian Berbers and founded as a colony for old soldiers by emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. It was an important town and a bishopric in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis, and later Sitifensis. Hafsids Bougie Algeria 1249 1276 ornemental Kufic

Hafsids Bougie Algeria 1249 1276 ornemental Kufic

In the fifth century, Saldae became the capital of the short-lived Vandal Kingdom of the Germanic

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

, which ended in about 533 with the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

conquest, which established an African prefecture and later the

Exarchate of Carthage The Exarchate of Africa was a division of the Byzantine Empire around Carthage that encompassed its possessions on the Western Mediterranean. Ruled by an exarch (viceroy), it was established by the Emperor Maurice in the late 580s and survive ...

Muslim and feudal rulers

After the 7th-century Muslim conquest, it was refounded as "Béjaïa"; the

Hammadid dynasty The Hammadid dynasty () was a branch of the Sanhaja Berber dynasty that ruled an area roughly corresponding to north-eastern modern Algeria between 1008 and 1152. The state reached its peak under Nasir ibn Alnas during which it was briefly the m ...

made it their capital, and it became an important port and centre of culture. Algiers and Bejaia by Piri Reis

The Casbah of Béjaïa or in French Casbah de Béjaïa rwas built by the Almohad Caliphate under the reign of governor

Abd al-Mu'min Abd al Mu'min (c. 1094–1163) ( ar, عبد المؤمن بن علي or عبد المومن الــكـومي; full name: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlwī ibn Yaʿlā al-Kūmī Abū Muḥammad) was a prominent member of the Almohad mov ...

in the middle of the 12th century (around

1154 Year 1154 ( MCLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Levant * April 18 – Nur al-Din, Seljuk ruler (''atabeg'') of Aleppo, encamps before Damascus ...

), then rebuilt by the Spaniards when the city was taken in 15101. It was then modified by the Ottomans and the French. The Casbah of Béjaïa played a role in the transmission of knowledge in the Middle Ages, the more or less long stays of scientific and literary personalities, versed in all fields of knowledge. According to

Muhammad al-Idrisi Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي; la, Dreses; 1100 – 1165), was a Muslim geographer, cartogra ...

, the port was, in the 11th century, a market place between Mediterranean merchant ships and caravans coming from the Sahara desert. Christian merchants settled ''funduqs'' (or Khans) in Bejaïa. The Italian city of Pisa was closely tied to Béjaïa, where it built one of its two permanent consulates in the African continent. The son of a Pisan merchant (and probably consul), posthumously known as

Fibonacci Fibonacci (; also , ; – ), also known as Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Bigollo Pisano ('Leonardo the Traveller from Pisa'), was an Italian mathematician from the Republic of Pisa, considered to be "the most talented Wester ...

(c. 1170 – c. 1250), there learned about mathematics (which he called "Modus Indorum") and Hindu-Arabic numerals. He introduced modern mathematics into medieval Europe. A mathematical-historical analysis of Fibonacci's context and proximity to Béjaïa, an important exporter of wax in his time, has suggested that it was actually the bee-keepers of Béjaïa and the knowledge of the bee ancestries that truly inspired the

Fibonacci sequence In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted , form a sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1, although some authors start the sequence from ...

rather than the rabbit reproduction model as presented in his famous book ''

Liber Abaci ''Liber Abaci'' (also spelled as ''Liber Abbaci''; "The Book of Calculation") is a historic 1202 Latin manuscript on arithmetic by Leonardo of Pisa, posthumously known as Fibonacci. ''Liber Abaci'' was among the first Western books to describe ...

''. In 1315, Ramon Llull was stoned at Béjaïa, where, a few years before, Peter Armengaudius ( Peter Armengol) is reputed to have been hanged. After a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

occupation (1510–55), the city was taken by the Ottoman Turks in the Capture of Béjaïa in 1555. For nearly three centuries, Béjaïa was a stronghold of the Barbary pirates (see Barbary States). The city consisted of Arabic-speaking

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

Morisco Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open ...

s and

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

increased by Jewish refugees from Spain. Berber peoples lived not in the city but the surrounding villages and travelled to the city occasionally for markets. City landmarks include a 16th-century mosque and a fortress built by the Spanish in 1545. A picture of the Orientalist painter

Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007) was a French painter. Artistic life Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris,The School of Paris (1945–1965) by Lydia Harambourg. ...

, who painted in the city for a while, can be found in the museum of Béjaïa.

French colonial rule

It was captured by the French in 1833 and became a part of colonial

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. Most of the time it was the seat ('sous-préfecture') of an

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

(mid 20th century, 513,000 inhabitants, of whom 20,000 'Bougiates' in the city itself) in the Département of Constantine, until Bougie was promoted to

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

itself in 1957.

Battle of Béjaïa

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Operation Torch landed forces in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, including a battalion of the British

Royal West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Quee ...

at Béjaïa on 11 November 1942. That same day, at 4:40 PM, a German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

air raid struck Béjaïa with thirty

Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...

bombers and torpedo planes. The transports and ''Cathay'' were sunk and the

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

HMS ''Roberts'' was damaged. The following day, the anti-aircraft ship SS ''Tynwald'' was torpedoed and sank, while the transport ''Karanja'' was bombed and destroyed.

Algerian republic

After

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n independence, it became the eponymous capital of Béjaïa Province, covering part of the eastern Berber region

Ecclesiastical history

With the spread of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, Saldae became a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. Its bishop Paschasius was one of the Catholic bishops whom the Arian Vandal king

Huneric Huneric, Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the (North African) Vandal Kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Gaiseric. He abandoned the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was m ...

summoned to

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

in 484 and then exiled. Christianity survived the Islamic conquest, the disappearance of the old city of Saldae, and the founding of the new city of Béjaïa. A letter from Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) exists, addressed to ''clero et populo Buzee'' (the clergy and people of Béjaïa), in which he writes of the consecration of a bishop named Servandus for Christian North Africa.Stefano Antonio Morcelli
''Africa christiana''
Volume I, Brescia 1816, p. 269H. Jaubert
''Anciens évêchés et ruines chrétiennes de la Numidie et de la Sitifienne''
in ''Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine'', vol. 46, 1913, pp. 127-129 No longer a residential bishopric, Saldae (v.) is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

. and still has incumbents by that title (mostly of the lowest (episcopal) rank, some of the intermediary archiepiscopal rank).

Titular see of Bugia

This titular see was for a long time, ''alternatively and concurrently'' with the city's authentic Roman Latin name Saldae (v.), called Bugia, the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...

form (used in the Roman Curia) of Béjaïa. The 'modern' form and title, Bugia, seems out of use, after having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank : * Miguel Morro (1510 – ?), as Auxiliary Bishop of Mallorca (Balearic Spain) (1510 – ?) * Fernando de Vera y Zuñiga, Augustinians (O.E.S.A.) (1614.02.17 – 1628.11.13), as Auxiliary Bishop of

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

(Spain) (1614.02.17 – 1628.11.13); later Metropolitan Archbishop of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, finally

Archbishop-Bishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Cusco (Peru) (1629.07.16 – death 1638.11.09) * François Perez (1687.02.05 – death 1728.09.20), as

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Chur ...

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

(Vietnam) (1687.02.05 – 1728.09.20) * Antonio Mauricio Ribeiro (1824.09.27 – death ?), as Auxiliary Bishop of

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

(Portugal) (1824.09.27 – ?) *

George Hilary Brown George Hilary Brown (1784 – 1856) was an English prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool from 1850 to 1856. Early life George Hilary Brown was born in Clifton, Lancashire on 15 January 1784, the son of William Br ...

(5 June 1840 until 22 April 1842), as first and only Apostolic Vicar of Lancashire District (England) (1840.06.05 – 1850.09.29), later Titular Bishop of Tlous (1842.04.22 – 1850.09.29), promoted first bishop of successor see

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

(1850.09.29 – 1856.01.25)

Climate

Béjaïa, like most cities along the coast of Algeria, has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Csa''), with very warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters.

Demography

The population of the city in 2008 in the latest census was 177,988.

Economy

The northern terminus of the

Hassi Messaoud Hassi Messaoud ( ar, حاسي مسعود) is a town in Ouargla Province, eastern Algeria, located southeast of Ouargla. As of 2008 it had a population of 45,147 people, up from 40,360 in 1998, and an annual population growth rate of 1.1%, the lowe ...

oil pipeline from the Sahara, Béjaïa is the principal

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

port of the Western Mediterranean. Exports, aside from crude petroleum, include

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s, dried

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

s, and plums. The city also has

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

and cork industries. The

Béni Mansour-Bejaïa line The Béni Mansour-Béjaïa line is an Algerian railway connecting the Soummam River valley to the Algiers-Skikda line over 88 kilometers. The line was opened in full in 1899. History During French Algeria, plans were made to connect Béja ...

railroad terminates in Béjaïa. The airport of the city is Abane Ramdane Airport.

Cevital Cevital () is the largest private conglomerate (company), conglomerate in Algeria, with interests in the agri-food sector, retail, industry and services, created by Issad Rebrab. The company's headquarters are in Kouba, Algeria, Kouba, Algeri ...

has its head office in the city.Cevital & vous
."

. Retrieved on 26 August 2011. "Adresse : Nouveau Qaui Port de -Béjaïa - Algérie" The city's soccer team is

JSM Béjaïa Jeunesse Sportive Madinet de Béjaïa ( ar, الشبيبة الرياضية لمدينة بجاية), known as JSM Béjaïa or simply JSMB for short, is an Algerian football club based in Béjaïa. The club was founded in 1936 and its colours are ...

and currently plays in the

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2 The Algerian Ligue 2, also called Ligue 2 , formerly known as Ligue Professionnelle 2 and Championnat National 2, is the second highest division overall in the Algerian football league system. It was professional from 2010 to 2020. History The ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Béjaïa has an official friendly relationship with: * Glasgow, Scotland, since 1995 *

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

* Bad Homburg

Villages

Ilougane Ilougane: is a small village located in the outskirts of Béjaïa and its neighbouring Bordj Bou Arréridj in Algeria. As they were highly influenced by Islamic culture when Islam was introduced to North Africa, they adopted Arabic as the main la ...

Notable people

* Nihad Hihat (born 1994), volleyball player * Rebiha Khebtani (1926–2006), politician

References

External links

Bgayet.Net
*

Google map of Béjaïa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bejaia Communes of Béjaïa Province Former Spanish colonies Kabylie Cities in Algeria Province seats of Algeria Lighthouses in Algeria Berber populated places

Geography

History

Antiquity and Byzantine era

Muslim and feudal rulers

French colonial rule

Battle of Béjaïa

Algerian republic

Ecclesiastical history

Titular see of Bugia

Climate

Demography

Economy

Twin towns – sister cities

Villages

Notable people

See also

References

External links