Cirta
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city ...
and was renamed "Constantina" in honor of emperor
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...
. It was the capital of the French department of Constantine until 1962. Located somewhat inland, Constantine is about from the Mediterranean coast, on the banks of the
Rhumel River
The Rhumel River (also Rhummel, Rummel, El-Kebîrl; Arabic: وادي الرمال) is the largest river in the Constantine region of Algeria.
Geography
The source of the Rhumel river is in the Ferdjioua (Mila) mountains. From there it meanders t ...
.
Constantine is regarded as the capital of eastern Algeria and the commercial center of its region, and it has a population of about 450,000 (938,475Office National des Statistiques, Recensement General de la Population et de l’Habitat 2008 2008 population census. Accessed on 2016-01-27. with the agglomeration), making it the third largest city in the country after Algiers and Oran. There are several museums and historical sites located around the city. Constantine is often referred to as the "City of Bridges" due to the numerous picturesque bridges connecting the various hills, valleys, and ravines that the city is built on and around.
Constantine was named the Arab Capital of Culture in 2015.
History
Ancient history
The city was originally founded by the
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...
ns, who called it Sewa (royal city). Later it was renamed
Cirta
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city ...
by the Numidian king
Syphax
Syphax (, ''Sýphax''; , ) was a king of the Masaesyli tribe of western Numidia (present-day Algeria) during the last quarter of the 3rd century BC. His story is told in Livy's ''Ab Urbe Condita'' (written c. 27–25 BC).
, who turned it into his capital. The city was taken over by Numidia, the country of the
Berber people
, image = File:Berber_flag.svg
, caption = The Berber ethnic flag
, population = 36 million
, region1 = Morocco
, pop1 = 14 million to 18 million
, region2 = Algeria
, pop2 ...
, after the
Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
were defeated by Rome in the Third Punic War. In 112 B.C., the city was occupied by the Numidian king Jugurtha, who defeated his half-brother Adherbal. The city later served as the base for Roman generals
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus (c. 155 BC – 91 BC) was an ancient Roman statesman and general, he was a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. He was a bitter political opponent of Gaius Marius. He was consu ...
and
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
in Africa (c. 46),
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
gave special rights to the citizens of
Cirta
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city ...
, now known as Colonia Sittlanorum.
In 311 AD, during the civil war between emperor Maxentius and usurper
Domitius Alexander
Lucius Domitius Alexander (died c. 310), probably born in Phrygia, was vicarius of Africa when Emperor Maxentius ordered him to send his son as hostage to Rome. Alexander refused and proclaimed himself emperor in 308.
The most detailed if somewh ...
(a former governor of Africa), the city was destroyed. Rebuilt in 313 AD, it was subsequently named in Latin as "Colonia Constantiniana" or "Constantina", after emperor
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...
, who had defeated Maxentius. Captured by the
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The ...
in 432, Constantine returned to the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa from 534 to 697. It was conquered by the Arabs in the 8th century, receiving the name of ''Qacentina'', It was part of the region known to the Islamic world as Ifriqiya.
Modern history
The city recovered in the 12th century and under Almohad and Hafsid rule it was again a prosperous market, with links to Pisa,
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. After taking it from the
Hafsids
The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (west ...
in 1529 it was intermittently part of
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, ruled by a Turkish bey (governor) subordinate to the
dey
Dey (Arabic: داي), from the Turkish honorific title ''dayı'', literally meaning uncle, was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Tunis under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 ...
of Algiers. Salah Bey, who ruled the city in 1770–1792, greatly embellished it and built much of the Muslim architecture still visible today.
In 1826 the last bey, Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif, became the new head of state. He led a fierce resistance against French forces, which had invaded Algeria four years later. By 13 October 1837, the territory was captured by France, and from 1848 on until 1962 it was the centre of the Constantine Département. In 1880, while working in the military hospital in Constantine,
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (18 June 1845 – 18 May 1922) was a French physician who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1907 for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases such as malaria ...
discovered that the cause of
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
blood smear
A blood smear, peripheral blood smear or blood film is a thin layer of blood smeared on a glass microscope slide and then stained in such a way as to allow the various blood cells to be examined microscopically. Blood smears are examined in th ...
taken from a soldier who had just died of malaria. For this, he received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. This was the first time that protozoa were shown to be a cause of disease. His work helped inspire researchers and veterinarians today to try to find a cure for malaria in animals.
In 1934, Muslim anti-Jewish riots, the 1934 Constantine Pogrom, caused the death of 34 local Jews.
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, during the campaign in North Africa (1942–43), Allied forces used Constantine and the nearby cities of Sétif and Bone as operational bases.
Geography
Constantine is situated on a plateau at an elevation
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
Th ...
. The city is framed by a deep ravine and has a dramatic appearance. The city is very picturesque with a number of bridges over Rhumel River and a viaduct crossing the ravine. The ravine is crossed by seven bridges, including Sidi M'Cid bridge. Constantine is the railhead of a prosperous and diverse agricultural area. It is also a centre of the grain trade and has flour mills, a tractor factory, and industries producing textiles, wool, linen and leather goods. Algeria and
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
serve as its markets.
Climate
Constantine 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, nota ...
''Csa''), with hot, dry summers and mild, moist winters.
Main sights
The city is framed by a deep ravine and has a dramatic appearance. In 1911, Baedeker described it as "resembling the Kasba of Algiers, the picturesque charm of which has so far been marred by the construction of but a few new streets."
* El Bey Mosque built in 1703 also known by its post colonial name Souq El Ghezal Mosque.
* The Great Mosque of Constantine historical mosque built in 1136.
*
Cirta Museum
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city w ...
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 lett ...
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
File:John_Beasly_Greene_(American,_born_France_-_(Elcantara_Bridge,_Constantine,_Algeria)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, Bridge El-Kantara, earliest photo, 1856 by John Beasley Greene
File:pont des chutes.jpg, Bridge of the Falls
File:Sidi M'Cid.JPG, Sidi M'Cid Bridge
File:Magnia.jpg, Sidi Rached Bridge
File:Constantine bridge.jpg, El-Kantara Bridge
File:Old Constantine.JPG, Constantine:Old city
The topography of the city is unique and it determines the need for bridges. At the end of the 19th century,
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...
wrote: "Eight bridges used to cross this ravine. Six of these bridges are in ruins today." Today the most important bridges are:
* Sidi M'Cid Bridge (1912), a suspension bridge with a length of 168m,
* Bab El Kantra Bridge (1792) bridge which leads toward north,
* Sidi Rached bridge (1912), a long viaduct of 447ms and 27 arches, designed by Paul Séjourné,
* Devil's bridge, a tiny beam bridge,
* Falls bridge (1925), formed by a series of arches on top of a waterfall,
* Mellah Slimane Bridge (1925), a suspension bridge,
* Salah Bey Bridge (Trans-Rhummel viaduct, 2014), the first cable-stayed bridge in Constantine, designed by Dissing+Weitling architecture,
* Meddjez Dechiche Bridge
Education
Constantine has in general four universities: two of them are downtown Constantine Mentouri Public University, designed by the Brazilian architect
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
, and Algerian architect Rashid Hassaine, including Zerzara technical engineering pole, Zouaghi Slimane Geography and Earth Sciences Pole, and in the City of El-Khroub is the Institute of Veterinary Sciences.
Emir Abdelkader University
Emir Abdelkader University of Islamic Sciences (Arabic:جامعة الأمير عبد القادر للعلوم الإسلامية ) is a university in Algeria.
History
The idea of establishing the university along with the Emir Abdelkader Mosqu ...
is one of the biggest Islamic universities with many faculties covering religious studies, foreign languages, literature. Constantine's new town "nouvelle ville ali mendjeli" has two big universities: Université Constantine 2 known as "lella nsoumer" offering maths, computer and economy majors, and the new university is actually a university pole with more than 20,000 students, 17 faculties and more than 40,000 residents. It is now the largest African university under the name of "Université Salah Boubnider" known as "Université Constantine 3".
Transport
Constantine is served by Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Constantine also owns its 14.7 km-long tram network serving the city centre at the airport but also in the main neighbourhoods of the metropolis Constantine tramway.
Constantine has been the hometown of many noteworthy people in Algeria and France.
* Abdelhamid Brahimi, former Prime Minister of Algeria (1984-1988)
* Abdelhamid Ben Badis, Islamic reformer and philosopher
*
Abdelmalek Sellal
Abdelmalek Sellal ( ar, عبد المالك سلال, ʿAbd al-Mālik Silāl; born 1 August 1948) is an Algerian politician who was Prime Minister of Algeria from 3 September 2012 to 13 March 2014 when he took a leave of office to support Presiden ...
, former Prime Minister of Algeria two terms (2012-2014),(2014-2017)
* Ahmed Bey, the last Bey of Constantine (1826-1848)
*
Ahlam Mosteghanemi
Ahlem Mosteghanemi ( ar, أحلام مستغانمي), alternatively written Ahlam Mosteghanemi (born 1953) is an Algerian writer who has been called "''probably the world's best-known Arabophone woman novelist''". She was the first Algerian wo ...
, writer
*
Alfred Nakache
Alfred Nakache (1915–1983) was a Jewish French swimmer and water polo player. A member of the French team for the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic Games, he also swam in the first post-war Summer Olympics in London in 1948. He is one of two Jew ...
, Olympic champion swimmer and Holocaust survivor.
*
Ali Saïdi-Sief
Ali Saidi-Sief ( ar, علي سعيدي سياف, born March 15, 1978) is an Algerian Olympic runner. His speciality is the 1500 m race, but he took a silver medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics for the 5000 m, losing the gold to Ethiopian athlete M ...
, Olympic medallist
* Amar Bentoumi, lawyer, Algerian independence activist, Algerian politician
*
Malek Bennabi
Malek Bennabi (1 January 1905 – 31 October 1973) ( ar, مالك بن نبي) was an Algerian writer and philosopher, who wrote about human society, particularly Muslim society with a focus on the reasons behind the fall of Muslim civilizatio ...
Mouloud Hamrouche
Mouloud Hamrouche ( ar, مولود حمروش) (born 3 January 1943 in Constantine, Algeria) was the head of government of Algeria from 5 September 1989 to 5 June 1991.
Biography
He was born in Constantine, Algeria. He was a leading member ...
, former Prime Minister of Algeria (1989-1991)
* Djamel Eddine Laouisset, Algerian Scholar
*
Masinissa
Masinissa ( nxm, , ''MSNSN''; ''c.'' 238 BC – 148 BC), also spelled Massinissa, Massena and Massan, was an ancient Numidian king best known for leading a federation of Massylii Berber tribes during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), ult ...
Hassiba Boulmerka
Hassiba Boulmerka ( ar, حسيبة بولمرقة, born 10 July 1968) is a former Algerian middle distance athlete.
Career
Born in Constantine, Boulmerka started running seriously at the age of ten, specializing in the 800 a ...
Rainier III
Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest-ruling m ...
Alphonse Halimi
Alphonse Halimi (February 18, 1932 – November 12, 2006) was a French boxer. He took the World Bantamweight Championship on April 1, 1957, in Paris, and the European Bantamweight Championship three years later.
Early life
He was born in Consta ...
Malek Haddad
Malek Haddad (born in Constantine, Algeria on 5 July 1927; died in Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 200 ...
, poet
*
Moussa Maaskri
Moussa Maaskri ( ar, موسى معسكري) (born 15 November 1962) is an Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital ...
, actor
* Fadéla M'rabet writer and feminist
* Cherif Guellal, Algerian diplomat, first ambassador to the USA (1963-1967)
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...