Thénia
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Thénia (), sometimes written as ''Thenia'', with around 40,000 inhabitants, is the chief town in the daïra of the same name, in the wilaya of Boumerdès, in northern Algeria. Historically, the name is a contraction of ''Theniet Beni Aicha'' (ثنية بني عائشة) "the mountain pass of the sons of Aisha", the Arabic translation of the Kabyle Berber toponym ''Tizi n At Ɛica''. The steep-sided pass, which is only about 800 metres wide at its narrowest point, is sometimes taken to mark the transition between Mitidja and
Grande Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of th ...
.


Villages

The villages of the commune of ''Thénia'' are:


Geography

Thénia is located on the main road from Algiers to Constantine, about forty kilometres east of Algiers, about ten kilometres inland from the coast, at an altitude of 300 metres—an excerpt from the 1962 Michelin map of Algeria showing the location can be see
here
Between the town and the coast, the scrub-covered Djebel bou Arous rises to a height of around 400 metres and then falls more gently to the coast. South and east is the valley of the Isser River, whose sides rise to around 600 metres and are deeply incised by streams; in many places the slopes are covered with vineyards and olive-groves. Thénia is on the double-track portion of the
Algiers-Skikda line The Algiers-Skikda line is one of the two trunk lines in the Algerian railway network, the other being the Algiers-Oran line. The line hosts passenger services connecting Algiers station with either Annaba or Constantine, the two largest citi ...
and marks the end of electric commuter rail service from
Algiers station Algiers station (french: Gare d'Alger, ar, محطة قطار الجزائر) is a railway station located in the city of Algiers, at the port, sea front and the Kasbah of Algiers. The inhabitants of downtown Algiers and the Kasbah and its doors ...
.


Zawiya

*
Zawiyet Sidi Boushaki Zawiyet Sidi Brahim Boushaki ( ar, زاوية سيدي إبراهيم البوسحاقي) or Zawiyet Thénia is a zawiya of the Rahmaniyya Sufi brotherhood located in Boumerdès Province within lower Kabylia of Algeria. Construction The za ...


History

During the French occupation, the town was renamed Ménerville, after Charles-Louis Pinson de Ménerville (1808–76), the first president of the court of appeals 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 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
. It resumed the name of Thénia a few years after independence in 1962. In 1944, the town had 2,656 inhabitants, of which the majority, 1,929, were European
pieds noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...
while the commune or district had 12,755, of which 2,640 were pieds noirs. Thénia was very near to the offshore epicenter of the May 21, 2003 Boumerdès earthquake, the strongest quake to hit Algeria since 1980. At least four people were killed and around twenty injured by a car bomb outside a police station in the town on 29 January 2008.


French conquest

* Battle of Thénia (1837), a battle during the French conquest of Algeria. *
First Battle of the Issers The First Battle of the Issers in May 1837, during the French conquest of Algeria, pitted the troupes coloniales under General Perrégaux and Colonel Schauenburg against the troops of Kabylia of the ''Igawawen''. Background The ceasefire si ...
(1837), a battle during the French conquest of Algeria. * Battle of Thénia (1846), a battle during the French conquest of Algeria. * Battle of Thénia (1871), a battle during the Mokrani Revolt of Algeria.


Algerian Revolution

*
Ferme Gauthier The Ferme Gautier is a torture center established during the Algerian war in the commune of Souk El Had in Kabylia within Algeria. Creation This farm was created from 1872 when the farmer Gautier obtained an agricultural concession in Souk El ...


Salafist terrorism

*
2008 Thénia bombing The 2008 Thénia bombing occurred on January 29, 2008, when a suicide bomber drove and detonated a vehicle laden with explosives into the headquarters of the Algerian police (BMPJ) in the town of Thénia, Boumerdès Province, Algeria killing 2 ...
(29 January 2008) *
2012 Thénia bombing The 2012 Thénia bombing occurred on January 11, 2012 when a bomb detonated against a patrol of the Customs, Algerian Customs in the town of Thénia, Boumerdès Province, Algeria injuring 2. The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb was ...
(11 January 2012)


Roads

The town of Thénia contains dozens of roads in its urban network: * Yahia Boushaki Boulevard * * * * *


Rivers

This commune is crossed by several rivers: * Isser River *
Meraldene River The Oued Meraldene or Oued Merabtene, also called Oued Bourdine, is a river of Algeria located in Kabylia within the framework of the Province of Boumerdès. Presentation The ''Meraldène'' stream is one of the main tributaries of the Boumerd ...
* * * *


Dam

This commune has one dam: * Meraldene Dam


Football clubs


Notable people


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thenia Thénia Populated places in Boumerdès Province