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Larbaâ Nath Irathen ( Kabyle: Larebɛa n at Yiraten, or in Tifinagh,
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: الأربعاء ناث اراتين) is a town in Tizi Ouzou Province, in the central part of northern
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
. It was formerly known as Fort National. The population in 2002 was 29,773, The area is renowned for its majestic scenery.


Etymology

* ''Larbaa'' means "Wednesday" in Arabic, the town's traditional souk day, or "four"/"fourth" in Kabyle * ''N'' means "of" * ''Ath Iraten'' means "sons of Irathen", the name of a major local tribe, recorded by Ibn Khaldun; ''Irathen'' may originally have meant "lions".


History

On May 25, 1857, the town was the site of a battle during the French Pacification of Algeria. French-aligned forces under Marshal Jacques Louis Randon defeated Kabyle defenders of the town as part of a campaign to curb Kabyle independence and bring them under the control of
French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...
. Randon won the battle, but suffered 400 dead and 800 injured; Kabyle losses are unknown.Oussedik, Tahar. Lla Fat'ma N'Soumeur, Entreprise nationale du livre, 1986. p. 57–59. The town was at the forefront of the struggle for Algerian independence that would result in the
Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...
. Each village had its share of martyrs but what distinguishes this commune is that it gave more than five leaders to the North African Star pro-independence organization. Among these leaders are Radjef Belkacem, Messaoui Rabah, Imache Ali, Iffour Rabah and Si Djillani Mohand Said. All these officials are from Ait Oumalou who was part of Larba Nath Irathen at the time. Messaoui Rabah died during the Second World War in Paris. It is also the place of birth of Abane Ramdane.


Notable residents

* Ramdane Haifi * Elyazid Maddour


References

Communes of Tizi Ouzou Province {{TiziOuzou-geo-stub