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