Médéa is a former French ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' in

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 ...

which existed between 1957 and 1974.

Reorganization

Considered as a French province, Algeria was departmentalised on 9 December 1848, and thereby was administratively structured in the same way as

metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...

. Three civil zones (

départements In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

) replaced the three

bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

liks into which the Ottoman former rulers had divided the territory. The middle of the three original Algerian

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

was called Alger. For over a century the town of

Médéa Médéa () is the capital city of Médéa Province, Algeria. It is located roughly 68 km south of Algiers. The present-day city is situated on the site of an ancient Roman military post and has a history dating back to the 10th century. The ...

, was a

sub-prefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...

in the département of Alger: this changed in 1957. In May 1957 the

was split off and became a separate département, directly to the south of the now greatly diminished département of Alger. This administrative reorganisation was undertaken in response to the rapid population increase experienced across the territory, especially during the preceding decade. The new département of Médéa covered an area of 50,331 km²: a population of 621,013 was recorded. The department comprised between four and six sub-prefectures: these were Aumale (or Sūr-al-Ghuzlān/ Sūr-al-Ghuzlān), Boghari,

Bou Saâda Bou Saada (, ''bu s‘adah'', meaning "place of happiness") is a town and municipality in M'Sila Province, Algeria, situated 245 km south of Algiers. As Arena it was the site of a city and bishopric in Roman Africa, now a Catholic titular see ...

Djelfa Djelfa () is the capital city of Djelfa Province, Algeria and the site of ancient city and former bishopric Fallaba, which remains a Latin catholic titular see. It has a population of 520622 (2019 census). The city lies at the junction of the N1 ...

, Paul Cazelles (Aïn Oussara) and, briefly, Tablata. Further changes to the departmental maps which involved Médéa took place in March 1958: the major change was the further splitting off of the three sub-prefectures of Aumale (or Sūr-al-Ghuzlān/ Sūr-al-Ghuzlān), Tablata and Ouled-Djellal as the separate département of Aumale. These changes were largely reversed in November 1959 when the département of Aumale found itself reabsorbed into neighbouring départements. The 1957 departmental reorganisation was marked by a change in the "suffix" number appearing on automobile license plates and in other places that used the same code. Until 1957, as part of the département of Alger, Médéa was identified by the department number "91": after 1957 the département of Médéa became department number "9E". (In 1968, under a law enacted in 1964, the number "91" would be reallocated to a new département comprising the southern suburbs of Paris.) After independence the department continued to exist until 1974 when it was split into Bouira Province,

Djelfa Province Djelfa () is a province (''wilaya'') of Algeria. Its capital is Djelfa. It was first established by the administrative reorganization of 1974, and is home to over 1,595,794 inhabitants. Localities in this province include Tadmit, El Khemis, a ...

Médéa Province Médéa () is a provinces of Algeria, province (''wilaya'') of Algeria, with a population of.1 062 134 inhabitants in 2019 The capital is Medea, Algeria, Médéa. Administrative divisions The province is divided into 19 districts (''daïras''), ...

and

M'Sila Province M'sila ( ) is a province () of northern Algeria. It has a population of 958361 people and an area of , with a density of 74/square kilometers while its capital, also called M'sila, home to M'sila University, has a population of about 100,000. Lo ...

References

le site du SPLAF
: départements de l'Algérie française de 1848 à 1962 Former departments of France in Algeria States and territories established in 1957 1957 establishments in Algeria 1962 disestablishments in Algeria {{MédéaDZ-geo-stub

Reorganization

See also

References