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Chlef (Arabic: الشلف) is the capital of Chlef Province, Algeria. It is home to the soccer club ASO Chlef, the Hassiba Ben Bouali university, and the basilica of Saint Reparatus, which is home to the oldest Christian labyrinth in the world.
The province of Chlef is located in the north of Algeria, 200 km west of the capital Algiers.
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Al-Asnam
The site of the roman citadel, Castellum Tingitanum, was known as Al-Asnam (Arabic for "sculptures") on account of an area of 600 x 300 metres containg many statues.
Valley Chellif is from the 15th century the territory of the Ouled Kosseir who settled there under the leadership of El Kosseir Hamou (H'ammü'l-Quççayri) having displaced the indigenous Berber tribes. This tribe is a tribal Djouadi (military nobility). If they even call themselves descendants of the Beni Makhzum (Either Khaled Ibn El Walid). Some historians believe that it belongs to the Confederation of Ibn Suwayd Zoghba of beni Hillal and therefore cousins of Mehal, other military nobility.
The Mehal have established, to the fifteenth century a kingdom that stretched from Méiliana in the east to Tlemcen in the west. The last King Abd El Hammou Mehal was that Barbarossa expelled Ténès, the seat of his kingdom, the arrival of the Janissaries.
He was buried in Mostaganem at a place called El Matmour. In this city a BORDJ (tower) with their name (Bordj El Mehal) still exists. To return to the Ouled Kosseir, documents of the French army and other historians speak of a "most powerful and wealthy tribes' Valley with Chellif, 1830, more than 499,000 hectares of the most fertile. With more than 19,000 soldiers and hundreds of Arab kids race. The Ouled Kosseir participated in the moubayâa the Emir Abdelkader and their territory was the territory of the Emir who was granted under the Treaty of Tafna.
After the defeat of the Emir and his allies their lands were in large part, confiscated and distributed among settlers and other Aboriginal people, including Medjadja, marabouts who supported the French army on arrival.
The French Administration with Napoleon III, under the "Arab kingdom", tried to honor the leaders of the Ouled Kosseir as it does at that time, all with Djouadi. As such, some will be decorated with the Legion of Honour (or Med Foudad Kharoubi Ben Ben Bia).
The latest Kaid (tribal leader) with the arrival of the French army was Foudad Ben Adda, who served from 1867 to 1867, the city council of the municipality of Orleansville. He was also a member of the General Council of Algiers until his death in 1869.
Orléansville
In 1843 Maréchal Bugeaud founded the city of Orléansville here. A Christian basilica dating back to the reign of the Emperor Constantine was discovered here, with an elaborate mosaic. This is the oldest church to be found in Africa.
The town was located at the confluence of the river Chlef and the Tsighaout. The town developed slowly on account of the climate, one of the hottest in Algeria.
On the night of 8/9 September 1954, the town was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake with over 1,500 fatal casualties affecting people as much as 70 kilometres away.
At that time the town had a population of 44,400 inhabitants. It was the home of the Algerian Division of the Lettrist International (LI), some of whom died in the earthquake. Mohamed Dahou survived and went on to become involved in the Situationist International. The LI described the town as "the most lettrist city in the world"
Chlef
In 1962 the city was renamed Al-Asnam, and then Chlef in 1980, derived from the name of the longest river in Algeria.
Amongst the towns of Chlef are: El-Karimia, Chlef, Oued Fodda, Beni-Bou-Atab, Boukadir, Oum-Drou, Ouled Abass, Beni-Rached, Taougrite, Aïn-Mran, Sobha, Tenes, Dhahra and others.
External links
- (French) A website about colonial Chlef
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Coordinates: 36°09′59″N 1°20′01″E / 36.1663328°N 1.3335514°E
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