Located roughly 400 feet (122 m) above sea level, the Casbah today crowns the steep hill behind the modern town (which was built at sea level). The Casbah (Kasbah or Qasbah, 'fortress'), the triangle-shaped core of the city, was carved into the hills facing the Mediterranean by the Deys. The city's public spaces over this period of development included religious schools, public fountains and hammams (baths). The most elaborately designed mosque of the Algerian Ottoman period was the al-Sayyida Mosque (18th century). The Friday mosques were mostly located in the lower section of the city and included the 11th century al-Kabir, the 17th century Katshawa, the Ali Bichnin and the al-Jadid mosques. Prior to the French conquest, Algiers boasted a total of one dozen Friday mosques (jami masjids) and other smaller masjids dedicated as neighborhood prayer spaces. The lower city (later known as the Marine Quarter) developed into the administrative, military and commercial precinct, while the upper city comprised fifty small neighborhoods, each with a community falling under the jurisdiction of religious chiefs and qadis (judges). The road connecting Bab el-Oued and Bab Azzon along the north-south axis separates the city into two zones: the upper city (al-Gabal) or the mountain and the lower city (al-Wata) or the plains. The streets leading from these gates were directed towards the Katshawa Mosque (built 1612), which was transformed into the Cathedral of St. The walls covered a perimeter of 3,100 m and included five gates (Bab Azzon, Bab al-Jadid, Bab al-Bahr, Bab Jazira and Bab el-Oued) located respectively on the southern, southwestern, sea front, harbor entry and northern precincts of the settlement. The Ottomans erected walls to enclose the city from all sides. Following Barbarossa, Algiers was ruled by the Deys (as the 30 successive Ottoman Algerian corsair leaders are known) until 1930. Due to Barbarossa's initial role and interest in Algiers, along with his influence as the mastermind of Mediterranean piracy, the city of Algiers would remain a frequent target of the Barbary pirates up until the French conquest. Under the authority of Suleyman the Magnificent, the Turkish corsair Barbarossa (Khayr al-Din) seized Algiers in 1529, expelled the Spaniards and effectively placed Algiers under the authority of the Ottoman sultanate. Later, as the scope of the Inquisition expanded, some converted Muslims and Jews were also forcibly expelled from the Iberian peninsula.īy the 1390s, piracy on the coastal regions of North Africa was on the rise, spurred in part by anti-Christian sentiment. During the "Reconquista," those Muslims and Jews who refused conversion were expelled from to North Africa by the Spanish Catholic monarchs. The Reconquista is historically defined as the 800-year period between 692-1492 CE, when the Christian-controlled regions of Spain fought and re-conquered Muslim kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula it was also coincident with the Crusades and the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition. During this time, medieval Algiers' Muslim population increased due to the influx of refugees fleeing from Spain during the 16th century Reconquista.
The city was destroyed by the Vandals (a Germanic people who maintained a kingdom in North Africa from 429-534 CE) during the 5th century, but was subsequently revived during the 10th century Berber period of the Arab Zirid dynasty.įrom the beginning of the 11th century until the Ottoman period, Algiers was occupied by Arab dynasties as a minor port. The ancient city of Algiers was founded by the Phoenicians as a North African colony, and was known to the Carthaginians and Romans as the city of Icosium.
0 kommentar(er)
