The city of Béjaïa (Berber, Bgayet, Vgaïth or Béth, written in Tifinagh letter: Vgayeth Amazigh. png and in French: Béjaïa), also called: Saldi, Nasiriyah, and Bougie, is an Algerian city located on the Mediterranean coastline and its shoreline overlooking a beautiful bay And tourist services flourish in marine cities, where swimming pools, beaches, clean sand, and restaurants Bejaia is one of the most important tourist areas of Algeria because of the picturesque places that are found there, such as the top of Qouraya, Cap Carbone, top of the monkeys, casbah of the city of Bejaia, Djerba island in Polimat on the west coast.
It is also one of the most important Algerian oil ports, where pipelines leave the wells of Hassi Messaoud in the extreme south and are exported to all regions of the world. It is also an industrial and commercial city as it is known for its traditional crafts as well as modern industries such as medicines, detergents, and pesticides.
Bejaia is a historical city founded by Nasser bin Alnas bin Hammad bin Ziri, one of the kings of Bani Hammad in Algeria in the second half. of the fifth century AH, so it is also called Nasiriyah after him. The city was also known as Saldai and Buji, and it was there that Al-Nasir built the Pearl Palace, the most admired palaces in the world at that time, and he transferred people there, and his reign there was characterized by security and stability.
geography
Bejaia stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the east of Algeria and is surrounded on land by the Babur Mountains to the east and the Djurdjura Mountains to the west, which meet in the Biban Mountains to the southeast and overlook the plains, Madjana and Bordj Bouarrej in the Soumam valley, where its meanders separate the Djurdjura and Biban mountains and open south to the town of Igram in the cultivated plain rich in olive trees, fruit trees, vines, and other crops.
Goraya overlooks the city of Bejaia.
And when you climb its mountains leading to the sanctuary, you can admire the wonderful city of Bejaia and see the mist disappearing on the horizon on the edges of the high mountain and the sea connected to the sky, which gives a magnificent view.
At the entrance to the Gulf of Bejaia, we see the density of vegetation at the roadside in complete chaos of wild plants, ivy, thorny vines, blackberries, and on the steep slopes ash, pine, oak, cork and eucalyptus and large shrubs emerging in the middle of the water that often follows clear paths of coolness. The canyons give the place splendor and wonder by their beauty, which is characterized by the roughness of the rocks clinging to the edge of the mountains with the strong climb on both sides of the path in the depths of the abyss of the sea.
The bay is a refuge for ships and fishing boats that have few anchorage areas on the Mediterranean coast. For these reasons, the Phoenicians chose this place and made it one of its many colonies, and just as the Phoenicians chose Nasser bin Hammad (Bani Hammad) Bejaia to build the capital of his state.
History of the city
Bejaia is the name Khaled in the history of the Maghreb in general, and Algeria in particular, where Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines resided for ages deep in the past, and Muslims came to know it when it became the capital of the Hammadid state, one of the main influential Islamic countries that dominated North Africa for a while.
Under the Hammadids, Bejaia enjoyed a wide reputation and fame, which is derived from its various cultural institutes, its popular trade on the African coast, and its hosting of fugitives from the Inquisition in Andalusia, preserving the region's Islamic civilization and identity. The periods of cultural prosperity and intellectual renewal that Bejaia has witnessed over many centuries have had a significant impact on its becoming a Mecca for scholars and seekers of knowledge. It graduated scientists and gave birth to thinkers and creators, men and women, and did not lose this fame and role until the hands of the colonizers spread over it, ruining it and destroying its prosperous past.
Castle of Bani Hammad
The city of Bejaia is the second capital of the state of Bani Hammad, as for their first capital, it was the city of the citadel known as "Castle of Bani Hammad", which was drawn by Prince Hammad bin Ziri bin Munad bin Belkin, in the year 398 AH / 1007 - 1008 AD, to announce the creation of the Hammadid state as an independent state. About the state of Bani Ziri, which the emirate was in charge of at the time, Badis bin Abi Al-Mansur bin Ziri, who was the nephew of Hammad.
The citadel of Bani Hammad, located at the northern border of the "Hodna" plains, is distinguished by its important strategic location. It is protected to the north by Mount Taqrust, which rises to 1418 meters, and to the west by Mount Qurain. (1,190 meters) and surrounded by a valley to the east, in the form of its strait, a natural enclosure of the city. As for the south, the only road leading to the castle is a winding turn that follows the Wadi Faraj. Therefore, Ibn al-Atheer was right when he described it as the best and highest of the castles, and there is no tramway on top of a high mountain, which the party can hardly reach for its height.
Ibn Khaldun spoke in his history about the stages of its development, pointing out that Hammad completed its construction and Egyptianization at the head of the fourth century, and built its structures and walls, and increased in their mosques and hotels, and that Al-Nasir Ibn Alnas built the miraculous and elegant buildings, and that Al-Mansur built there the King's Palace, Al-Manar Al-Kawkab and the Palace of Peace.
The author of the Book of Insight stated that the Bani Hammad had great buildings in the citadel and impregnable, well-built, high-stage palaces. The citadel was famous for its agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, and commercial activity. Al-Idrisi, the geographer, described its people as eternally full, because of their wealth of grain. Ibn Khaldun summarized what the citadel was famous for in a few words. Ibn Khaldun said: Far are the students of science and craftsmen, because of the hypocrisy of the markets of knowledge, crafts, and trades that are there.
Foundation of the city of Bejaia
The castle of Bani Hammad remained the capital of the Hammadid state from the era of its founder Hammad, who died in the year 419 AH, until the era of Al-Nasir bin Alnas bin Hammad, passing through the eras of Chief bin Hammad who died in 446 AH and Mohsen bin Al-Qaid, which did not last more than nine months in the emirate, and the reign of Belkin bin Muhammad bin Hammad, which can be considered a transitional era between the reigns of "Mohsen" and "Al-Nasir"; And it was because of the internal events surrounding him, but Al-Nasser hated residing in the citadel, despite the fact that during his reign it became the capital of a powerful state, which included six states: Miliana, Hamza (now Bouira), Naqous, Constantine, Algeria, Marsa El-Dijn and Asher. He founded Bejaia and settled there in 461 AH.
In the dictionary of countries, Yaqout al-Hamawi wrote, describing Bejaia and the reason for its planning and the events involved: "A city on the sea coast between Ifriqiya and Morocco. In the past, it was only a port, then The city was built from the quilt of a high mountain, and in its qiblah there were mountains that were the base of the king of Bani Hammad. It is called "Nasiriya" also from the name of its builder, and it lacks all the countries, nothing belongs to it of the advantages, but it is the home of a kingdom, from where the ships go up and travel Three days between them and Mila.
The reason for his plot was that Tamim bin Al-Mu'izz bin Badis, the owner of Ifriqiya, sent to his cousin "Al-Nasir bin Alnas" "Muhammad bin Al-Baba'a" as a messenger to reform a corrupt situation. between them (i.e. Ali al-Nasir) with the construction of Bejaia, and he showed him the interest of that, and the benefit he would get from the industry there, and the plot of the enemy.
So he ordered to lay the foundations and build it with his army, and when Al-Nasir died in 481 AH, he continued his interest in building the city, especially his son Al-Mansur, who succeeded him in the emirate, and he was known for his penchant for building and conducting water to Riyadh and the orchards.
Famous people who lived in Bejaia
- Shuaib Abu Madyan: jurist, mystic and poet.
- Abd al-Haq al-Ishbili (known as Ibn al-Kharrat): Jurist and hadith.
- Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun: historian, judge, and politician.
- Leonardo Fibonacci: mathematician and author of the Fibonacci sequence.
- Manuel Teixeira Gómez: President of the Portuguese Republic (from 1923 to 1925).
- Ahmed Azqagh (1942-2003): writer and poet.
Comments
Post a Comment