Algeria / Tlemcen / History

One of Algeria's great Islamic cities which flowered as an Arab sultanate from 1282 until 1553 when it became part of the Ottoman Empire.

There is evidence of prehistoric habitation by cave dwellers in the area of Tlemcen. There are also remains of a Roman military encampment. The first Arab-Islamic settlement on the site was established in the 8th century by Idris I and named Agadir, which meant fortress.

The great Almoravid commander Youssef bin Tashfin made the town his capital in the 11th century and renamed it Tlemcen, building the city's Grand Mosque. Tlemcen flourished as the capital of central Magreb under the rule of the Zianid dynasty which dominated trans-Saharan trade.

Toward the end of the 13th century the Merinids of Fez waged war against the Zianids for domination of the Magreb and laid siege to Tlemcen in 1299, actually constructing the city of Mansourah outside the walls of the city. The siege lasted until 1307 when the Merinid commander was assassinated and the Merinids withdrew from Mansourah.

The struggle between the Zianids and Merinids continued for decades and Tlemcen was besieged again in 1337 and 1359 until finally Tlemcen fell and the Merinids returned to rule from Mansourah. The Zianid dynasty steadily declined during the 15th century, falling under Spanish influence and finally succumbing to Ottoman rule.

Throughout this period Tlemcen was alternately dominated by the Merinids of Fez and Hafsids of Tunis.

In 1555 Tlemcen was taken over by the Ottomans and suffered a period of neglect. The French invasion of Tlemcen in 1830 divided the city into two camps, the pro-French Kouloughlis, the mixed-race descendants of Turkish-Arab intermarriages; and the Berber and Arab partisans of Emir Abdel Kadir.

The Tlemcenis managed to fend off French occupation for over a decade until the city fell in 1842, but by then Tlemcen had been infused with the spirit of Algerian nationalism.

One of the city's sons, Ahmad Messali Hadj founded Algeria's first independence movement in 1924, becoming the leader of the MTLD (Mouvement pour le'Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques) which produced many Algerian revolutionary leaders.