Béjaïa

Province

Bejaia or Vgaiet (also: Béjaïa; German Budschaja; French Bougie, Bugia it; Arab بجاية, Bidschāya, Kabyle Vgaiet. ) Is a port city on the Mediterranean in the eponymous province in the northeast of Algeria.

It is located about 200 km east of the capital, Algiers, on the western shore of the bay of the same name.

The city of Bejaia is considered the capital of the Lesser Kabylia, in which it frequently came in recently to clashes between the Berber-speaking population and the Algerian central government, where there were many deaths. Bejaia is about the tenth largest city of Algeria and has about 115,000 inhabitants. It has a university ( Université de Béjaia ).

The city was also famous because Leonardo Fibonacci there became acquainted with Arabic numbers and they later promoted its spread in Europe.

History

The city was founded by the Carthaginians developed during the time of the Roman Empire under the name Saldae or Civitas Salditana an important military and trading base. In the 5th century AD, it was occupied and fortified by the Vandal king Genseric. It was later occupied by Berbers. The city was in 1062 the seat of the ruling house of the Berber and remained one of the most important port cities of North Africa for many years. With the alternating occupation of the territory by the Spaniards and Turks the city's importance declined more and more, until finally at the beginning of the 19th century little more than ruins remained. After the capture by the French in 1833, the city, however, gained back some of their former prosperity. The port was expanded and modernized, the city was also by a branch line of the railway line Tunis - connected Oran. Since 1963, the city takes its present name before it was called Bougie.

Economy

The main trading goods are wine, mineral resources, animal skins and oils.

Former partner city

In 1956, a twinning between Bejaia and Bad Homburg vor der Höhe was agreed. It was the only city partnership with Algeria and only one of six between Germany and Africa. With the seizure of Ben Bella in 1963 this twinning was terminated by the Algerian side. Attempting reactivation of the partnership by the mayor Bejaias in 1975 failed. The town is twinned with Brest, France.