Chlef

Province

Ech Cheliff (also Ech- Cheliff, El- Asnam, El Asnam, formerly French Orléansville; Arab الشلف ash- Schalif, DMG aš - Salif or الأصنام al - Asnam, DMG al - Asnam ) is a city in the north Algeria with about 235,000 (2005) inhabitants. It is located in the province of Chlef, whose capital it is.

The university town is the center of a rich region where intensive farming is done.

History

The Romans founded Ech Cheliff as a settlement called Castellum Tingitanum. In 1843 they discovered the French and made it into a military outpost. The name was Orléansville. An earthquake destroyed the city in 1954. Ten years later, in 1964, it was renamed in the wake of Algerian independence in El Asnam. About 5,000 people died in 1980 after a new earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale. A year later they renamed the city into Ech Cheliff to avoid the association with the natural disaster. It died in the earthquake of 1980 20.000 people. El Asnam was in the 1980 earthquake almost completely destroyed and rebuilt elsewhere, far from the old town center new again.

Twin Cities

  • Since 1983: Skopje, Macedonia

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the city

Chlef Province DIN 31635 France
4196
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