Bethioua

Béthioua (Arabic بطيوة, formerly Arzew, then called under French colonial rule Vieil Arzew Saint- Leu) is a city in the province of Oran in the northwest of Algeria. It has gas pipelines, petrochemical plants and desalination plants.

The city of Arzew was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Portus Magnus. Vieil Arzew existed until July 1834 from several hundred dilapidated houses, 400 inhabitants were descended from Berbers from Morocco. When annäherten the French town, Abd el-Kader took it and drove away the inhabitants into the interior. In 1846, the French founded in Vieil Arzew a settlement and named it Saint -Leu.

During World War II landed at the British- American invasion of French North Africa in November 1942 ( Operation Torch ) American troops who took Oran, to " Z Beach ", the coastal strip between Arzew and Saint -Leu.

Since the independence of Algeria in 1962, bears the name of Saint -Leu Béthioua.