On the site of the Roman Icosium, an unimportant place on the road to Tipasa and Cæsarea (Cherchell, p. [244]), Bologgîn ez-Ziri (p. [323]), about 940 (about the same date as the foundation of Miliana and Médéa) founded the new colony of Al-Jezaïr Beni Mezghanna, so called from the adjacent coast-islands (jezîra, pl. jezaïr) and from the Berber tribe of the Beni Mezghanna who dwelt in this region. It is recorded that in the 11th cent. the inhabitants of the new settlement used the old Roman baths, of which there is now no trace, for their amusements and an old Christian basilica for their worship. From that time the history of Al-Jezaïr is a blank down to the end of the 15th cent., when it began to serve the Moorish exiles from Spain (afterwards called Tagarins here) as a base of their retaliatory expeditions against Spain. In 1509 or 1510 the Spaniards, in the course of their victorious career, occupied the largest of the coast-islands, where they erected the fortress of El-Peñón, and conquered the Mitidja which had recently been colonized by the Arabian tribe of the Tsaliba. The little town, called Argel by the Spaniards, was inhabited by Mohammedans, who in 1516 summoned to their aid, from Djidjelli, Horuk (Arudj) Barbarossa, a Turkish pirate of Christian descent. Horuk complied with the request and established himself at Al-Jezaïr, where, after repelling a Spanish expedition under Diego de Vera (1516), he erected the Jenina as his residence and the Kasba as his citadel.
Having fallen in a battle with the Spaniards near Tlemcen (p. [187]), Horuk was succeeded by his brother Kheireddin Barbarossa (1518–36), who became the real founder of the new barbaresco or piratical state. As a vassal of the sultan of Turkey he extended his sway over the greater part of Algeria. He defeated Hugo de Moncada, the Spanish viceroy, in 1519, and in 1530, after having stormed the fortress of Peñón, he constructed the Jetée de Kheireddin with its materials and with others from Rusguniæ (p. [248]) and Tipasa, thus creating the first harbour of Algiers. Thenceforwards for three centuries the ‘Algerian pirates’ were the terror of the seas, to whom, for protection of their trade, England, Holland, the Hanseatic towns, and other maritime countries ignominiously consented to pay tribute. Fourteen times the European powers, from the time of the fruitless campaign of Charles V. in 1541 to the British expedition of 1824, had besieged and bombarded Algiers in vain. The beys (or, after 1600, deys) had succeeded in maintaining their position, and in 1627 had even carried their piratical expeditions as far as Iceland. It was not till 1830 that these barbarous piracies were put a stop to by the French, and that the way was thus paved for conquest of the whole of Algeria.
The most stirring events in the recent history of Algeria were the conquest of Constantine (1837), the protracted struggles against Abd el-Kâder (1839–47), the defeat of his Moroccan allies on the Oued Isly (1844), the subjection of Great Kabylia (1856–7), the revolts of the natives in 1871–2, the rising of Bou-Amama in S. Oran (1881), the occupation of the Sahara as far as Tidikelt and the Tuat oases (1892–1901), and lastly the French advance towards Morocco (comp. p. [96]).
The Algiers of the Turkish period consisted solely of the triangular quarter on the slope of the Kasba Hill, between the old landward gates, Bab Azoun on the S. and Bab el-Oued on the N., with the Sûk or Market Street (now Rue Bab-Azoun and Rue Bab el-Oued) as its nucleus. Between these two gates ran the old Turkish wall, on whose site lie the Boul. Gambetta (Pl. B, C, 3), on the S., and the Boul. Valée (Pl. C, 2), on the N. The French ramparts constructed in 1845 extended the town as far as the present Boul. Laferrière (Pl. C, 4, 5) to the S., and to the Boul. du Général Farre to the N. (Pl. C, 1). Since the demolition of these fortifications in 1904 the industrial suburbs on the coast and the lofty villa-suburbs, Quartier d’Isly (Pl. B, 4, 5), Télemly (Pl. A, 5, 6), and Mustapha-Supérieur (Pl. A, 7, 8), which last is little frequented except in winter, have all been brought within the precincts of the town.
a. Lower Quarter of the Old Town.
The chief business parts of the town are the arcades, with their numerous shops, in the Rue Bab-Azoun (Pl. C, 2, 3) and Rue Bab el-Oued (Pl. C, 2; p. [224]), the Place du Gouvernement (Pl. C, 2; p. [223]), the focus of all the tramways, and above all the spacious Place de la République (Pl. C, 3), with the gardens of Square Bresson (band, see p. [220]), adorned with bamboos and magnolias, the Théâtre Municipal (p. [220]), and the most showy cafés. Between these two places and the sea, at a height of 65 ft. above the quay and its warehouses, run the uniform rows of houses of the Boulevard de France (Pl. D, 2; p. [223]), the Boulevard de la République, completed in 1866, and the Boulevard Carnot (Pl. C, 3, 4), with the new Préfecture (Pl. 23; C, 4) in the Moorish style (1910). These streets, together 1 M. long, form a coast-promenade, whence in clear weather we enjoy a splendid *View of the blue bay, the Atlas Mts. of Blida, and the distant Jurjura chain (p. [258]). In stormy weather, however, the Rampe de l’Amirauté (Pl. D, 2; p. [223]) and the Boul. Amiral Pierre (Pl. C, D, 1, 2; p. [224]) attract many walkers.
The sole Harbour, prior to the French period, was the Ancien Port, or Darse de l’Amirauté (Pl. D, 2), constructed by Kheireddin Barbarossa, once a nest of piratical vessels, and now a torpedo-boat station and anchorage for yachts and fishing-boats. The new Port de Commerce and Port Militaire, 213 acres in area, with the Quai de la Marine, which was extended in 1908, have been formed since 1848 at a cost of 46 million francs. They are protected by the wave-beaten Jetée du Nord, 984 yds. long, the prolongation of the old Jetée of Kheireddin (comp. p. [221]), and by the Jetée du Sud, 1350 yds. in length. The entrance is 268 yds. in breadth. A second commercial harbour, the Arrière-Port (Pl. C, D, 5, 6), was begun in 1898, but is still uncompleted.
The harbour is approached by the Rampes Magenta, descending from Boul. Carnot to the principal railway-station (p. [217]), by the Rampes Chasseloup-Laubat, connecting the Boul. de la République with the Douane (Pl. D, 3) and with the warehouses and offices of the French steamboat-companies, and by the Rampe de l’Amirauté (Pl. D, 2), on the old Jetée of Kheireddin. This jetty or quay, the oldest of all, connects the old Porte de France on the mainland (once the Turkish sea-gate) with what was once the island of Peñón (p. [221]), now the Presqu’île de l’Amirauté. Walkers may descend also by the Escaliers du Bastion Central, opposite the Square Bresson (p. [222]), or from the Place du Gouvernement by the Escaliers de la Pêcherie, past the mosque of that name and the Fish Market, which is worth seeing in the early morning.
On the Quai du Nord, between the approach to the fish-market and the old Porte de France, a pretty Turkish Fountain has been preserved. Adjoining the neo-Moorish Palais de l’Amirauté (Pl. D, 2) is the Turkish Gate, with two heraldic animals (panthers?), an interesting relic of the Bordj Ras el-Moul which was burned down in 1816. We notice also several muzzle-loading guns built into the wall, now serving as bulkheads or as posts for mooring vessels. Visitors are not admitted to the Phare (Pl. D, 2; lighthouse), a relic of the Turkish fort erected in 1544 on the site of the Spanish castle of Peñón, nor to the small Station Zoologique (Pl. D, 2).
We now follow the Boul. de France, past the handsome Palais Consulaire (Pl. 19, D 2; chamber of commerce, exchange, etc.), to the—