Annaba

Annaba was founded by Arab soldiers in the 7th century near the ruins of the ancient city of Hippo , built by the Romans in the 1st century on the site of the ancient Phoenician colony from the time of Carthage , which existed from the 9th century BC. e.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city ​​buildings were occupied by the Germans - the Vandals . In 534, the city was captured by Byzantium (East Roman Empire). In 647, the city was captured by Arabs ; an intensive Islamization of the local population began.

Since the XI century - one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean . In 1033, the Sidi Bou Merouan Mosque was built using antique columns from the buildings of the city of Hippo; the old part of the city with a fortress ( Kasbah ), where pirates took refuge, was preserved ^[4] . Since the end of the Middle Ages, interest in the city and fortresses from the European powers - Spain, Portugal - has been growing. France annexed the city and officially controlled it in 1830-1962.

The overwhelming majority of the population (99.9%) of the city are Arabs - Sunni Muslims . In the late XIX - early XX centuries, a significant part of the city's population in the then French Algeria were quite influential culturally and economically non-Muslim groups of French-speaking Europeans and Jews, called Franco-Algerians (in French pye noir). Having once accounted for up to 15% of the country's population and 40.5% of the city’s population in 1958 , the majority of French-Algerians, as well as of their sympathized foreign Muslims, Kharki, were forced to leave the city in large numbers after the Revolutionary War, having repatriated mainly to France, Israel, the USA, and Spain. Muslim fellahs from neighboring villages began to move to the city en masse, which led to the rapid growth of its population.

• 110 000 inhabitants (1958) of which 40.5% (44.5 thousand) are French-Algerian and 59.1% Muslim Muslim Arabs
• 168 800 inhabitants. (1966).
• 348,000 inhabitants (1998)
• 257 359 inhabitants (2008)

Annaba is a major industrial transport center and port of Algeria. In 1965, the port's cargo turnover reached 3.1 million tons, including export of 2.8 million tons. A junction of highways and railways. In 1968 , with the assistance of the USSR, the Al-Hajar metallurgical complex was built. There are enterprises of metalworking, aluminum, food flavoring, chemical, textile industries. The construction of new areas with modern buildings is ongoing. There are theaters and stadiums. Annaba University has over 40 thousand students. Annaba is a large railway station, a junction of highways, the seaport specializes in the export of iron ore, phosphates , tobacco, cork and citrus . Annaba is connected by a network of railways and highways with both the capital and many wilayas ( provinces ). Annaba industrial zone begins 4 km from the city center. Annaba International Airport serves the city's air traffic.

• Bona // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Annaba - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .