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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area. With more than 900,000,000 people (as of 2005) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. There are 46 countries including Madagascar, and 53 including all the island groups. |
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Tiaret (also called Tahert or Tihert, the Berber for "station") is the name of a large Algerian town, one that gives its name to the wider farming region of 'Wilaya de Tiaret' province in central Algeria. Both the town and region lie south-west of the capital of Algiers, in the Tell Atlas, and about 150 km (95 miles) from the sea coast.
History
The province has been inhabited since ancient times, and there are numerous megalithic monuments.
The site of the town was originally a Roman station, Tingurtia.
The Jedars tombs near Tahert are evidence that the province was inhabited, from at least the 5th Century, by a tribe or tribes that could build in stone.
Tahert grew up as a site under the domination of petty Berber tribal kingdoms; the first of these being the Rustamids between 761 and 909 when Tahert served as the capital of the area. However, this capital may have been 10 km (6 or 7 miles) west of the present-day Tahert. It was first founded by Abd al-Rahman. Tahert was said to be relatively free-thinking and democratic, being a centre for scholarship that permitted a wide range of sects and movements - notably the Mu'tazilites - which came to trouble Sunni and Shiite followers alike. There were said to be Jews living in the area, until at least the 900s; including the scholar and doctor Judah ibn Quraysh who became the doctor to the emir of Fes.
Tahert occupies a strategic mountain pass at 3552 feet, and was thus a key to dominating the central Maghrib. Later, from the start of the 8th century, it was the key northern terminus of the West African slave-trading route. As such, it offered a lucrative income from taxes on the trade, and was a desirable prize.
From the year 911 Tahert was fought over by a number of tribes, being first captured by Massala ibn Habbus of the Miknasas in the year 911, in alliance with the Fatimids. Finally, in 933, it was in the hands of the Fatimids only. After 933 Tahert ceased to be the capital of a separate state. Most of the population was banished to Wargala and then escaped to the inhospitable M'Zab Valley. From 933 Tahert attracted many Khariji Muslim settlers from Iraq.
From 933 it was administered as part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, and in the 16th century fell to the Turks. In 1843 it fell to the French, after the French defeated Emir Abelkader. The modern town of Tahert is essentially French-built, around a French redoubt of 1845. The new town attracted many farmers and settlers from France, and the area flourished. A 200 km (122 mile) narrow gauge railway arrived in 1889, connecting the town to Mostaganem - today, this rail line is defunct.
In 1962, Algeria regained its independence after the bloody Algerian War of Independence. Most pied-noirs (French settlers and Jews) left the same year.
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