Tlemcen

Tlemcen, also spelled (after 1981) Tilimsen, town, northwestern Algeria, near the border with Morocco. Tlemcen is backed by the cliffs of the well-watered Tlemcen Mountains and overlooks the fertile Hennaya and Maghnia plains. Lying at an elevation of 2,648 feet (807 metres), Tlemcen is located sufficiently inland to avoid the humidity of the Mediterranean Sea coast but is near enough to receive cooling sea breezes in summer. The resulting temperate climate favoured Tlemcen’s development and explains its historical importance.

The earliest settlement on the site was called Pomaria (“Orchards”) by the Romans in the 4th century because of the local profusion of orchards and gardens. The town was later renamed Agadir (“Escarpment”) by the Berbers (Amazigh). This eventually merged with the neighbouring Almoravid military settlement of Tagrart, which was founded in the 11th century. The union evolved in the 13th century as the town of Tlemcen (from the Berber tilmisane [“springs”] for the local perennial springs). Tlemcen was the capital of the ʿAbd al-Wādid kingdom of Tilimsan from the 13th to the 15th century. It became a religious and cultural centre of Islam as well as a focal point of trading routes along coastal northern Africa. Tlemcen was coveted by the neighbouring Marīnid kingdom of Fès (Fez), Morocco, to the west, however, and the Marīnids established the fortified camp of Mansoura 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Tlemcen as a base from which to besiege the town. Tlemcen was periodically besieged by the Marīnids throughout the 14th century, but during times of truce the rulers of the town worked on its architectural adornment and developed its religious and educational institutions and its commerce and industry. The city declined at the end of the 14th century, and it fell to the Algerian Turks in 1559. In 1842 it was secured by the French, who surrounded it with ramparts. Tlemcen served as a headquarters for the Algerian nationalist leader Ahmed Ben Bella in 1962.

Tlemcen has more buildings dating from the 12th to the 15th century than any other town in Algeria. With the exception of the Great Mosque built by the Almoravids in the 12th century, most of the city’s medieval buildings strongly reflect the influence of Moorish (Muslim) Spain. The Mosque of Sīdí bel Ḥassan (1296, now a museum), the Méchouar, or citadel (1145, now a military hospital and barracks), the Sahrij, or Great Basin (a 14th-century reservoir, now dry), and the Grotto of Rabbi Ephraim ben Israel Ankawa (15th century) are notable landmarks. Tlemcen’s winding, narrow, arched streets are crowded with shops, cafés, and mosques. The ruins of the Marīnid city of Mansoura to the west has notable examples of Hispano-Moorish art.

Tlemcen supports a bustling trade in agricultural products and textile (including silk), leather, and metal handicrafts and has some light industrial development. The population is sharply divided between the Hadars (the middle class, descended from the Moors) and the Koulouglis (descendants of Turks and Arab women), each living within its own sector. Pop. (2008) 173,532.