الجزاﺌر AL-ǦAZĀʾIR	ALGERIA
wilāya: الجزاﺌر	province: Algiers

map →

Algiers (Arabic: الجزاﺌر, DIN 31635: al-Ǧazāʾir) is the capital and largest city of Algeria and the Maghreb. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. A recent UN estimate of the urban agglomeration (metropolitan area) puts the population at 3,354,000 as of 2007. The city name is derived from the Arabic word الجزاﺌر (al-Ǧazāʾir), which translates as "the islands", referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Ǧazāʾir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزاﺌر بني مازغان (ǧazāʾir banī mazġannā), "the islands of (the tribe) Bani Mazghanna", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yāqūt al-Hamawi ar-Rūmī.
[Text adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers]

The former Palais consulaire (consular palace) [centre] was built in 1893 by the French architect Henri Petit in neoclassical style. It is now used by the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie, CACI).
[http://www.travel-images.com/photo-algeria492.html, http://diaressaada.alger.free.fr/i2-mes_voyages_05_07/13-front_de_mer/front-de-mer.html]

The Ǧāmʿ al-ǧadīd (الجامع الجديد) (New Mosque) [left] was built in 1660 in Ottoman style.
[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaa_al-Jdid]

The Ǧāmʿ al-kebīr (الجامع الكبير) (Great Mosque) [right] was built in 1097 and is one of the few remaining examples of Almoravid architecture. Its minaret dates from 1324. The gallery at the outside of the mosque was built in 1840.
[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Mosquée_d'Alger, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Algiers]