Khenchela ancient Mascula ( ar, خنشلة) is the capital city of the administrative
Khenchela Province (''
Wilaya
A wilayah ( ar, وَلاية, wālāya or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu and fa, ولایت, ''velâyat''; tr, vilayet) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes fr ...
''), number 40, in the north east of
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
. Situated in the
Aures Mountains, 1200 m above sea level. The city is mainly populated by
Berber Chaouis.
Geography
Climate
Located in the
Aurès Mountains
The Aures Mountains ( ar, جبال الأوراس) are an eastern prolongation of the Atlas Mountain System that lies to the east of the Saharan Atlas in northeastern Algeria and northwestern Tunisia, North Africa. The mountain range gives its n ...
(part of the
Atlas Mountains
The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. It separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range. It stretches around through ...
), at above sea level, Khenchela has
warm-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(
Köppen climate classification ''Csb''), with an average annual precipitation of . Summers are warm and dry and winters are chilly and wetter, with the possibility of snowfall.
This is one of the coldest cities in Algeria.
History
Queen Kahina led a decades long war against the Islamic conquest in the 7th century, and she built a castle here.
During the
Barbary period there were many inter town conflict over water resources.
The French army reached Khenchela in 1850 after heavy fighting and more strenuous resistance and set up a military administration. Organization of work of the city were undertaken. The first French settlers were allowed from 1878. Farms were built and they made plantations. In doing so, the farmers cleared a path for vegetation at the valley of Wadi Boughegal which in turn gave birth to natural grasslands, allowing cattle breeding and feeding the population with fresh dairy products (i.e. milk, butter, cheese).
In October 1905, the inauguration of the line of Railway Ain Beida in Khenchela meter gauge will provide a daily service with the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
. Military administration lasted until 1912.
In 1982, a mass grave containing more than 1200 corpses from the
war of Algeria is discovered. It would be the largest ever discovered in Algeria. The authorities and the Algerian press attribute it to the French army although this is disputed (these victims may have been French
harkis).
A propos de l’énigme de Khenchela (1982-....) (2009) [archive], Guy Pervillé, guy.perville.free.fr, 2 février 2009
Since then, the population has grown particularly fast: 12 000 inhabitants in 1954, 28,000 in 1962, 70,000 in 1987 and 87,196 in 2002. This increase is partly explained by population displacement during the war in Algeria, the area being a refuge for resistance fighters. This has posed and continues to pose planning problems (housing, water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
, sewer, electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
).
References
{{Authority control
Chaoui people
Communes of Khenchela Province
Cities in Algeria
Province seats of Algeria
Khenchela Province