Maghnia () (formerly Marnia) is a town in Tlemcen Province, northwestern

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. It is the second most populated town in Tlemcen Province, after

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...

. The current population is over 200,000.

History

Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric people in the area, who were displaced by the

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

. The remnants of burned Ancient Roman military posts were discovered by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

army in 1836, when they entered the area; these posts were occupied, according to the inscriptions, by the ''numerus Severianus Alexandrinus Syrorum'', a unit of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n archers. As such, it was the westernmost outpost of

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for " Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in what is now Algeria in the Maghreb. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had been part of the King ...

. Due to its convenient geographical location—within the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

Wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

Tafna on the route to Fes from

, Maghnia later served as a

marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

for regional

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

Notable people

* Ahmed ben Bella, the first President of independent Algeria, was born in Maghnia in 1916. *

Sid Ahmed Ghozali Sid Ahmed Ghozali ( ar, سيد أحمد غزالي) (born 31 March 1937 in Maghnia, Algeria) is an Algerian politician who was the Prime Minister of Algeria from 1991 to 1992. Early life He was a member of the National Liberation Front party an ...

, politician *

Emma Vecla Emma Vecla (most widely used stage name), birth name Ernestine Louise Telmat, alternate stage name Adrienne Telma, (1877–1972) was a French operatic soprano who was born in Maghnia, Algeria. She made her début at the Opéra-Comique in 1898 as ...

(1877–1972), French operatic soprano * Mahboub Bachir, Moudjahid

References

Communes of Tlemcen Province Algeria–Morocco border crossings {{Tlemcen-geo-stub