Bethioua (), formerly Arsenaria, Portus Magnus, Arzew (, ), Vieil Arzew ("Old Arzew"), and Saint Leu, is a port town and district near

Arzew Arzew or Arzeu (, ) is a seaport, port city in Algeria, 25 miles (40 km) from Oran. It is the capital of Arzew District, Oran Province. History Antiquity Like the rest of the Maghreb, the site of modern-day Arzew was originally in ...

Oran Province Oran Province (, ) is a provinces of Algeria, province (''Wilayas of Algeria, wilayah'') in Algeria whose seat is the Oran, city of the same name. Geography It is located in the northwestern part of the country. Its population is 1,584,607 and i ...

in northwestern

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It has a gas port, petrochemical facilities and desalination plant.

History

Bethioua is located on the ruins of the ancient

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

, became after of the ancient Roman settlement of Arsenaria or Portus Magnus. The region itself belonged to the Battiwa (Ibeṭṭiwen), a group of Berber clans which arrived from the Rif mountains, mainly Ait Said and Temsaman tribe. They were composed of clans from Zegzawa (Izegzawen), the Ait Mait and their Maraboutic leader Sidi Amar Ben Ahmed whose mausoleum lies facing the sea. Originally settled in Mazagran near the city of Mostaganem, the Ibeṭṭiwen and Battiwa the bey of Mascara gave them coastal territory a little further west in 1784. Under French occupation, the Battiwa took refuge in Mazagran again. Most of them were given back their land by the authorities. Today only elders can still really speak the tribe language. When the Anglo-Americans invaded Algeria in November 1941 (

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

), the American troops who captured Oran landed at Beach Z, which was the strip of coastline between

and Bethioua.

References

Bibliography

Metzmacher, M. (1979 a). Les oiseaux de la Macta et de sa région (Algérie) : Non passereaux. ''Aves'', 3-4 : 89–123.
Populated places in Oran Province Mediterranean port cities and towns in Algeria {{Oran-geo-stub