The Rhumel River (also Rhummel, Rummel, El-Kebîrl; Arabic: وادي الرمال) is the largest river in the

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...

region of Algeria.

Geography

The source of the Rhumel river is in the Ferdjioua (Mila) mountains. From there it meanders through the

plateau, then narrows considerably north of Aïn Smara where it forms an almost complete oxbow before infiltrating, in a SW/NE orientation, the Djebel El Hadjar limestone tables and the Aïn El Bey plateau. Les gorges du Rhumel et le pont El Kantara

Les gorges du Rhumel et le pont El Kantara

From here, it flows into a narrow ravine near

Boussouf Abdelhafid Boussouf ( ar, عبد الحفيظ بوصوف; 17 August 1926, Mila, Algeria – 31 December 1980 Paris, France) was an Algerian nationalist and a leader of the National Liberation Front (Algeria), Front de libération nationale (FLN) ...

, goes through several curves, and becomes very narrow again at a place called "the Roman arches". This leads to the entrance to the Kheneg gorges, whose huge eastern pillar, called "Tiddis mountain", is the site of Tiddis a significant

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

city that was explored by the archaeologist

André Berthier André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...

. Not far away is the village of Messaoud Boudjriou (previously Aïn-Kerma) and its old

antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient time ...

mine.

The lower Rhumel (or Oued-el-Kebir) passes through deep gorges in the Numidian mountains and empties into the sea east of the

Gulf of Jijel A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

Rhumel canyon, north side, Constantine, Algeria

Tributaries

The main tributary of the Rhumel is the Oued-Boumerzoug which rises in the region of

Aïn M'lila Aïn M'lila ( ar, عين مليلة, ''Ayn Malīlah''; which means "the white source", the root ''m-l-l'' being of Berber origin) is a town and Communes of Algeria, commune in Oum El Bouaghi Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has ...

. Its waters are widely used for irrigation, and the important spa of

Ain Fesguia Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

is located towards the head of the valley. This tributary supplies drinking water to the city of Constantine, which is highly prone to flooding being situated at the confluence of the Boumerzoug and the Rhumel. Another tributary is the

Oued Dekri 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 onl ...

, near the town of

Chelghoum Laïd Chelghoum Laïd is a city in Chelghoum Laïd District, Mila Province, Algeria. In 2008 it had a population of 54,495.populsta ...

50 km southwest of Constantine.

History

In ancient times, the river was called Ampsaga.

Geography

Tributaries

History

References

Further reading