About the Algiers Casbah
 |
| Casbah means a fortified place in Arabic |
Casbah from the Arabic word
for a fortified place were commonly built across North Africa. A Casbah is a
large multi-building fort with high walls usually made without windows built on
high ground.
The Casbah was designed to
provide protection during a battle with twisting alleys that wind between
dilapidated mud-brick and stucco houses. In Algeria, the Casbah is both the fortress
and the old city itself.
When people speak of the
Casbah, they are talking about the cramped living quarters on the hillside
between the fort and the sea on the Mediterranean coast. The Islamic retreat
Casbah of Algeria was founded on the ruins of an ancient Hebrew civilization
trading post named Ikosim.
In the 10th century a
Berber man named Buluggin bin Ziri called the new city El Djazair, which means
"the islands" in Arabic. From El Djazair derived the name Algiers and
later Algeria. The Casbah’s nickname is La Blanche, meaning the white one.
In 1516, the three
Barbarossa brothers ruthlessly overtook the Casbah. Having been invited to
Algiers by the high ranking official Selim al-Toumi at-Thabiti to help with the
Spanish, the Barbary pirate Aruj al-Din Barbarossa captures the city instead,
and orders Selim's killed.
Algiers is attacked from 1520-1524 is attacked and
the leader of the Barbary pirates, Khayr al-Din Barbarossa, retreats to Jijelli in Algeria.
Barbarossa re-conquers
Algiers in 1525 and retains the post until his death. Algiers Casbah eventually
became a stronghold of Barbary pirates who plundered ships and towns throughout
the Mediterranean, along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard, to South America, and
even all the way to Iceland.
