# Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tlemcen

See also Tlemcen on Wikipedia; Tlemcen in the 11th Edition; and the disclaimer.
TLEMCEN, or Tilimsán, a town of Algeria, chef-lieu of an arrondissement in the department of Oran, lies 86 miles S.W. of Oran, 2625 feet above the sea, on a terrace on the northern slope of a range of rocky hills (3430 feet). Its white minarets, towers, and battlements rise picturesquely above the surrounding verdure, which is nourished by numerous springs, and even in ancient days gave rise to the Roman name Pomaria. The various quarters are grouped around the principal mosque, the Jewish to the south west, the Moorish to the south-east, that of the merchants to the north-east, while the new town with the civic build ings lies to the north-west. Of the sixty-four mosques which existed at the period of the French conquest, several have disappeared. The great mosque has a minaret adorned with marble columns, and cased with mosaic of the most varied designs; a fountain of alabaster stands in the alabaster-paved inner court; and seventy-two columns support the pointed arches of the interior. The mosque of Abul Hasan, now used as a French and Arab school, has two series of arches, which rest on alabaster pillars, and the courts are ornamented by sculptures of great beauty and richness; the delicately carved cedar ceiling bears traces of polychromatic painting. The mosque of El-Halawi is specially interesting for the sculptured capitals of its magnificent alabaster columns. Tlemcen, besides numerous other mosques, possesses a fine modern Roman Catholic church in the Byzantine style and five syna gogues. The military authorities occupy the Mehuar or citadel, built in 1145, which separates the Jewish and Moorish quarters, and was formerly the palace of the rulers of Tlemcen. Only the mosque and the battlemented wall, flanked by two towers, remain of its former magnificence. Among the antiquities preserved in the museum is the epitaph of Boabdil, the last king of Granada, who died at Tlemcen in 1494. The vast basin under the old walls, now used as a reservoir (720 feet in length, 490 in width, and 10 in depth), was apparently made for naval exhibitions by the sovereigns of Tlemcen. The barracks of the Spahis occupy all that remains of Kissaria, a settlement of European merchants from Pisa, Genoa, Catalonia, and Provence. Leather, saddles, Turkish slippers, arms, and woollen goods are manufactured in Tlemcen; the production of oil and flour and marketgardening occupy Europeans and natives; good tobacco is also grown. There is an active trade in cattle, wool, grain, and fruit. A railway (37 miles) is being built (1887) to connect Tlemcen with Rahgun, its port. In 1886 the population (natives, Europeans, and Jews) was 19,745 (26,395 in the commune).
The town was originally at Agadir (Pomaria), to the east of the present site, where Roman inscriptions have been found. At the time of the Arab invasion the district was held by the Beni Ifren tribe of Zenata Berbers, who ultimately founded here the sove reignty of the Bern Ya la (1002-1080). In 1080 the Almoravid king, after besieging and sacking the place, built a new town on the site of his camp. His successors reigned sixty-five years, when, after holding Agadir four years against the enemy, they were overcome by the Almohades, who massacred the inhabitants, rebuilt, enlarged, and repeopled the ruined town, and surround eil Tlemcen and Agadir with a common wall. Tlemcen now flourished greatly under the Abd al-Wad, also a Zenata dynasty, who ruled first for the Almohades and after 1242 as nominal vassals of the Hafsites of Tunis. In 1337. their power was temporarily extin guished by the Merinids, who built the town of Mansura, west of Tlemcen. They left some fine monuments of the period of their ascendency, which lasted twenty-two years. Once more, under the Abd al-Wad, from 1359 to 1553, Tlemcen enjoyed prosperity, when it had a population of 125,000, an extensive trade, a brilliant court, a powerful army, and its finest buildings were reared. The Spanish occupation of Oran struck a fatal blow at the European commerce of the town, which gradually lost all its territory to the Turks after they had seized Algiers. When the French entered Algeria the sultans of Morocco were worsted by the Kuluglis in their attempt to hold the town. In 1834, and again in 1837, Abd el-Kader sought to re-establish the ancient empire of Tlernceu, but the French definitely took possession in January 1842.