Bejaïa
[key], city, N Algeria, a port on the Gulf of Bejaïa (an arm of the
Mediterranean Sea). The northern terminus of the Hassi Messaoud oil pipeline
from the Sahara, Bejaïa is the principal oil port of the W
Mediterranean. Exports, aside from crude petroleum, include iron,
phosphates, wines, dried figs, and plums. The city also has textile and cork
industries. A minor port in Carthaginian and Roman times, Bejaïa was
the Roman Saldae. It became the capital of the Vandals in the 5th cent. It
later disappeared but was refounded by the Berbers in the 11th cent. and
became an important port and cultural center. After Spanish occupation
(1510–55), the city was taken by the Ottoman Turks. Until it was
captured by the French in 1833, Bejaïa was a stronghold of the
Barbary pirates (see Barbary States).
City landmarks include a 16th-century mosque and a casbah (fortress) built
by the Spanish in 1545.
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