Беджая: История и природа алжирского порта

Béjaïa (/b//ɪ/'/d//ʒ//aɪ//ə/; beʒaja; بجاية‎, , ), formerly Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean port city and commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Béjaïa is the largest principally Kabyle speaking city in the region of Kabylia, Algeria.

The town is overlooked by the mountain , whose profile is said to resemble a sleeping woman. Other nearby scenic spots include the Aiguades beach and the Pic des Singes (Peak of the Monkeys); the latter site is a habitat for the endangered Barbary macaque, which prehistorically had a much broader distribution than at present. All three of these geographic features are located in the Gouraya National Park. The Soummam river runs past the town. Under French rule, it was known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie buˈʒi in French. The French and Italian versions, due to the town's wax trade, eventually acquired the metonymic meaning of "candle".

Béjaïa, like most cities along the coast of Algeria, has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), with very warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters.

According to Al Bakri, the bay was first inhabited by Andalusians. Béjaïa stands on the site of the ancient city of Saldae, a minor port in Carthaginian and Roman times, in an area at first inhabited by Numidian Berbers and founded as a colony for old soldiers by Emperor Augustus. It was an important town and a bishopric in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis, and later Sitifensis. In the fifth century, Saldae became the capital of the short lived Vandal Kingdom of the Germanic Vandals, which lasted for a century until about 533 with the Byzantine conquest, which established an African prefecture and later the Exarchate of Carthage.

It was captured by the French in 1833 and became a part of colonial Algeria. Most of the time it was the seat ('sous préfecture') of an arrondissement (mid 20th century, 513,000 inhabitants, of whom 20,000 'Bougiates' in the city itself) in the Département of Constantine, until Bougie was promoted to département itself in 1957.

During World War II, Operation Torch landed forces in North Africa, including a battalion of the British Royal West Kent Regiment at Béjaïa on 11 November 1942. That same day, at 4:40 PM, a German Luftwaffe air raid struck Béjaïa with thirty Ju 88 bombers and torpedo planes. The transports and Cathay were sunk and the monitor HMS Roberts was damaged. The following day, the anti aircraft ship SS Tynwald was torpedoed and sank, while the transport Karanja was bombed and destroyed.

After Algerian independence, it became the eponymous capital of Béjaïa Province, covering part of the eastern Berber region Kabylia.

With the spread of Christianity, Saldae became a bishopric. Its bishop Paschasius was one of the Catholic bishops whom the Arian Vandal king Huneric summoned to Carthage in 484 and then exiled. Christianity survived the Islamic conquest, the disappearance of the old city of Saldae, and the founding of the new city of Béjaïa. A letter from Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) exists, addressed to clero et populo Buzee (the clergy and people of Béjaïa), in which he writes of the consecration of a bishop named Servandus for Christian North Africa. No longer a residential bishopric, Saldae (v.) is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. and still has incumbents by that title (mostly of the lowest (episcopal) rank, some of the intermediary archiepiscopal rank).

The northern terminus of the Hassi Messaoud oil pipeline from the Sahara, Béjaïa is the principal oil port of the Western Mediterranean. Exports, aside from crude petroleum, include iron, phosphates, wines, dried figs, and plums. The city also has textile and cork industries. The Béni Mansour Bejaïa line railroad terminates in Béjaïa. The airport of the city is Abane Ramdane Airport. Cevital has its head office in the city. The city's soccer team is JSM Béjaïa and currently plays in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2.