Les fortifications ottomanes d’Alger (1516-1830)

Abstract

[EN] The 16th century which saw the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in eastern Mediterranean, propels the small town of Algiers to the rank of capital of regency and military bastion of the Sublime Porte, on the Maghreb coast, facing the hegemony of the Spanish empire. The Ottomans who transform it into city warrior, creates an artificial port, equipped with new ramparts and establish around it, a network of points of fortification, which quadrille the territory and supervise the province. Between 1516 and 1830, Algiers which is called al Maḥrūssa (well kept), remains impregnable by the sea. Its permanent concern for protection is to show the strengthened and continual maintenance of its fortifications. In June 1830, French occupation was possible by landings the army at the western end of the bay, avoiding the defenses of the city. The defenses of Algiers were limited primarily to the walls of the city, with the port and the Qāsābā. At the end of the 16th century, they occupied the immediate vicinity, and finally invested the entire bay in the 17th century. The 18th and early 19th century were devoted to the strengthening and consolidation of the system as well as an expansion of the defence on the borders of the territory of the baylik of Algiers.