Its favorable location made it the center of Ottoman and French cultural, political, and architectural influences alike for the region, shaping it to be the diverse metropolis it is today.

Algiers is the main tourist destination in Algeria due to its many museums, art galleries and cultural centers, but most notably the historic center that is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Casbah which houses many traditional Algerian and Ottoman/Andalusian style buildings, while the French side of the city is bigger and has many distinct architectural styles that showcase trends over the decades wether they were local or international; Al bidha meaning « the white » is what the city's called because of its white washed buildings wether they originated from colonial powers or local populations.

The Host city of the 1975 Mediterranean Games and other major African and international sports events, Algiers is also the seat of the Consultative Council of the Arab Maghreb Union.

The Greeks explained the name as coming from their word for "twenty" (εἴκοσι, eíkosi), supposedly because it had been founded by 20 companions of Hercules when he visited the Atlas Mountains during his labors.

In the early 7th century, "Beni Mezghenna" who are a Berber tribe belonging to the Sanhaja as cited by Ibn Khaldoun, settled on the plains of Icosium and the surrounding areas.

[11] Shortly after, in the late 7th century, the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb brought the Umayyad Caliphate into the region, but were faced with resistance from Berber forces led by Kahina and Kusaila in the 680s, who opposed the advancing Islamic armies.

The present city was re-founded in 972 AD by Buluggin ibn Ziri, who was appointed by the Faṭimid caliph al-Muʿizz as governor of al-Qayrawān and any other territory his nation, the Zirid Dynasty might reclaim from its enemies, the Zenata tribesmen.

[citation needed] In 1079 AD, Ibn Tashfin, a Sanhaja leader of the Almoravid Empire sent an army of 20,000 men from Marrakesh to push towards what is now Tlemcen to attack the "Banu Ya'la", the Zenata tribe occupying the area.

Led by Mazdali ibn Tilankan, the army defeated the Banu Ya'la in battle near the valley of the Moulouya River and executed their commander, the son of Tlemcen's ruler.

In 1151 AD, Abd al-Mu'min launched an expedition to the east, conquering Béjaïa in August 1152, the capital of the Hammadids; on their way, Beni Mezghanna did not succumb and was now under the Almohad Caliphate's control.

The town once again came under the dominion of the Ziyanid sultans of the Kingdom but experienced a large measure of independence under Thaaliba amirs who settled the Mitidja plain at around 1200 AD.

By that time, Algiers had an emir, Salim al-Thumi who had to "swear obedience and loyalty" to Ferdinand II of Aragon who also imposed a levy intended to suppress the Barbary pirates.

In October 1541 in the Algiers expedition, the King of Spain and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor sought to capture the city, but a storm destroyed a great number of his ships, and his army of some 30,000, chiefly made up of Spaniards, was defeated by the Algerians under their pasha, Hassan.

Repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland.

[19] On August 27, 1816, the Bombardment of Algiers took place city by a British squadron under Lord Exmouth (a descendant of Thomas Pellew, taken in an Algerian slave raid in 1715[20][self-published source?

[21][22] In an attempt by Charles X of France to increase his popularity amongst the French, he sought to bolster patriotic sentiment, and turn eyes away from his domestic policies, by treating the incident as a public insult and demanded an apology.

[24] Following this, interest turned into the completion of the French conquest of Algeria that shared goals with its pacification efforts; Establishing a European cultural, economic and political presence in Africa without considering the indigenous population's lifestyle or connection to their land.

[26] Settlers of European descent marked a majority of the city's population,[27] some constituted a minority of "Pieds-noirs" who were granted French citizenship and rights under the Crémieux Decree.

On the other hand, Code de l'indigénat enforced inferiority of the "Arabs" and "Muslims" which were getting forcibly removed from their homes and were banned from entering various parts of "Alger" to segregate by race, religion and language.

Le Corbusier was highly critical of the urban style of Algiers, describing the European district as "nothing but crumbling walls and devastated nature, the whole a sullied blot".

Fearing an eventual win by the Islamists, the army canceled the election process, setting off the civil war between the State and armed religious conservatives which would last for a decade.

It sits at roughly 2 m above sea level, while the highest point is at 407 m.[37] The Oued El Harrach meets the sea while crossing near El Harrach, a neighbourhood of the city hence the name, while Mazafran River ends near the far western suburbs dividing Algiers Province and Tipaza Province; Both of these are called "Widan" which help in supplying agricultural needs in "Mitidja" which borders the Tell Atlas mountain range which could be spotted from the city.

[46] The city (and province) of Algiers is composed of 13 administrative districts, sub-divided into 57 communes listed below with their populations at the 1998 and 2008 Censuses: There are many public buildings of interest, including the whole Kasbah quarter, Martyrs Square (Sahat ech-Chouhada ساحة الشهداء), the government offices (formerly the British consulate), the "Grand", "New", and Ketchaoua Mosques, the Roman Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame d'Afrique, the Bardo Museum, the old Bibliothèque Nationale d'Alger—a moorish palace built in 1799–1800 and the new National Library, built in a style reminiscent of the British Library.

[49] The church of the Holy Trinity (built in 1870) stands at the southern end of the rue d'Isly near the site of the demolished Fort Bab Azoun باب عزون.

Many of these marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to the British residents (voluntary and involuntary) of Algiers from the time of John Tipton, the first English consul, in 1580 (NB Some sources give 1585).

The inner harbour was begun in 1518 by Khair-ad-Din Barbarossa (see History, below), who, to accommodated his pirate vessels, caused the island on which was Fort Penon to be connected with the mainland by a mole.

The French, after their occupation of the city (1830), built a rampart, parapet and ditch, with two terminal forts, Bab Azoun باب عزون to the south and Bab-el-Oued اد to the north.

[49] Notre Dame d'Afrique, a church built (1858–1872) in a mixture of the Roman and Byzantine styles, is conspicuously situated overlooking the sea, on the shoulder of the Bouzaréah hills, 3 km (2 mi) to the north of the city.

This 90 hectares (222 acres) site will include shopping centres, residential zones with high standard apartments and a golf course surrounded by villas and hotels.

This includes the Stade 5 Juillet 1962 (capacity 64,000), a venue for athletics, an Olympic swimming pool, a multisports room (the Cupola), an 18-hole golf course, and several tennis courts.