Batna (département)

Considered as an integral piece of French territory, Algeria was departmentalised on 9 December 1848, and thereby was administratively structured in the same way as metropolitan France.

Three civil zones (départements) replaced the three beyliks into which the Ottoman former rulers had divided the territory.

This administrative reorganisation was undertaken in response to the rapid population increase experienced across the territory, especially during the preceding decade.

The 1957 departmental reorganisation was marked by a change in the "suffix" number appearing on automobile license plates and in other places that used the same code.

(In 1968, under a law enacted in 1964, the number "93" would be reallocated to a new département comprising the northern suburbs of Paris.)