Algiers at the origin (TOP)

Old Algiers- The Casbah´s five doors 16th century

The city of Algiers was built in 960 by the founder of the Zirid dynasty Bologhine ibn Ziri on the remainings of the antique phenician Ikosim (The island with the gulls)(IV B.C). However, a legend would award twenty (Eikosi) Hercule´s companion the original name of this commercial city.

The name Algiers (Alger) stems from the Catalan "Alguère" which stems itself from the Arabic word Jezaïr (D´zaïr) (جزائر), meaning islands. This name was in fact given in refence to small islands facing the city before being connected to the continent just after 1530 by the Turkish king of Algiers Kheireddin Barbarousse.