Mansourah
|
المنصورة Mansourah |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Coordinates | 34 ° 52 ′ 15 " N , 1 ° 20 ′ 19" W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Algeria | ||
| Tlemcen | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | DZ-13 | ||
| height | 800 m | ||
| surface | 25 km² | ||
| Residents | 49,150 (2008) | ||
| density | 1966 Ew. / km² | ||
| founding | 1299 | ||
 Mansourah - former fortress city
|
|||
Mansourah ( Arabic المنصورة) is a city with around 60,000 inhabitants in north-western Algeria near the border with the Kingdom of Morocco .
location
Mansourah is a good 150 km (driving distance) southwest of Oran and only a good 5 km southwest of Tlemcen at an altitude of about 800 m . The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 485 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.
population
| year | 1977 | 1987 | 1998 | 2008 |
| Residents | 1,564 | 19,250 | 35,524 | 49,150 |
Since the 1980s, Mansourah has experienced enormous immigration from other regions of Algeria. Today the place is a living and sleeping city in the city of Tlemcen.
economy
In the area around Mansourah, which is quite rainy by Algerian standards, agriculture and cattle breeding was and is to a small extent.
history
Mansourah was from which Morocco originating Merinidensultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf (r. 1286-1307) as part of its attempts at expansion towards Algeria and Tunisia in 1299 as a military camp under the name Elmahalla Mansourah founded. Shortly thereafter, the construction of a walled residential city with a mosque , palace district ( kasbah ) and hospital began, from which the siege of the city of Tlemcen, held by the Abdalwadids (or Ciyyanids ), was advanced. After the violent death of the Sultan, the city was partially destroyed; only after the return of the Merinids under Abu l-Hasan (r. 1331-1351) did the reconstruction begin, which lasted until the expulsion of his son Abu Inan Faris (r. 1351-1358). After that, the Abdalwadids, ruling from Tlemcen, took power again. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Mansourah benefited from the immigration of Jews and Muslims who were expelled from Al-Andalus . Since 1550 the place was under the suzerainty of the Ottomans . The French colonial period lasted from 1842 to 1962.
Attractions
- Of particular importance is the formerly an area of around 100 hectares, around 1.50 m thick and up to 12 m high, of the former palace city. This is essentially made of rammed earth mixed with small stones and is stabilized by numerous projections and secured against attacks.
- The ruins of the Great Mosque, begun in 1303 and only completed under his later successor Abu Said Uthman II (r. 1310–1331), is one of the highlights of Merinid architecture. While the outer walls of the approx. 60 × 85 m measuring courtyard mosque are made of rammed earth, the approx. 38 m high minaret consists entirely of house stones . Noteworthy are the various decorative and structural elements on all sides of the minaret; the diamond motif in the upper part is decorated with inlaid green tiles, which still give the tower ruin a certain shine today. During the French colonial era, the mosque was placed under protection in 1900; the ruins of the minaret were secured with iron anchors and wall reinforcements.
literature
- Hans Strelocke: Algeria - Art, Culture and Landscape. DuMont, Cologne 1974, ISBN 3-7701-0721-7 , pp. 130f.
- Alfred Renz: Algeria . Prestel, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-7913-0768-1 .
- Hed Wimmer and Joachim-Hans Thilemann: Algeria. Atlantis, Freiburg 1983, ISBN 3-7611-0651-3 .
