History of Algiers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Third Punic War

Ancient Romans had great success capturing parts of Northern Africa during the Third Punic War. In 149, they captured the nearby city of Carthage and moved to seize the rest of Northern Africa. Yksm was a small settlement, primarily used as a trading post and market for travelers.

The Romans renamed the city Icosium and it remained under their control until the Muslim Conquest of North Africa in the seventh century.

Answer: Bologhine

Bologhine, also known as Buluggin ibn Ziri, was the first ruler of the Sanhaja Dynasty. He founded Algiers proper in 960. Much of the old city of Icosium was incorporated into what is now the Old Town and many of the ancient buildings still exist today in ruins. Bologhine was the first Sanhaja ruler and the first of many dynasties that would ruler over Algiers over the next few centuries.

These dynasties typically lasted only a few decades at a time.

Answer: Spain

The Spanish had sought claim in Algiers and forced the local emir, Salim al-Tumi, to pledge loyalty to the Spanish Crown. Seeking a way out of this, al-Tumi invited the Ottoman corsair brothers Oruc and Hayreddin Barbarossa to invade Algiers and expel the Spanish.

The Ottomans entered the city but killed al-Tumi for his past alliances with their rivals before taking over Algiers from the Spanish.

Answer: Bad weather

Charles V hoped to siege Algiers to take control of a strategic Ottoman port on the Mediterranean and to seek revenge for the Ottoman siege of Buda. However, the Holy Roman Emperor went on this expedition with limited allies. Spain and Genoa only sent limited troops because the bad storms on the Mediterranean threatened their ships and those places believed the siege would fail. Charles V continued on anyway and the storm claimed nearly 150 of his and his allies' ships.

The storm easily allowed the Ottomans in Algeria to defend the city with almost no casualties. Charles V was nearly killed himself until he was saved by the Knights of Malta. All in all, over 17,000 of Charles V troops were killed.

Answer: The Ottoman Empire had very little influence

Despite being part of the Ottoman Empire, Algiers was located far away from Constantinople and mainly operated on its own. Algiers, Tunis and Tripolitania where the three city-state like provinces in North Africa commonly referred to as the Barbary States. Algiers was more heavily influenced by European affairs than those of the Ottoman Empire.

The area was known for internationally for its pirate activities along the Barbary Coast.

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Piracy on the Mediterranean was not a new issue in 1801. The Barbary States had long captured American and European ships and held the crews for ransom. The American policy prior to Jefferson taking office was to simply pay tribute to the local leaders in the Barbary States to avoid them capturing the ships in the first place. However, Jefferson opposed paying tribute and thought battle was the best way to deal with the situation. Although he was able to negotiate a short-lived peace treaty with the region, ultimately the piracy resumed in 1807.

The First Barbary War was fought off the coast of Tripoli but it was Algiers that was doing most of the impressment and Algiers was the first line of defense against American ships entering the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean.

Answer: End the Barbary Slave Trade

The Second Barbary War ended in 1815 and brought a halt to the piracy perpetuated by the Barbary States. However, Omar Agha, the Dey of Algiers, refused to abide by the treaty and the Congress of Vienna and continued to capture European Christians as slaves.

He also threatened to massacre the Christians living within Algiers. A Dutch-British fleet was led by Edward Pellow to force Agha into compliance with the treaty. Agha freed thousands of Christian slaves and signed the treaty, though the slave trade was not completely stopped for nearly 15 more years.

Answer: France

There had long been tension between France and Algiers stemming from the Napoleonic Wars. France owed a debt to Algiers and with the end of the Pirate Era, Algiers was in an economic strangle. Hussein Dey tried to raise the revenue by raising taxes but that proved unpopular, so he tried to call upon France's debt. France, however, had long been looking for a reason to colonize in Africa and Algiers calling upon the debt was as good a reason as any. Hussein Dey hit the French consul Pierre Deval with a whip, and this action led to a French naval blockade of Algiers. French troops entered the city on July 5, 1830, and captured it two days later.

Answer: The Casbah

The Battle of Algiers was one of many battles fought during the fight for Algerian independence. France sought to break up the National Liberation Front (FLN), an Algerian separatist group. French authorities had arrested the leader of the FLN, Rabat Bitat, which led the FLN to began violent campaigns against French authorities in areas frequented by Europeans. When France began executing FLN prisoners, the violence escalated.

On September 30, 1956, three women placed bombs in two cafes in Algiers as well as an Air France terminal, killing three people and injuring dozens. The French escalated in response, and extrajudicial killings and unexplained disappearances became relatively normal.

Answer: Al-Qaeda

The attack, which killed about 40 people and injured about 180, was perpetuated by Al-Qaeda's branch that operated in the Maghreb. The attack targeted the United Nations building in Algiers as well as the Constitutional Court Building. The UN Building collapsed which contributed to the high rate of casualties there.

The attacks were believed suicide bombings. This was just one of many acts of terrorism that plagued Algiers following the end of the Civil War in 2002 and plagued the region as whole in the early 2000s.