Béni Abbès (), also known as the Pearl of the Saoura, Béchar et la région de La Saoura Vitaminedz Béni-Abbès, la perle de la Saoura and also as the White Oasis, Algérie Pyrénées - de Toulouse à Tamanrasset Sud Algérien, au cœur de l'oasis blanche Algérie tours Hôtel Rym is a town and commune located in western Algeria in Béchar Province, from the provincial capital Béchar, and from Algiers.
It has been the capital of the Béni Abbès District since 1957. The commune's area is approximately , with a population of 10,885 inhabitants as of the 2008 census, up from 8,850 in 1998, and a population growth rate of 2.1%.
Béni Abbès lies in the Saoura valley, on the left bank of the intermittent wadi called Oued Saoura. There are seven ksars (castles) in Béni Abbès, including a particularly large one found in a palm grove in the river valley.
The people of Béni Abbès are often referred to as Abbabsa.
Etymology Béni Abbès is written in Arabic بني عباس, Bani Abbas ("The children of Abbas"). C. Rames explains in his book Beni-Abbes (Oran Sahara): Historical, geographical and medical study (1941) that the origin of the name comes from the name of the tribe of the city's first occupant : "Forty years after the death of Sidi Othman, in the distant Saguia el-Hamra (Western Sahara), El Mahdi Ben Youssef from the tribe of Beni Abbes". Béni-Abbés (Sahara oranais): Etude historique, géographique et médicale C. Ramès s.n., 1941 - 77 pages.
The name actually derives from the similar Arabic بني العباس, Bani Al Abbas ("The children of El-abbas"). El Ayachi wrote in his manuscript Arrihla al ayachia (1662) : "Then we entered the villages of Bani Al Abbas ...".Māʼ al-mawāʼid of ʻAyyāshī, Abū Sālim ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, 1628-1679 , 9782745170200
Geography
Location Béni Abbès is built on a rocky hill on the left bank of Oued Saoura. The city is bordered to the north, east and west by the Grand Erg Occidental and south and southwest by the valley of the Saoura. L’eau dans l’oasis de Béni Abbés : un patrimoine essentiel (Vallée de la Saoura, Sud Ouest algérien) The most interesting mountains near Béni Abbès are in the Ougarta Range (around the oasis of Ougarta) found around to the south and southwest. Les monts d'Ougarta d'après spot 1 Par André Simonin et Denise Hilt
Climate Béni Abbès has a hot and arid desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). There is usually very little rain, but occasional heavy rains can occur, causing flooding in the Oued Saoura. The sky is almost always blue both in winter and summer.
December, January and February are the coldest months, when it is between and . During the summer months, temperatures can reach with a humidity of about 10% during the day.
Flora and fauna The Saharan ecosystem dominates all the territory of Béni Abbès. Flora and fauna are not as extensive as in other parts of Algeria, however, a variety of plants and creatures have been found here. There is perhaps a surprising range of flora and fauna that can survive in this hot and arid climate.
The vegetation of Béni Abbès consists mainly of xeric species. Infrequent rainfall affects the development of plants in the three different types of terrain types found near Béni Abbès: hamada, erg and wadi.
Acacia trees and wild herbs are scattered on the mountain and Hamada, especially near Zeghamra. Some wild herbs in the region are medicinal and used by people traditionally to treat many diseases. Among others, these include Ouezouaza (Santolina rosmarinifolea), Gartofa (Santolina chamaycyparissus), Movimondo CATALOGUE DES PLANTES POTENTIELLES POUR LA CONCEPTION DE TISANES Réalisé par Prof. EL Rhaffari Lhoussaine FSTE (Faculté des Sciences et Techniques d’Errachidia) - Equipe Environnement et Santé Movimondo Plantes aromatiques et médicinales du haut atlas oriental Shih (Artemisia herba-alba), and Terfesse (Terfeziaceae), a mushroom used by the Abbassian cuisine to replace meat. Liste des plantes de Taghit
An excellent dune-fixing plant Rtéme (Retama raetam) grows on ergs. Sahara-Nature Retama raetam The predominant plant of the Wadi is the Fnine (Tamarix), a plant resistant to saline soils.
Many species of the Saharan regions' animals are found around Béni Abbès.
The most important mammals are the dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas) and rhim gazelle (Gazella leptoceros), Consulat d'Algérie à métz LA GAZELLE "RYM" DU SAHARA MENACEE DE DISPARITION both highly threatened by uncontrolled hunting. The sand cat (Felis margarita), striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) and the fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) are observed in the area only rarely. Rodents found in the area include sand rat (Psammomys obesus), greater Egyptian gerbil (Gerbillus pyramidum) and the Libyan jird (Meriones libycus).
Reptiles in the region include the Sandfish (Scincus scincus) and the dob (Uromastyx).
Birds seen around Béni Abbès include bou-ali (house sparrow), bou-tkelem (Spanish sparrow) Oiseaux d'algérie par Paul Isenmann et Aissa Moali and raptors such as el-béz (northern goshawk), Oiseaux.net Autour des palombes Accipiter gentilis - Northern Goshawk skàr (lanner falcon) Oiseaux.net Faucon lanier Falco biarmicus - Lanner Falcon and el-bouma (little owl). Oiseaux.net Chevêche d'Athéna Athene noctua - Little Owl
In the recent decades or hundreds of years, the local extinction of many animal species has been reported due to drought and lack of prey, for example, al-naàme (ostrich) Oiseaux.net Autruche d'Afrique Struthio camelus - Common Ostrich Oiseaux.net Autruche d'Afrique Struthio camelus - Common Ostrich (localisation) and the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Données préliminaires sur la distribution du guépard (Acinonyx jubatus) dans le Sud Ouest algérien
Administrative geography Just after the French occupation of the region and within the territories of South, Béni Abbès became an indigenous municipality in the Territory of Aïn Séfra which existed between 1902 and 1957. Députés de l'Algérie – Saoura from Politiquemania Départements d'Algérie entre 1848 et 1962 from Bab-el-Oued StoryMarcel Laugel, Sur le vif: dépêches oubliées, de la Mauritanie au Yémen. Éditions L'Harmattan, 2008. In that time, Tindouf was occupied and attached to the indigenous municipality of Béni Abbès until 1935.
In 1957, after replacing the territories of South by the French Departments of Sahara it became a district in the Saoura Department, of which the prefecture was at Colomb-Béchar.
At Algerian independence, Béni Abbès was a district of Saoura Department with Béchar, Adrar, El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh, Timimoun and Tindouf. This arrangement remained until 1974, when the administrative division divided the department into two Provinces: Adrar containing Timimoun District, and Béchar containing El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh, Béni Abbès and Tindouf.
After the new administrative division of 1984 which gave the title of Province to Tindouf and El-Bayadh, Béni Abbès remained a district of Béchar Province. In 2009 it was put on the list of new delegated provinces. List of new wilayas delegated
History
Prehistory
The territory of Béni Abbès was inhabited during prehistoric times, le livre : Le Petit Futé Algérie Par Dominique Auzias, Jean-Paul Labourdette, Marie-Hélène Martin as evidenced by the rock carvings of Marhouma. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française Année 1956 Volume 53 Numéro 11-12 pp. 722-723 Jean Chavaillon, Nicole Chavaillon Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française Année 1962 Volume 59 Numéro 7-8 pp. 440-444
The petroglyphs of the region date back to Neolithic times. While less famous than the Tassili rock paintings, they have been studied since 1863.
The ideological panel of Marhouma is a remarkably complex scene : "An orant (praying person) on his head a crossed disk and connected to a mammal, surrounded by a wounded animal topped by a young man and a snake man (homme serpentiforme)." In this scene the participants form a closed chain; the prayer of the orant forms links between the hunter and the sacred animal, represented by the snake man and game respectively. Dialogues d'histoire ancienne : 1981, Volume 7 Par Centre de recherches d'histoire ancienne
Pre-Islamic period Except for some speculation by historians, there is little information about this period of history of Béni Abbès. Some clues may come from evidence dating from this period, including: Paleography at the entrance of Ghar Diba, which means "wolf cave" in Arabic (غار الذيبة). Berber names of places, palms, mountains and surrounding ksars date from this period, because it is known that the medieval period in Béni Abbès begins with the arrival of the Arabs. the remains of some ksars inhabited by Christianized Berbers.
Middle Ages
The first Arab settlers in the area were from the Beni Hassan tribe, who built two ksars: Ghar el-Diba and Haresse Lil (translated "night watchman"). They migrated to Saguia el-Hamra and Mauritania in the 12th century. Africa: rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione, Volume 40 Istituto books.google.com consulté le=29 août 2010.
The history of the founding of the current Béni Abbès begins with the legend of Sidi Othman called "El Gherib" and his companion Sid Enoun. According to the legend, by the blessing of Sidi Othmane, water gushed and flowed from a spring near Béni Abbès; as a result, the country became no longer a desert, the vegetation developed and the valley became full of reeds, trees and pastures. Horizons La légende de la source Beni Abbes
Forty years after these first migrations, Seguia el-Hamra Mehdi Ben Youssef (descendant of Beniabbes of the Beni Hassan tribe) came to Béni Abbès. He lived with Ali Ben Moumen from the Arib tribe, with whom he brought the palm trees of Draa River. They founded the ksar Oulad Mehdi in which Mehdi Ben Youssef's sons (Said and Youssef) and Ali Ben Moumen's son (Mohamed) lived. The region was peaceful and prosperous through agriculture and trade, bringing a large number of immigrants.
From At-Lamiz in Figuig, two brothers left the ksar towards the east; Ali Ben Yahia and Khalfi bin Abdel-wassàa who settled in Béni Abbès and his brother founded a brotherhood in the Charouine region (Gourara). MISSIONS AU SAHARA (SAHARA ALGERIEN) E.-F. GAUTIER Chargé de Cours à l'École supérieure des Lettres d'Alger Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Ottawa 208 SAHARA ALGÉRIEN Ali Ben Yahia was a man with broad experience in agriculture. he founded the ksar Ouled Rahu occupied by Moulay and Ali Ben Yahia's sons.
After a period, Moussa Ben Ali came, probably from Tamentit(although others say from Gourara) to settle at Béni Abbès in the fourteenth century. Les Oasis Du Gourara (Sahara Algerien) II. Fondation Des Ksour Ms17 Par Rachid Bellil
In 1593, the Moroccan rebel Abu Mahali settled in Béni Abbès. El Ayachi in his handwritten Arrihla al ayachia 1662 say :"... personage who was placed in a state of open rebellion, sedition which began in this town. Today his house is still known and we watch for travelers".
The continuous development and prosperity of the region brought him many enemies, including Ghenanma. A long period of raids caused the Abbabsa to complain against the Ghenanma to the King of Fes. Soldiers of the Makhzen (Mkhaznia), Fes's ruling elite, left Fes towards Béni Abbès, along the road by Zaouiet Men-Laikhaf in Tafilalt, from where a marabout called Mohamed Ben-Abdeslam joined the troupe.
On arrival at Béni Abbés the Mkhaznia defeated the Ghenanma. The Abbabsa were in a separate ksar and asked Mohamed Ben-Abdeslam to settle with them for Koranic education. He accepted, on the condition that they build a new well fortified ksar in the palm grove. They accepted, and left the choice of location to Ben-Abdeslam.
Mohamed Ben-Abdeslam built the new ksar in the palm grove in 1605 and named it Béni Abbés.approximate date (We know the date of death of Sheikh of Karzazi Sidi Ahmed Ben-Moussa (1603) and the arrival of Ibn Abi-Mahal (1593)