Ouargla

Ouargla was an oasis town in the Algerian Sahara, whose Berber inhabitants included the Ibadi Banu Wargla. After the destruction of nearby Sedrata in the thirteenth century, it became the region's chief centre, sometimes acknowledging the Hafsids and the emirs of Biskra.

Ibn Khaldun called Ouargla the gate of the desert, a passage for M'zab merchants bound for the Sudan. As Touggourt drew away the caravans, the town declined. In 1552 Salah Raïs of Algiers made it pay tribute; it was later attached to the Beylik of Constantine, where Friday prayers named the Ottoman caliph.