Béjaïa

Béjaïa stands on a Mediterranean bay at the mouth of the Soummam valley, backed by the mountains of Kabylia. The Hammadid dynasty made the city its capital in the late eleventh century, and its harbor became an important center of trade between the Maghreb and Europe. The city later passed to the Almohads and then to the Hafsids, under whom it was at times the seat of a principality.

In 1510 a Spanish expedition commanded by Pedro de Navarro captured Béjaïa. The occupation altered the balance of power along the coast and in the neighboring mountains. In 1555 Salah Rais, ruler of Algiers, took the city from the Spanish and brought it under Ottoman authority. Béjaïa remained a maritime gateway to the valleys and mountain communities of eastern Kabylia.