Skikda

Sister cities

• Belfort

History

The Phoenicians and Carthaginians established a trading post and fort named (, "Jug Cape") after Skikda's nearby cape. Falling under Roman hegemony after the Punic Wars, the name was Latinized as Rusicade or Rusiccade. Rusicade contained the largest Roman theatre in Algeria, dating to the reign of Hadrian. Russicada was the Mediterranean port city serving Cirta. It overlooked the straits between Sicily (Europe) and Numidia (Africa), a place of significant relevance in geopolitical strategies at the time. Russicada was mentioned by the medieval chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudo-historical accounts of the mythical kings of Britain and their deeds as "Rusicada". In late antiquity, the port was destroyed during the Vandals' invasion of 530. The Byzantines reconquered the region in 533 and 534, but left large areas under Berber control. The town was overrun by the Umayyad Caliphate at the end of the 7th century. Present-day Skikda was founded by French governor Sylvain Charles Valée in 1838 under the name Philippeville, Towards the end of World War II, a UNRRA refugee camp name was established near the city. On 25 January 1945, 200 Jews holding citizenship from countries in North and South America were sent from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to Switzerland as part of a prisoner exchange group. They were later sent to the UNRRA camp in Skikda. An attack by the FLN in 1955 during the war of Independence left around 123 civilians dead, mainly French and those suspected of collaboration. Angered over the massacre of civilians, including women, seniors, and babies, the French escalated their offensive against the FLN. Reprisals by French forces may have killed between 1,200 (according to French sources,) and 12,000 civilians (according to the FLN.) The…

Geography

Skikda lies on the coast of the Gulf of Stora, part of the Mediterranean Sea. The landscape is hilly and forested, with high ridges on both the western and eastern sides of the city. Skikda has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), with cool, wet winters and very warm, dry summers.