AurÃ¨s Mountains

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AurÃ¨s Mountains

The Aurès (Amazigh

Berber languages

The Berber languages are a group of closely related languages spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, as well as by Berber people communities in parts of Niger and Mali....
: Awras) refers to an Amazigh language-speaking region in East Algeria, as well as an extension of the Atlas mountain range

Atlas Mountains

The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,400 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco....
that lies to the east of the Saharan Atlas

Saharan Atlas

The Saharan Atlas of Algeria is the eastern portion of the Atlas Mountains. Not as tall as the Grand Atlas of Morocco they are far more imposing than the Tell Atlas range that runs closer to the coast....
in eastern Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
and northwestern Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
. Not as tall as the Grand Atlas Mountains of Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
, the Aurès mountains are far more imposing than the Tell Atlas

Tell Atlas

The Tell Atlas is a mountain chain over 1,500 kilometers in length, belonging to the Atlas Mountains ranges in North Africa, stretching from Morocco, through Algeria to Tunisia....
range that runs closer to the coast.

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Encyclopedia

The Aurès (Amazigh

Berber languages

Atlas Mountains

Saharan Atlas

Algeria

Tunisia

Morocco

Tell Atlas

Djebel Chélia

Djebel Chelia is the highest point in the Al-Qabail Mountains that straddle the border between Algeria and Tunisia, and the second highest peak in Algeria after Mount Tahat....
.

Historically, the Aurès served as a refuge for the Berber

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous ethnic groups of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River....
tribes, forming a base of resistance against the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goths Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under Clovis I....
, Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
, and Arabs (such as in the case of the Kahina

Kahina

al-Kahinat was a 7th century female Zenata Berber people religious and military leader, who led indigenous resistance to the Arabization of the Northwest African region known as the Maghreb....
).

Standing alone in eastern Algeria, the Aurès mountains represent one of the less developed areas in the Maghreb

Maghreb

The Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea....
. The Shawia (eastern Berber

Berber people

Transhumance

Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter....
, farming fixed stone terraces in the mountains where they grow sorghum

Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of Poaceae, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture....
and vegetables, but seasonally moving livestock to relatively warm areas in the lowland valleys where they pitch tents or live in other temporary structures and tend livestock through the winter.

External links

Les Aurès - Algérie (French). Includes many photos of the region.