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Cemetery at Mostaghanem, Algeria

Description

Mostaghanem (also Mostaganem) is a sea port located along the Algerian coast on the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Arzew. Founded during the Roman period, the town was settled in the fourteenth century by Catalan Jewish traders. The town was known as Murustuge during the eleventh-century reign of the Almoravid emir Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn [2]. As anti-Jewish violence increased in Spain beginning around 1391, many Jews fled to cities along the Algerian coast, including Mostaghanem. However, after Spain expelled all of its Jews in 1492, the Spaniards launched a number of campaigns along the North African coast as part of the "Reconquista" (Reconquest of Spain by the Spaniards from the Moors), and conquered Mostaghanem in 1510. Through these campaigns, the Spanish were able to conquer Oran, Bougie, Tenes, and Mostaghanem--sacking the cities and often attacking the Jewish communities as well [3]. Yet in 1516, Mostaghanem was captured by the corsair Khayr al-Dīn (Barbarossa), and became a successful port and trading city known for its wine, fruit, vegetables, diatomite, cereals (wheat, barley), and cotton [4]. By 1792, Muslim rule had been reestablished in Mostaghanem, and Ottoman rule continued until the 1833 arrival of the French. The majority of the Jews in Mostaghanem were shopkeepers, artisans, jewelers, peddlers, and moneylenders. By 1839, Mostaghanem's Jewish population totaled 406, and increased to 1,230 by 1881. Although the population fluctuated in the next few decades, it had increased to 1,828 before the First World War. Although the Jewish population had reached 2,300 in 1955, antisemitic protests in the 1960s led to the eventual emigration of the Jewish community from Mostaghanem [5].

Mostaghanem, Algeria

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