What’s in a Name? Place Names in Annaba Past to Present

Abstract

Abstract:A Mediterranean port, and the fourth largest city in Algeria, Annaba has been a crossroads between Africa and Europe for over 4,000 years. Distinctive but not representative, it recapitulates certain Mediteranean-wide historical currents, especially of other port cities. This article focuses on the politics of place names, especially street names, during three historical periods: from the 12th century BCE to 1832 under, successively, Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Berber and Ottoman rule; French colonial Bône, 1832-1962; and postcolonial Annaba, 1962-present.The history of place names in the city can be interpreted in either one of two primary ways. First is the now old view that draws stark black and white differences between colonizers and colonized, especially during the French colonial and Algerian postcolonial periods. A second interpretation that has by now largely supplanted the first stresses interactions, exchanges, ad hoc coalitions, and all manner of economic, political and cultural brokering. Rather than either/or – choosing either the first or second interpretation – the far more difficult position, taken in this essay, is both/and – arguing both the first and second positions.