Batna

Batna, city, northeastern Algeria. It lies along the Wadi Tilatou and is situated on a well-watered plain that is bounded on the south by the Aurès Massif and on the north by the Batna Mountains. To the west, the cedar-forested Mount Tougour (Pic des Cèdres) rises to 6,870 feet (2,094 metres).

Batna originated in 1844 as a French military outpost that was established to protect el-Kantara Pass between the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara and to patrol the neighbouring mountains. The site was subsequently moved a short distance east to Râs el-Aïoun, where the city was founded in 1848 as Nouvelle Lambèse; it was renamed Batna in 1849. The city’s original rectangular plan includes tree-lined avenues, a walled military quarter to the east, and less orderly recent additions. Batna trades in agricultural and forest products and is a tourist base for the Roman ruins at Tazoult-Lambese (Lambessa) 7 miles (11 km) to the southeast and Timgad (Thamugadi) 17 miles (27 km) to the east-southeast. Pop. (1998) 242,514; (2008) 289,504.