Ain el-Turck عين الترك |
|
---|---|
Town | |
Ain el-Turck | |
Aerial photo of the city
|
|
Coordinates: 35°44′27″N 0°44′57″W / 35.74083°N 0.74917°WCoordinates: 35°44′27″N 0°44′57″W / 35.74083°N 0.74917°W | |
Country | Algeria |
Province | Oran |
District | Aïn El Turk |
Elevation | 272 m (892 ft) |
Population (2007) | |
• Total | 50,000 |
Algeria
|
|
Location | Cape Falcon Aïn El Turk Algeria |
---|---|
Coordinates | 35°46′15.57″N 0°48′2.59″W / 35.7709917°N 0.8007194°W |
Year first constructed | 1868 |
Foundation | stone base |
Construction | stone tower |
Tower shape | octagonal prism tower with balcony and lantern |
Markings / pattern | white tower, dark green lantern |
Height | 28.70 metres (94.2 ft) |
Focal height | 106 metres (348 ft) |
Light source | main power |
Intensity | 1,000 W |
Range | 29 nautical miles (54 km; 33 mi) |
Characteristic | Fl (4) W 25s. |
Admiralty number | E6708 |
NGA number | 22672 |
ARLHS number | ALG-003 |
Managing agent | Office Nationale de Signalisation Maritime |
Ain el-Turck (arabic : عين الترك ) (literally "Fountain of the Turks") is the capital of Ain el-Turck District located about fifteen kilometers from Oran in the north-west of Algeria. The district contains nine municipalities. It now host an important seaside resort.
It also gives its name to one of the beaches in the region of Oran.
Centuries ago, Ain el Turk was a plain called El Eurfa which extends from St Roch till Les Andalouses. Over the centuries, the population of El Eurfa plain (known later as Ain el Turck) has significantly increased. Two types of people lived there and cohabited, nomadic people who practice transhumance, and sedentary or sedentarized tribes who practiced agriculture and beekeeping. The nomads wandered between the plains of El Eurfa, Boutlelis and Messreghinn, except in some special cases they did not go beyond the Sabkha in the South and the forest Madagh in the West. They lived together and traded with each other. These sedentary people sold their products at Mers el-Kebir and Oran, they also sold their products to nomadic tribes, but most of the time they swapped their products with sheep as they supply them with meat and wool.
In 1831, the area where the village would be built was a kind of a cul-de-sac from the only major road, which was rather a road that connected les Andalouse and Mers-el-Kebir and Oran via Bousfer called "la Route des Crêtes" which was very rocky and took new directions at Ain Khadija (later, the road was named 'Ploteau road'), joining Ain el Turck at the small village Naqous, so named in Arabic because of the bells of the first church in the area "St. Anthony of Padua" (the word 'Naqous' means bell, in Arabic).
However, there were many other ways relied the village to St Roch, Cape Falcon, Coralès, to Les-Andalouses, the Daya and Bousfer. Seaway has been used to link the city with Oran and Mers-el-Kebir, as there were links between these 2 cities when not at war, we know only that Turkish troops used the sea when coming to pick up the taxes
There was in the plain of what will become Ain el Turck at least eight sources of water: