Tabelbala

From at least the 13th to the 19th century, Tabelbala was a stop on the caravan routes linking southern Morocco (notably Sijilmasa) to the Sahel, in particular Timbuktu.

The oasis occupies a band of land between a stone mountain to the south and a large sand dune field, the {{Interlanguage link|Erg Er Raoui|fr}}, to the north. The water table of the latter is relatively high, making irrigation agriculture possible. The foggara system was traditionally used, but has been in decline since the early twentieth century.

Tabelbala has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with extremely hot summers and mild winters, and very little precipitation throughout the year.

{{Weather box

| location = Tabelbala

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

| width = auto

| Jan high C = 19.8

| Feb high C = 23.0

| Mar high C = 26.9

| Apr high C = 31.7

| May high C = 36.5

| Jun high C = 41.8

| Jul high C = 46.0

| Aug high C = 44.3

| Sep high C = 38.5

| Oct high C = 31.7

| Nov high C = 24.8

| Dec high C = 19.6

| Jan mean C = 11.9

| Feb mean C = 14.9

| Mar mean C = 18.8

| Apr mean C = 23.2

| May mean C = 27.9

| Jun mean C = 32.9

| Jul mean C = 37.0

| Aug mean C = 35.7

| Sep mean C = 30.6

| Oct mean C = 24.1

| Nov mean C = 17.8

| Dec mean C = 12.6

| Jan low C = 4.0

| Feb low C = 6.8

| Mar low C = 10.8

| Apr low C = 14.8

| May low C = 19.3

| Jun low C = 24.0

| Jul low C = 28.0

| Aug low C = 27.1

| Sep low C = 22.8

| Oct low C = 16.5

| Nov low C = 10.8

| Dec low C = 5.6

| Jan precipitation mm = 0

| Feb precipitation mm = 2

| Mar precipitation mm = 5

| Apr precipitation mm = 0

| May precipitation mm = 0

| Jun precipitation mm = 0

| Jul precipitation mm = 1

| Aug precipitation mm = 2

| Sep precipitation mm = 0

| Oct precipitation mm = 2

| Nov precipitation mm = 8

| Dec precipitation mm = 2

| source 1 = climate-data.org{{cite web|title=Climate data for: Tabelbala|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/691392/|publisher=climate-data.org|accessdate=15 March 2013}}

| date=March 2013}}

Tabelbala town is divided into four settlements. The administrative and commercial centre, "le Village" or "le Quartier", officially Haï El Wasat ({{langx|ar|حي الوسط}}), also simply known as "Tabelbala" itself, is a relatively recent settlement which first grew up around the French fort in the colonial period. It is flanked by three older villages, or ksars: Cheraïa ({{langx|ar|الشرايع}}, Ifrenyu in Korandje) to the west, Zaouia Sidi Zekri ({{langx|ar|زاوية سيدي زكري}}, Kwara) and the tiny hamlet of Makhlouf ({{langx|ar|مخلوف}}, Yami) to the east.

The commune is formally composed of seven localities:{{cite web|title=Décret n° 84-365, fixant la composition, la consistance et les limites territoriale des communes. Wilaya d'El Oued|url=http://www.joradp.dz/JO8499/1984/067/FP1490.pdf|publisher=Journal officiel de la République Algérienne|accessdate=2 March 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110731114036/http://www.joradp.dz/JO8499/1984/067/FP1490.pdf |archivedate=2011-07-31 |page=1490|language=French|date=19 December 1984}}

{{div col}}

• Tabelbala
• Cheraïa
• Zaouia Sidi Zekri
• Makhlouf
• Zeraïb
• Boutbiga
• Hassi Kharet

{{div col end}}

Agriculture is the main industry in Tabelbala. The commune has a total of {{convert|2155|ha}} of arable land, of which {{convert|1304|ha}} is irrigated.{{cite web|title=Distribution of Agricultural Land|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/10.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710020333/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/10.htm|archivedate=10 July 2014|df=dmy-all}} There are a total of 139,183 date palms planted in the commune.{{cite web|title=Plant Productions|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/14.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820030513/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/14.htm|archivedate=20 August 2014|df=dmy-all}} As of 2009 there were 3,549 sheep, 9,949 goats, and 4,810 camels. There were also 138000 chickens.{{cite web|title=Animal Production|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/14.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820030513/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/14.htm|archivedate=20 August 2014|df=dmy-all}}

97% of Tabelbala's population are connected to drinking water,{{cite web|title=Drinking Water|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/24.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709085413/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/24.htm|archivedate=9 July 2014|df=dmy-all}} 100% are connected to the sewerage system,{{cite web|title=Sewerage Networks|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/25.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710015740/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/25.htm|archivedate=10 July 2014|df=dmy-all}} and 99% (including 2,527 buildings) have access to electricity.{{cite web|title=Electrification|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/29.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709083904/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/29.htm|archivedate=9 July 2014|df=dmy-all}} The city has a 3,048 kW power plant. There is one fuel service station in the town.{{cite web|title=Fuel Distribution|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/30.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710020359/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/30.htm|archivedate=10 July 2014|df=dmy-all}}

Tabelbala has a total of 1,083 houses, of which 625 are occupied, giving an occupation rate of 8.2 inhabitants per occupied building, the third highest in the province after Ouled Khoudir and Timoudi.{{cite web|title=Housing|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/65.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033047/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/65.htm|archivedate=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}

Much of the Korandje-speaking population of Ifrenyu claims descent from the Ait Isfoul sub-branch of the Ait Atta Berber confederation;Cancel 1908, "Etude sur le dialecte de Tabelbala", Revue Africaine 270-271, p. 304; Champault, op. cit., pp. 32, 142, 273 there are also a few Tamazight-speaking families from the Ait Khebbach, another Ait Atta sub-group.Souag 2019, "[https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02953066/document Astronomy among the Ayt Xebbac of Tabelbala]", Etudes et Documents Berbères 42, pp. 215-219

According to oral tradition in both places, the founders of Melouka, near Adrar, Algeria, were emigrants who escaped Tabelbala when one of its ksars was destroyed by Arab nomads, variously named as the Rehamna or Ghenanma, for non-payment of tribute.Champault, op. cit., pp. 31, 273 The Idaw Ali of Mauritania also claim to have lived in Tabelbala at an early period.Ould Khelifa 1998, La région du Tagant en Maurétanie : L'oasis de Tijigja entre 1660 et 1960, Paris: Karthala, p. 71

A number of reputed walis (saints) are buried in Tabelbala. In the main cemetery of Zaouia Sidi Zekri, imamaden, these include Sidi Zekri (the village's namesake), Sidi Larbi and Sidi Brahim (each said to be the ancestor of a family found there today), and a group of seven unnamed men, the seb`atu rijal ({{langx|ar|سبعة رجال}}), as well as the sixteenth-century Islamic scholar Sidi Makhluf al-Balbali, who is also memorialised in a cenotaph in the hamlet named after him, Makhlouf.Champault, op. cit., p. 393

Tabelbala has 4 operational mosques, with another 2 under construction.{{cite web|title=Mosques and Koranic Rooms|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/76.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032551/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/76.htm|archivedate=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}

Tabelbala's only significant transport link to the outside world is a paved road connecting it to the main Bechar-Tindouf highway some seventy kilometres away. Tabelbala is {{convert|382|km|mi}} from the provincial capital, Béchar.{{cite web|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/Presentation1.htm|title=Presentation|publisher=Site Officiel de la Wilaya de Béchar|language=French|accessdate=19 February 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216230918/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/Presentation1.htm|archivedate=16 February 2013|df=dmy-all}}

There is a total length of {{convert|216|km|mi}} of roads in the commune.{{cite web|title=Density Kilometres|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/90.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429185650/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/90.htm|archivedate=29 April 2014|df=dmy-all}}

There are 5 elementary schools, with 37 classrooms including 24 in use.{{cite web|title=School Infrastructure|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/55.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429191848/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/55.htm|archivedate=29 April 2014|df=dmy-all}} There are a total of 1,104 school students.{{cite web|title=Number of Pupils|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/36.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033043/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/36.htm|archivedate=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}

5.1% of the population has a tertiary education, and another 18.0% has competed secondary education.{{cite web|title=Structure relative de la population résidente des ménages ordinaires et collectifs âgée de 6 ans et plus selon le niveau d'instruction et la commune de résidence.|url=http://www.ons.dz/collections/w08_p6.pdf|publisher=Office National des Statistiques Algérie|accessdate=13 February 2013|language=French}} The overall literacy rate is 75.0%, and is 81.9% among males and 68.2% among females.{{cite web|title=Taux d'analphabétisme et taux d'alphabétisation de la population âgée de 15 ans et plus, selon le sexe et la commune de résidence .|url=http://www.ons.dz/collections/w08_p10.pdf|publisher=Office National des Statistiques Algérie|accessdate=13 February 2013|language=French}}

Tabelbala has one polyclinic and 3 room care facilities. The nearest hospital is in Méchraâ Houari Boumédienne.{{cite web|title=Health Facilities by Commune|url=http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/55.htm|publisher=Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar|accessdate=9 March 2013|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429191848/http://www.wilaya-bechar.gov.dz/55.htm|archivedate=29 April 2014|df=dmy-all}}

• Makhluf al-Balbali, jurist

{{Portal|Algeria}}

{{Reflist}}

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{{Geographic location

|Centre = Tabelbala

|North = Abadla
Hammaguir

|Northeast = Béni Abbès
El Ouata
Zerhamra

|East = Ougarta
Kerzaz
Ouled Khoudir

|Southeast = Adrar

|South = Erg Iguidi Desert

|Southwest = Tindouf

|West = Tinfouchy

|Northwest =

}}

{{Béchar Province}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

Category:Communes of Béchar Province

Category:Ksars

Category:Oases of Algeria

Category:Cities in Algeria