Bougie Algeria Minor seaport in Carthaginian and Roman times, lying on the Mediterranean coast, 152km (94 miles) north-west of Constantine, and surrounded on either side by a strech of fine beaches. In the 5th century, it became the fortified capital of Genseric the Vandal for a grief period before falling into decline. Refounded by the Berber in the 11th century, it bacame a major port and cultural center in north-west Africa before declining into a notorious stronghold for pirates.

Today, Bejaia is a pipeline terminal, handling oil from the great Hassi Messaoud field. The port also exports citrus fruits, cereals, olive oil, iron ore and phosphates.

The town lies at the mouth of the Wadi Soummam. Sheltered by Mount Gouraya (2,165 feet [660 m]) and Cape Carbon, it receives an annual average rainfall of 40 inches (1,000 mm) and is surrounded by a fertile plain. The older town, built on the mountain slope, descends to the French-built sector spread along the road to Algiers and containing the business and industrial quarters.

Ruins remain of the small Roman veterans' town of Saldae and of the successive Berber settlement of the Bejaļa tribe, which gained importance as a fortified Hammadid capital in 1067. It traded with Europe and introduced the wax candle (French: bougie). The Spanish occupation (1510-55), the town's subsequent capture by the Turks, and the predominance of Algiers relegated the port to minor importance until the French occupation (1833) and the improvement of its harbour (1905-09).

Population: (estimated) 190.000