Tabelbala

Tabelbala
تبلبالة
Location of Tabelbala commune within Béchar Province (pre-2019)
Location of Tabelbala commune within Béchar Province (pre-2019)
Tabelbala is located in Algeria
Tabelbala
Tabelbala
Location of Tabelbala within Algeria
Coordinates: 29°24′N 3°15′W / 29.400°N 3.250°W / 29.400; -3.250
CountryAlgeria
ProvinceBéni Abbès
DistrictTabelbala District
Area
 • Total60,650 km2 (23,420 sq mi)
Elevation
518 m (1,699 ft)
Population
 (2008)[2]
 • Total5,121
 • Density0.084/km2 (0.22/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (West Africa Time)

Tabelbala (Arabic: تبلبالة, Berber languages: ⵜⴰⴱⵍⴱⴰⵍⵜ, romanized: Tabelbalt, Korandje: tsawərbəts) is a town and commune between Béchar and Tindouf in south-western Algeria, and is the capital, and only significant settlement, of the Daïra of the same name, encompassing most of the western half of Béni Abbès Province (part of Bechar Province until 2019). As of the 2008 census, its population was 5,121,[2] up from 4,663 in 1998,[3] with an annual growth rate of 1.0%.[2] The commune covers an area of 60,560 square kilometres (23,380 sq mi), making it by far the largest commune in the province, as well as the least densely populated.[1]

Tabelbala is notable for being the only town in Algeria to speak a language neither Arabic nor Berber, namely Korandje,[4] which is spoken by about 3,000 people.[5] Most of the rest of the population are descendants of twentieth-century immigrants to the oasis.[6]

  1. ^ a b "Population, Area and Density per Commune" (in French). Official Website of the Wilaya of Bechar. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "Population: Béchar Wilaya" (PDF) (in French). Office National des Statistiques Algérie. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Algeria Communes". Statoids. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  4. ^ Une oasis du Sahara Nord-Occidental : Tabelbala by Francine Dominique Champault, Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1969
  5. ^ Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa, Lameen Souag, PhD thesis, SOAS, 2010
  6. ^ Souag 2010, op. cit., p. 31

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