Tipaza is the Berber-speaking city and capital of the Tipaza Province, Algeria. When it was part of the Roman Empire, it was called Tipasa. The modern town was founded in 1857, and is chiefly remarkable for its ancient ruins and sandy littoral.
History
Ancient history
Tipasa, as the city was then called, was an old Punic trading-post conquered by Ancient Rome. It was subsequently turned into a military colony by the emperor Claudius for the conquest of the kingdoms of Mauretania.
Afterwards it became a municipium called Colonia Aelia Tipasensis, that reached the population of 20,000 inhabitants in the fourth century according to Stephane Gsell.
The city serve as an important Christian hub during the last centuries of Roman governorship, with three basilicas.
Tipasa was destroyed by the Vandals in 430 AD, but was reconstructed by the Byzantines one century later. At the end of the seventh century the city was demolished by Umayyad forces and reduced to ruins.
In the nineteenth century the place was settled again. Now it is a town of nearly 30,000 inhabitants. The city is an important tourist place in modern Algeria, mainly because of the Tipasa ruins.
