Editing Blida (section)

==History==
[[Image:Al-Kawthar Mosque in Blida, Algeria.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Al-kawthar Mosque, Blida]]
No ancient center preceded the city. It was identified with the town of Mitidja in the Middle Ages which was ruined during the Beni Ghania campaigns. The present town was founded by [[Moors]] in the 16th century.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |year=1899 |title=Arab Market, Blida, Algeria |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8785/ |access-date=25 September 2013 |website=[[World Digital Library]] |archive-date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927132509/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8785/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The town was rebuilt according to a [[grid plan]] following an earthquake in 1825 on a site about a mile distant from the ruins.<ref name="WDL" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Babo |first=Daniel |title=Algérie |date=2010 |publisher=le Sureau |isbn=978-2-911328-25-1 |series=Des hommes et des lieux |location=Méolans-Revel}}</ref> It numbers among its buildings several mosques and churches, extensive barracks and a large military hospital. The principal square, the place d'Armes, is surrounded by arcaded houses and shaded by trees. The center of a fertile district, and a post on one of the main routes in the country, Blida has a flourishing trade, chiefly in oranges and flour. The orange groves contain over 50,000 trees, and in April the air for miles round is laden with the scent of the orange blossoms. In the public gardens is a group of magnificent olive trees. The products of the neighboring cork trees and cedar groves are a source of revenue to the town.<ref name="WDL" /><ref name="EB1911" /> Sidi Ahmed El-Kebir, Blida's founder, is buried in Sidi El-Kebir (an area named after him). He founded Blida in the 16th century.

A mosque was built by order of [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Khair-ed-din Barbarossa]], and under the Turks the town was of some importance.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Blida|volume=4|pages=58–59|inline=1}}</ref> It was intricately rebuilt of interconnecting alleyways and streets, and was made accessible through the existing six major gates. The gates were as follows: 
*Bab Er-Rahba
*Bab Ed-Zair
*Bab El-Khouikha
*Bab Es-Sebt
*Bab Ez-Zaouia
*Bab El-Kbour
*Bab El-Kseb

Today those gates no longer exist, but their names are still in use by people in Blida as reference points to locate streets, places, schools and businesses.

In 1867, another earthquake damaged Blida.<ref name="WDL"/>

Blida Province is home to a number of Berber-speaking tribes &towns. The Berbers of Blida are known as Djebailia and have been in the plains of Blida/Matija for thousands of years according to historians such as Ibn khaldoun. The tribes are Beni Salah (Ith salah), Beni Misrah (Ith Misra), Ghalia and many more. They speak Taqbaylit the language of the [[Kabyle people|Kabyle]] which is the Berber language of blida close to the [[Kabyle language|Kabyle]] varieties spoken east of [[Algiers]] Province, It is 95% identical and has traditionally been seen as an intermediate between Kabyle and the [[Chenoua language]] native to the north-eastern part of the country.