Guelma Province

Infobox Algerian Province

---

name1 = Guelma
name2 =قالمة
provincecode = 24
areacode = 37
capital = Guelma
districts = 10
municipalities = 34
wali =
president =
order = 1 E+9 m²
area1 = 4,101
area2 = 1,583.4
population = 482,261 [http://rgph2008.ons.dz/resultat/histo.htm Office National des Statistiques, Recensement General de la Population et de l’Habitat 2008] Preliminary results of the 2008 population census. Accessed on 2008-07-02. ]
popyear = 2008
density1 = 117.6
density2 = 304.6|

Guelma Province (Arabic : ولاية قالمة ) is a province in eastern Algeria. Its namesake is its seat and most populous municipality: Guelma.

History

Its civilians suffered heavy casualties during the 1945 Sétif massacre by the French Army. The province itself was established on 1974. Before that, it was part of Annaba Province. In 1983, the province lost its south-eastern half in favor of the creation of Souk Ahras Province.

Demographics

It has 429.998 inhabitants as of the 1998 census, one of the lower populations in the country, which gives it 39 seats in the APW, the province's assembly. The population density is 105/km², or 272/sq mi. Of them, 54,4 % live in urban areas and 87 % have access to safe drinking water, lower than the national average of 89%. [http://www.mre.gov.dz/eau/aep-mre1-.htm] . Of the active population of the province, 23,3 % work in agriculture, 17,9 % in constructions, 9,9 % in industry, and 48,9 % in the services sector. 21,1 % of the population is unemployed. [http://www.ansej.org.dz/Wilayate/GUELMA.htm]

Geography

The territory of the province (4.101 km², or 1,583 sq mi) is mainly composed of arable lands (about 49 %) or 1.89 km² of which about 100 km² is irrigated, and the rest is rainfed. In the area surrounding Guelma, around 130 km² is irrigable, 110 km² in the area between Oued Zenati and Tamlouka, and 20 km² around Bouchegouf. Forests cover about 31 % of the total area, which equals 0.9 km² composed mainly of Aleppo Pine, Algerian Oak and Cork Oak. Areas dedicated for future industrial developpement, called "activity zones" in Algeria cover 2 km². [http://www.ansej.org.dz/Wilayate/GUELMA.htm]

Administrative divisions

The province is further divided into 10 districts (daïras), which are further divided into 34 municipalities (communes), the following list shows the districts with their municipalities, and with the seat bolded [http://www.joradp.dz/JO8499/1991/041/FP1307.pdf] :
*Guelaât Bou Sbaâ
*Bouchegouf
*Khezaras
*Oued Zenati
*Hammam Debagh
*Héliopolis
*Hammam N'Bails
*Aïn Makhlouf
*Houari Boumédienne
*Guelma

Personalities

*Houari Boumédienne, President of Algeria
*Saint Possidius, bishop of Calama (Guelma) (5th century)

References

External links

*fr icon ar icon de icon en icon [http://www.guelma.org Official website of the tourism office of Guelma Province]