Present-day Skikda was founded by French governorSylvain Charles Valée in 1838 under the namePhilippeville,[1] honoringthe French king at the time. TheFrench were in the process ofannexing Algeria and developed Philippeville as a port forConstantine,[1] Algeria's third-largest city. The two cities wereconnected by rail. The harbour works, with every vessel in port, was destroyed by a storm in 1878; a larger harbour was then built.[1] On 10 October 1883, there was an earthquake in Philippeville.[6]
Towards the end ofWorld War II, aUNRRA refugee camp nameCampJeanne d'Arc was established near the city. On 25 January 1945, 200 Jews holding citizenship from countries in North andSouth America were sent from theBergen-Belsen concentration camp to Switzerland as part of a prisoner exchange group. They were later sent to the UNRRA camp in Skikda.[7]
An attack by the FLN in 1955 during the war of Independence left around 123 civilians dead, mainly French and those suspected of collaboration.[8] Angered over the massacre of civilians, including women, seniors, and babies, the French escalated their offensive against the FLN. Reprisals by French forces may have killed between 1,200 (according to French sources,) and 12,000 civilians (according to the FLN.)
The city has a commercial harbour with a gas and oil terminal. On 15 February 1989 theDutch tanker theMVMaassluis was anchored just outside the port, waiting to dock the next day at the terminal, whenextreme weather broke out. The ship's anchors did not hold and the ship smashed on the pier-head of the port. The disaster killed 27 of the 29 people on board.[9]
The city has a population of over 250,000 inhabitant.Natural gas,oil refining, andpetrochemical industries were developed in the 1970s and pipelines have been built for their transportation. The city hall (a neo-moorish style palace) and the railroad station were designed byLe Corbusier.
The official city flag colours are blue and white, reflecting the colours of the Mediterranean. The current postal code is 21000. Skikda has the third largest commercial port in Algeria afterAlgiers andOran. It has also a petrochemical terminal port and a smaller fishing port inStora, and there are many beaches along the naturalMediterranean coastline. There is also a closed airport near the petrochemical complex.
Skikda lies on the coast of theGulf of Stora, part of theMediterranean Sea. The landscape is hilly and forested, with high ridges on both the western and eastern sides of the city.
Historically, Skikda is known for its seaport. It was described, in 1911, byBaedeker as having "the youngest Algerianseaport."[12] On 19 January 2004, a fire and explosion at the Skikda LNG facility killed 29 people and caused $940,000,000 worth of damage. The accident incapacitated three LNG trains and impacted approximately 2% of the world's liquefaction capacity. The explosion was preceded by the ingestion of a sizable leak of cold hydrocarbon into the boiler of the westernmost LNG line. This caused the boiler to explode. According to a 2018 report by Marsh McLennan on the 100 largest losses in the hydrocarbon industry, the Skikda explosion is the second most damaging gas processing incident since 1974.[13]
TheUniversity of Skikda is the main educational institution in the city and the province, with two campuses located in Azabba and Al-Hadaiq, attracting students from local, national, and international backgrounds. It offers a range of programs, including specialized courses in petrochemical engineering, which are key to the region's industrial development. The university plays a significant role in preparing students for careers in various fields, contributing to Skikda as a growing industrial and logistics city.
Skikda, with football being the most popular. The city's top club,JSM Skikda, represents Skikda in national competitions and has the largest supporters base in the province. The team plays at the Skikda Stadium of 20 August 1955. In addition to JSM Skikda, there are other clubs and football academies competing in inter-regional leagues.
Handball is also a prominent sport in Skikda, with JS Esperance de Skikda being a dominant club that represent the city and province in the national league. The club is well-known for its success, having won numerous national and international titles and currently playing in the top tier.
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