The ancient Kingdom of Tlemcen was located in the territory of which present-day country?

Modern Tlemcen is a city of about 380,000 inhabitants, the second-largest in north-western Algeria after Oran. It is the capital of Tlemcen Province and has developed textile and other industries.

The ancient Kingdom of Tlemcen was established in the same part of North Africa in 1236 and ruled by sultans of the Zayyanid dynasty. It was a Berber kingdom with territory stretching from the town of Tlemcen to Algiers, and at one point reached the Moulouya River in the west, Sijilmasa to the south and the Soummam in the east.

In its day Tlemcen was a hub for the north-south trade route from Oran on the Mediterranean coast to the Western Sudan. As a prosperous trading centre, it attracted its more powerful neighbours. At various times the kingdom was invaded and occupied by the Marinids from the west, the Hafsids from the east, and the Aragonese from the north (in modern-day Spain). At other times, they were able to take advantage of turmoil among their neighbours.

In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the state became progressively weaker and was intermittently a vassal state of one or other of these neighbours. By the end of the 15th century the Kingdom of Aragon had gained control, intervening in the dynastic disputes of the Tlemcen’s rulers, whose authority had shrunk to the town and its immediate area. The state was captured in 1554 by the Ottoman Empire and, under this new regime, Tlemcen quickly lost its former importance, becoming a sleepy provincial town.