Béni Abbès

Béni Abbès, also known as the Pearl of the Saoura, and also as the White Oasis, is a town and commune located in western Algeria in Béchar Province, 241km far from the provincial capital Béchar, and 1200km from Algiers.It has been the capital of the Béni Abbès District since 1957. The commune's area is approximately, with a population of 10,885 inhabitants as of the 2008 census, up from 8,850 in 1998, and a population growth rate of 2.1%.Béni Abbès lies in the Saoura valley, on the left bank of the intermittent wadi called Oued Saoura. There are seven ksars in Béni Abbès, including a particularly large one found in a palm grove in the river valley.The people of Béni Abbès are often referred to as Abbabsa.EtymologyBéni Abbès is written in Arabic بني عباس, Bani Abbas ("The children of Abbas"). C.Rames explains in his book Beni-Abbes (Oran Sahara): Historical, geographical and medical study (1941) that the origin of the name comes from the name of the tribe of the city's first occupant : "Forty years after the death of Sidi Othman, in the distant Saguia el-Hamra (Western Sahara), El Mahdi Ben Youssef from the tribe of Beni Abbes".The name actually derives from the similar Arabic بني العباس, Bani Al Abbas ("The children of El-abbas"). El Ayachi wrote in his manuscript Arrihla al ayachia (1662) : "Then we entered the villages of Bani Al Abbas...".