Djurdjura National Park
Encyclopedia
The national park
of Djurdjura (Arabic: الحديقة الوطنية جرجرة) is one of the national parks of Algeria. It is located in Kabylia, named after the Djurdjura mountain chain. Nearby cities include Tizi Ouzou
(to the north) and Bouïra
(to the south). The park is home to a very broken tectonics
, as well as many forest
s, grotto
es, gorges, and important fauna
, including the endangered Barbary Macaque
, Macaca sylvanus, a primate whose prehistoric distribution in North Africa
was much broader than today.
word Jjerjer which means means "great cold" or "elevation", from the old compound word Jer n Jer "the mountain of the mountains".
The Roman Empire
used to call it Iron
mountain in Latin (Montus Ferratus), in reference to the soil of the region, as well as to the resistance of the Kabyle
s against the Roman annexation of Kabylia. The name Djurdjura is also used for the villages located in this mountain chain. Mmis n'Djerdjer means "children of the Djurdjura", which is a Kabyle word referring to mountain inhabitants, there is also a Kabyle female group
called DjurDjura.
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
of Djurdjura (Arabic: الحديقة الوطنية جرجرة) is one of the national parks of Algeria. It is located in Kabylia, named after the Djurdjura mountain chain. Nearby cities include Tizi Ouzou
Tizi Ouzou
Tizi Ouzou is a city in Kabylia, Algeria, where it ranks second in population after Béjaïa. It is the capital and largest city of Tizi Ouzou Province and of Great Kabylia .-Etymology:The name comes from the Kabylian Berber Tizi n Uzezzu and is pronounced Tizuzzu, commonly...
(to the north) and Bouïra
Bouira
Bouïra is the capital of Bouïra Province, Algeria.-Demographics:It has 75,086 inhabitants as of the 1998 census, which gives it 15 seats in the PMA.-Geography:...
(to the south). The park is home to a very broken tectonics
Tectonics
Tectonics is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the lithosphere of the Earth and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of...
, as well as many forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s, grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
es, gorges, and important fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
, including the endangered Barbary Macaque
Barbary Macaque
The Barbary Macaque , or Common macaque, is a macaque with no tail. Found in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco with a small population, of unknown origin, in Gibraltar, the Barbary Macaque is one of the best-known Old World monkey species. Besides humans, they are the only primates that...
, Macaca sylvanus, a primate whose prehistoric distribution in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
was much broader than today.
Name
The name of the mountain chain comes from the KabyleKabyle language
Kabyle or Kabylian is a Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people north and northeast of Algeria. Estimates about the number of speakers range from 5 million to about 7 million speakers worldwide, the majority in Algeria.-Classification:The classification of Kabyle is Afro-Asiatic, Berber and...
word Jjerjer which means means "great cold" or "elevation", from the old compound word Jer n Jer "the mountain of the mountains".
The Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
used to call it Iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
mountain in Latin (Montus Ferratus), in reference to the soil of the region, as well as to the resistance of the Kabyle
Kabyle people
The Kabyle people are the largest homogeneous Algerian ethno-cultural and linguistical community and the largest nation in North Africa to be considered exclusively Berber. Their traditional homeland is Kabylie in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers...
s against the Roman annexation of Kabylia. The name Djurdjura is also used for the villages located in this mountain chain. Mmis n'Djerdjer means "children of the Djurdjura", which is a Kabyle word referring to mountain inhabitants, there is also a Kabyle female group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
called DjurDjura.