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PlacesPeople & PlacesHistorical · c. 1391–1962

ALGERIA · 34.9°N 1.3°W · CITY

Tlemcen

Zayyanid golden-age city that sheltered 1391 Catalan exiles - including Rabbi Ephraim Alnaqua, whose tomb remains a shared Jewish-Muslim pilgrimage site.

Modern locality anchor

Tlemcen

Algeria · City · 34.9°N 1.3°W

This anchor orients the sourced locality record. It is not a reconstructed historical position or border; the single map below provides geographic context.

View location

Where is Tlemcen?

Land geometry: Natural Earth 1:50m via world-atlas. Pins mark modern localities or representative regional anchors stored on Atlas place records, not historical borders and not reconstructed positions. · Sources & methods

THE COMMUNITY TIMELINE · EVERY NODE DATED

What happened to the Jewish community of Tlemcen?

1391–1830

Zayyanid-era golden age; 1391 Catalan exiles (R. Ephraim Alnaqua)

1830–1962

French-era small community

1962–1962

1962 exodus ends the community

Today

Today

Shrine pilgrimage; no community.

LANGUAGES & COMMUNITY

What did Tlemcen sound like?

Judeo-Arabic is a language with its own grammar, literature, and history — not “broken” anything, and not a dialect of Hebrew.

AFTER · IN FULL COLOR

What survives today?

In Tlemcen

Shrine pilgrimage; no community.

  • Ephraim Alnaqua tomb/shrine

    shared shrine · historic site

    Public pilgrimage site; shared Jewish-Muslim reverence - presented as tradition.

  • Mellah quarter

    historic quarter · public landmark

In Israel & the diaspora

The community's story continued elsewhere — these places carry it now.

SOURCES & REVIEW

  • Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (place entry)

    Macmillan Reference USA · 2007

  • Algeria - Virtual Jewish History Tour

    Jewish Virtual Library · open source

Reviewed 2026-07-30

Reading about Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)? Baba can help you understand the languages in context →