LAUSR

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the urban form of Algiers at the beginning of the Ottoman period using two information sources which have often been overlooked: the morphology of the natural relief and the urban hydrographic system of the medina of Algiers. In the first part of the article relief morphology and urban hydrography enable us to construct a scenario of urban growth which constitutes the weft of our morphological reconstruction. In the second part, the cross checking of this scenario with archaeological and historical sources confirm its validity and enable us to identify more precisely the urban form of Algiers in 1516–18.