Aurès Mountains

One of the Atlas ranges, in northeast Algeria; highest peak, Djebel Chelia, 2,350 m/7,710 ft. The inhabitants, mostly Kabyle Berbers, are often light-skinned, and it has been suggested that they may be of Gaulish or Vandal ancestry.

The remoteness of the Aurès Mountains has enabled their inhabitants to resist invasion on a number of occasions. The people sustained effective resistance to Roman rule prior to the first century BC. The mountains have also been occupied by the Arabs, the Turks, and the French (in 1845). Prior to Algerian independence, the main French administrative settlement was at Batua, near the Roman ruins of Lambaesis.