| Tizi Ouzou | |
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| — Commune and city — | |
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Tizi Ouzou
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Algeria |
| Province | Tizi Ouzou Province |
| District | Tizi Ouzou District |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Total | 144,000 |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
Tizi Ouzou (in Amazigh: Tizi-Uzezzu / ) 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 (Grande Kabylie, which is the western part of Kabylia).
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The name comes from the Kabylian Berber Tizi n Uzezzu and is pronounced Tizuzzu, commonly Tizi.
Tizi means "hill", while Azezzu means "broom" (the preposition n "of" is not pronounced here). That is why the city is often referred to as "The hills of broom" (French Le col des genêts).
This city, with more than 100 000 inhabitants, is located in the heart of Kabylia. It is about 30 km from several coastal cities such as Tigzirt, Azeffoun or Dellys (in the wilaya of Boumerdès).
Tizi Ouzou lies 100 km east of the Algerian capital, Algiers. A highway connects the two cities.
Tizi Ouzou is located in the valley of Wadi Sébaou. It is surrounded by mountains. The city itself was built at an altitude of 200m.
The city of broom is bounded on the north by Mount Belloua which rises to 850 m above sea level. A portion of the old city of Tizi Ouzou (known as the High City) backed the east slopes of the mountain. At the top of the mountain Belloua lies the village of Redjaouna. The latter is attached to the town of Tizi Ouzou.
The daïra of Tizi Ouzou consists of a single commune. This is the town of Tizi Ouzou. The two administrative structures share the same area (102.36 km2) and the same number of inhabitants (118 542 in 1998).
The city is linked to Algiers and several towns, like Béjaïa, through a major road network.
Because of congestion and traffic jams caused by cars crossing the town, a bypass road was built recently in order to circumvent Tizi Ouzou.
The wilaya (province) of Tizi Ouzou is one of the wilayas of Algeria which has the largest fleet. Moreover, it is also one of wilayas which records the highest number of deaths on the road.
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