Tenes

Tenes is an city and special municipality of Mariana. It is located on the African mainland, about 200km west of Algiers and 250km south of Mariana. Tenes is often compared to the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which border Morocco.

History
Tenes is an ancient Berber town which has existed since the 8th century BC. It was called Kartenas at that time. Ténès or Kartenas was first a Berber and then a Phoenician city. It was later dominated by the Romans. In the last years of the 1st century BC, the town was called Cartennae colonia, or simply Cartennas, by emperor Augustus. The Romans occupied the city for about five centuries.

Later the town was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate for a short period. Under Islamic Umayyad rule, Ténès was an independent monarchy. The Sultan Hamid El Abd was the last ruler of the monarchy of Ténès. After the Berbers removed the Umayyad occupation during the Great Berber Revolt, the Kharijite Islam religion was spread in the city and later Shia Islam dominated during the Fatimids rule.

Marianan conquest
Under King Felipe in 1359, Mariana sent some of soldiers to assist the Marinid rulers against an insurrection in the area, but Felipe's wife, Margareta the Fair, instead sent another company after them, sensing the weakness of the Marinids, and was able to establish a foothold on the town and nearly 350 other square kilometers of land around it. A fortress was built and the town had walls built, and soon enough 600 Marianans came to settle the city. Most Arab inhabitants were forced out the city, though a few Chenoui Berber families were allowed to remain.

In the 1500s it came under threat of the Kingdom of Tlemcen, where soldiers attempted an invasion in 1522 and a siege in 1526 which both failed. Eventually in 1531 Mariana offered most of the land around the city to Spain in exchange for military assistance. A larger siege took place in 1535, in which the town was cut off by land for two months until forced to call off the siege due to harassment by raiding parties.

The Petty Empire years
In the 1840s, Tenes became the staging ground for further military expansion in the region, as Marianan soldiers moved to take more land to the south and west of Tenes.

Special municipality
Following World War II, the government under Prime Minister Alexander Bouras passed laws that abolished the colonies and established overseas territories in their stead in 1951. Tenesians, while not in a colony, were given the choice of voting to be incorporated within a parish or become a separate, special municipality of Mariana. Citizens overwhelmingly supported becoming a special municipality, with 89% in favor.

Recent history
Upon Algeria's independence in 1962, the government there demanded Tenes returned to Algeria; Mariana countered that the city was never part of a unified Algeria nor was it ever in France's jurisdiction and could not be given. Furthermore it was by then and for a long time an integral part of Mariana. In the late 1950s and through the 1960s, with the risk of potential conflict, Tenes became an important military posting, with nearly one-quarter of the Royal Guard posted to the city in 1960-61 alone.

In the early 1960s a series of ditches and stone walls were erected on the Marianan side of the border, extended and improved in the early 2000s, though nowhere near the extent as in Ceuta and Melilla.

A number of discussions were held between Mariana and Algeria in the early 1960s and under the Warson government in 1968, it was agreed that the status of Tenes would be tentatively accepted by the Algerian government while maintaining active their claim to the city. Further talks between Prime Minister Willemont and President Chadli Bendjedid in 1991 and 1992 would have seen a relinquishing of claims in exchange for financial and development support, but his toppling in 1992 and the outbreak of civil war ended that.

Geography
Tenes is located in the area of the Chlef province of Algeria. The region around the city is dominated by several mountains to the south and east, which are all in Algerian territory.

Tenes has a fairly warm climate, though in the winter may get a few centimeters of snow.

Politics and government
Tenes is led by a mayor and has a municipal government. Along with Desiry, the other special municipality, they have a representative in the congress, presently. Due to their status they do not have their own political parties but have Marianan parties.

Political status
Presently the Algerian government de-facto recognizes the status of Tenes as a Marianan city, but still maintains but does not actively press its claims to it. An overwhelming amount of inhabitants support their current status.

Economy
Most of the local economy was centered around fishing. Today most of the economy based is on tertiary/service industry, with lots of cross-border shopping and trade with Algeria.

Transport
Tenes has a public bus system which operates throughout the city. From the 19th century to 1936 it had a tram. Tenes has three border crossings with Algeria, to the west and south, with a much smaller one near the port. There are ferry connections to Palma, Palma via Ibiza and to Barcelona in Spain.

People wishing to fly must use Oran Ahmed Ben Bella Airport (the closest) or Houari Boumediene in Algiers.