El Oued
city and capital of El Oued Province, Algeria
El Oued (Arabic: اﻟﻮادي, romanized: al-Wādī), Souf or Oued Souf is a city, and the capital of El Oued Province, in Algeria. The oasis town is watered by an underground river, hence its name is El Oued which enables date palm cultivation and the rare use (for the desert) of brick construction for housing. As most roofs are domed, it is known as the "City of a Thousand Domes".
El Oued is located 400 miles (640 km) south east of Algiers (the capital city of Algeria), near the Tunisian border. The population of El Oued was 134,699 as of the 2008 census, up from 105,256 in 1998, with a population growth rate of 2.5%.
History
In the 11th century, the Fatimids sent Banu Hilal to the Tripolitania, Tunisia and Constantine areas to fight against the Zirids.
Culture
The inhabitants belong to Teroud tribe (Arabic: بنو طرود) living in and near Oued Souf area.
Climate
El Oued has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with very hot summers and mild winters. Rainfall is light and sporadic, and summers are particularly dry.
Transportation
The N16 highway connects El Oued to Touggourt to the southwest and Tebessa to the northeast.
“El Oued” enters the record as city and capital of El Oued Province, Algeria. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Oued, city and capital can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“El Oued” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Oued, city and capital provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1642636. VIAF identifies the subject as 160666223. The Library of Congress control number is n2010078615. Authority coordinates are 33.368, 6.867. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 1998.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “El Oued”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow El Oued primary sources, El Oued archive and Oued research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “El Oued”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “El Oued” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.