Tebessa Province
Roman Theveste above ground (Arch of Caracalla, St. Crispina's basilica), Djebel Onk phosphate deposits below (2.8B tonnes, 4,000 tons of daily waste since 1965).
Tebessa is two economies stacked on top of each other: Roman ruins above ground, phosphate deposits below. The Greeks called it Thebéstē—"Hundred Gates." Rome based the 3rd Augustan Legion here before transferring it to Lambaesis. Trajan made it a colony in the early 2nd century. The Arch of Caracalla (214 AD), Temple of Minerva, and Basilica of St. Crispina still stand—one of the largest basilicas in Africa, rebuilt by Byzantine general Solomon in 535.
Underground lies Djebel Onk: 2.8 billion tonnes of phosphate ore at 24% P2O5, one of Algeria's largest reserves. The complex began operations in 1965 and now generates over 4,000 tons of waste sludge daily—untreated, dumped in the adjacent valley for decades. A new railway is being built in 2024 to transport phosphates to Annaba's Mediterranean port.
The province sits at Algeria's eastern edge, 21 km from the Tunisian border. Byzantine walls popularly called "Solomon's Walls" still stand, flanked by thirteen square towers. Inside them: Roman antiquities, Christian basilicas, Islamic history. Outside them: phosphate extraction, environmental contamination, global commodity flows. Tebessa's identity splits between heritage tourism and industrial extraction—the ruins pay fewer bills than the mines.