Bona

Bona (Fr. Bône), a seaport town of Algeria, in the province of Constantine, situated on a bay of the Mediterranean, near the mouth of the Sebus, 220 miles W. of Tunis by rail. The town, divided into two parts, Upper and Lower Bona, is situated in a beautiful but unhealthy district at the foot of a hill, and is defended by a citadel and several forts. Since the occupation of Bona by the French in 1832, the town has been much improved, and has good bazaars, shops, markets, reading-rooms, &c.; manufactures of tapestry, saddlery, and native clothing; and a trade in wool, hides, corn, coral, and wax. The exposed roadstead has been made into a fair harbour. There are iron and copper mines near Bona. A telegraph cable was laid between Bona and Marseilles in 1870. Among the public buildings, the Catholic church and the convent of the Sisters of Mercy are most remarkable. Near Bona are some scanty remains of the once famous city, Hippo Regius, a centre of commerce and civilisation in North Africa destroyed by Caliph Osman in 646, the favourite residence of the Numidian kings, and the episcopal seat of St Augustine, who died here in 430. Conspicuous on a hill-top above the site of Hippo is the great basilica of St Augustine, inaugurated in April 1900. Pop. (1900) 32,500.