Aurès Mountains in the context of Khenchela

Shawiya, or Shawiya Berber, also spelt Chaouïa (native form: Tacawit [θæʃæwiθ]), is a Zenati Berber language spoken in Algeria by the Shawiya people. The language's primary speech area is the Awras Mountains and in the surrounding regions in eastern Algeria, including Batna, Khenchela, Sétif, Oum El Bouaghi, Souk Ahras, Tébessa, Biskra, Guelma, Mila and Constantine.It is closely related to the Shenwa language of Central Algeria.

Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Sherif, also known as Ahmed Bey or Hadj Ahmed Bey (Arabic: الحاج أحمد باي) (c. 1784 – c. 1850) was the last bey of Constantine in the Regency of Algiers, ruling from 1826 to 1848. He was the successor of Mohamed Menamenni Bey ben Khan. As head of state, he led the local population in a fierce resistance to the French occupation forces. With the position vacant, in 1833 he adopted the title of leader of Algeria, and dey in exile, although this was not recognized by any other country. In 1837 Constantine was taken by the French after an intense siege. He retreated into the Aurès Mountains from where he continued to wage a low-intensity conflict with tribes still loyal to him, until he capitulated in 1848.

Timgad (Arabic: تيمقاد, romanized: Tīmqād, known as Marciana Traiana Thamugadi) was a Roman city in the Aurès Mountains of Algeria. It was founded by the Roman Emperor Trajan around 100 AD. The full name of the city was Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi. Emperor Trajan named the city in commemoration of his mother Marcia, eldest sister Ulpia Marciana, and father Marcus Ulpius Traianus.

Located in modern-day Algeria, about 35 kilometers (22 mi) east of the city of Batna, the ruins are noteworthy for representing one of the best extant examples of the grid plan as used in Roman town planning. Timgad was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982.

Aurès (Arabic: أَوْرَاس, romanized: Awrās) is a natural region located in the mountainous area of the Aurès range, in eastern Algeria. The region includes the Algerian provinces of Batna, Tebessa, Constantine, Khenchela, Oum El Bouaghi, Souk Ahras and Biskra.

The Kingdom of the Aurès (Latin: Regnum Aurasium) was an independent Christian Berber kingdom primarily located in the Aurès Mountains of present-day north-eastern Algeria. Established in the 480s by King Masties following a series of Berber revolts against the Vandalic Kingdom, which had conquered the Roman province of Africa in 435 AD, with a small interruption of Byzantine occupation from 539 to 544 AD during the Moorish wars and the Aurès campaign, the kingdom would last as an independent realm until the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in 703 AD when its last monarch, Queen Dihya, was slain in battle.

Much like the larger Mauro-Roman Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Aurès combined aspects of Roman and Berber culture in order to efficiently rule over a population composed of both Roman provincials and Berber tribespeople. For instance, King Masties used the title of Dux and later Imperator to legitimize his rule and openly declared himself a Christian. Despite this, Aurès would not recognize the suzerainty of the remaining Roman Empire in the East (often called the Byzantine Empire by modern historians) and King Iabdas unsuccessfully invaded the Praetorian prefecture of Africa, established after the Byzantines had defeated the Vandals. One possible reason towards why the Berbers could not be integrated as successfully into the Byzantine Empire as they had been before was the Byzantine shift in language from Latin to Greek, the Berbers were thus no longer bilingual with the language of their nominal rulers.