Editing Hippo Regius (section)

== History ==
{{further|Maghreb placename etymology}}
[[File:Mileve Hippo Thagaste in Numidia.JPG|right|thumb|Hippo Regius on the map of Roman [[Numidia (Roman province)|Numidia]], ''Atlas Antiquus'', H. Kiepert, 1869]]
Hippo is the [[latinization of names|latinization]] of {{smallcaps|ʿpwn}} ({{langx|xpu|𐤏𐤐𐤅{{popdf}}𐤍}}),{{sfn|Head|Hill|MacDonald|Wroth|1911|p=886}}{{sfn|Ghaki|2015|p=66}} probably related to the word ''ûbôn'', meaning "harbor".{{sfnp|Brown|2013|p=326}} The town was first settled by [[Phoenicians]] from [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] around the 12th century{{nbsp}}BC. To distinguish it from Hippo Diarrhytus (the modern [[Bizerte]], in [[Tunisia]]), the Romans later referred to it as Hippo Regius ("the Royal Hippo") because it was one of the residences of the [[Numidia]]n kings. Its nearby river was Latinized as the Ubus and the bay to its east was known as Hippo Bay ({{langx|la|Hipponensis Sinus}}).

A maritime city near the mouth of the river Ubus, it became a Roman [[colonia (Roman)|colonia]]{{sfn|Pétridès|1910}} which prospered and became a major city in [[Roman Empire|Roman]] Africa. It served as the [[Diocese|bishopric]] of [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] of Hippo in his later years. In AD 430, the [[Vandals]] advanced eastwards along the North African coast and [[Siege of Hippo Regius|laid siege to the walled city of Hippo Regius]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} Inside, Saint Augustine and his priests prayed for relief from the invaders, knowing full well that the fall of the city would spell death or conversion to the [[Arianism|Arian confession]] for much of the Christian population. On 28 August 430, three months into the siege, St. Augustine (who was 75 years old) died,{{sfn|Portalié|1907}} perhaps from starvation or stress, as the wheat fields outside the city lay dormant and unharvested. Hunger and the inevitable diseases were ravaging both the city inhabitants and the Vandals outside the city walls who lifted the siege after 14 months.<ref name="Merrills">{{cite book|author=Andrew Merrills, Richard Miles|title=The Vandals|year=2009|publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4443-1808-1|pages=55}}</ref> The peace treaty of 435 acknowledged the Vandals' possession of the city<ref name="Merrills" /> and [[Geiseric|King Geiseric]] made it the first capital of the [[Vandal Kingdom]] until the [[Battle of Carthage (439)|capture]] of Carthage in 439.{{sfn|Merrills|Miles|2009|p=60}}

It was conquered by the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] in 534 and was kept under Roman rule until 698, when it fell to the [[Muslim]]s; the Arabs rebuilt the town in the eighth century. The city's later history is treated under its modern (Arabic and colonial) names.

About three kilometres distant in the eleventh century, the Berber [[Zirids]] established the town of ''Beleb-el-Anab'', which the Spaniards occupied for some years in the sixteenth century, as the French did later, in the reign of [[Louis XIV]]. France took this town again in 1832. It was renamed Bône or Bona, and became one of the government centres for the [[Constantine (departement)]] in Algeria.{{sfn|Pétridès|1910}} It had 37,000 inhabitants, of whom 10,800 were original inhabitants, consisting of 9,400 Muslims and 1,400 naturalized Jews. 15,700 were French and 10,500 foreigners, including many Italians.