The Aurès is the eastern continuation of the Atlas system in northeastern Algeria, a massif of folded limestone reaching 2,328 metres at Djebel Chélia. Its valleys — the Abiod, the Oued el-Arab — cut deep canyons through the range and harbour the cedar and Aleppo pine forests of the upper slopes.
The Aurès is the homeland of the Chaoui, who speak Tachawit, a northern Tamazight variety with around two million speakers. It is the second-largest Berber-speaking community in Algeria after the Kabyles.
In the seventh century the massif was the stronghold of the Berber queen al-Kahina, who led the indigenous resistance to the Umayyad conquest until her defeat and death around 703 CE. The Aurès remained a region of relative autonomy under successive Islamic dynasties and Ottoman administration alike.
In the modern period the range was the last fastness of armed resistance to French colonial pacification, and on 1 November 1954 the Algerian War of Independence began with coordinated attacks across the country, of which the most decisive were launched from the Aurès by Mostefa Ben Boulaïd and the Wilaya I command. The principal town is Batna.