in the Capture of Bougie in 1555. Until it was captured by the French in 1833, Béjaïa was a stronghold of the Barbary pirates (see Barbary States).
It was Christianized in the 5th century, became officially Arian under the Vandals, and then Muslim under the Berbers. City landmarks include a 16th-century mosque and a casbah (fortress) built by the Spanish in 1545.
A picture of Orientalist painter Maurice Boitel, who painted in the city for a while, can be found in the museum of Béjaïa
