Like the rest of the Maghreb, the site of modern-day Arzew was originally inhabited by the Berbers. Arzew's original Berber population came mainly from the nearby town of Bethioua, families from nearby Mostaganem, Kabyles, that were deported there.[citation needed][when?][clarification needed]
Nearby Bethioua was the Portus Magnus ("Great Port") under the Roman Empire, although the name was used on Arzew's coat of arms under French colonial rule. Portus Magnus was a Roman colony or otherwise received citizen status[1] and exported grain and salt. Arsenaria was a nearby settlement 3 Roman miles (c. 4.4km) inland from the sea.[1] Portus Magnus was destroyed during the Vandalconquest of northwest Africa in AD 429 or 430 but saw some use by the Byzantines after their 6th-century recovery of the area, leaving some Christian remains. After the 7th-century Islamic conquest, the site seems to have been entirely abandoned, El Bekri describing "Arzao" as having only empty Roman ruins c. 1068. The Almohads refounded the port as Bethioua in 1162. Under the Ziyanids, this port near Tlemcen was renamed Marsa Ben Zian ("Port of the Sons of Zian"). The Roman relics remaining at Bethioua into the early modern period were mostly removed to the provincial museum at Oran during the 19th and 20th centuries.
During the Algerian War of Independence, the city hosted one of the two SDECE French intelligence CIPCGs (Centre d'instruction à la pacification et à la contre-guérilla [ fr ]), bases used for counter-guerilla and pacification work.[4]
Modern Algeria
After the independence of Algeria in 1962, Arzew became an important port and industrial area, home to a refinery exporting LNG (liquified natural gas), as well as a fleet of small fishingboats to work the local waters.
^"Arzew", Wikipédia (in French), 2023-07-09, retrieved 2023-11-10
^"Arzew", Wikipédia (in French), 2023-07-09, retrieved 2023-11-10
^Frédéric Guelton: The French Army 'Centre for Training and Preparation in Counter-Guerrilla Warfare' (CIPCG) at Arzew, Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 22:2 (2002), pp.35-55.