underground dam in Tadjmout, which is the largest of its kind in Africa and dates to the colonial period. It is also known for its mineral water, called milok water, which has attracted investment from a Spanish bottler. Demographics Most residents of Laghouat Province trace their origins to Berbers and Arabs and neighboring Bedouin tribes that roamed the area. The population was very small due to the relatively isolated nature of the city. In1928 it had 7,000 people, and 11,999 in 1954. After independence in 1962 it was recorded that about 1000 Europeans and 600 Jews departed, but the overall population increased very fast to the economic influx spurred on by the oil and gas industry. The town had a population of 170,693 people, according to 2012 estimates. History Early history Rock paintings and other archeological evidence indicate that people were living in the area during the Stone Age, from about 9,000 BC. It is believed that climatic change displaced these prehistoric peoples, as it later displaced Roman and Byzantine settlements. The town's location was noted in Roman records on a plateau called Tizgrarin. The inhabitants refused to submit to the Byzantines and convert to Christianity, and resisted paying tribute or taxes to the empires which followed, who sometimes called it a "rebel city". Medieval and pre-colonial history In the 14th century, Ibn Khaldoun reported the existence of a walled town which housed a faction of the "laghouat" tribe (called laghouat-ksel ), a branch of the Berber tribe of the Maghraouas. Over time, the majority of these peoples migrated westward, leaving only two factions in the city: the Berber-descended Sargins and the Ahlaf ("alliance") clans of Arabs. Various nomadic peoples also populated the town at times. In the 1650s the Moroccans established nominal control over the city, and in 1708 they sent out an expedition to create a tributary in Laghouat. The region was taken from the Moroccans, and became a tributary of the Deylik of Algiers in 1727. Other than occasional conflicts they regularly paid tribute annually of biannually to either the Bey of Oran, or the Bey of Titteri until 1828. French occupation The due tribute payment was cut short in 1830, as the Deylik of Algiers collapsed in 1830 following the French invasion of Algiers. Laghouat was a center of resistance against French colonial rule from 1831 under Sheikh Moussa Ibn Hassen El Misri. In 1852, France