BONA, Bone, seaport of Algeria, in 36° 52' N., 7° 48' E., on a bay of the Mediterranean, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Constantine, 220 m. by rail west of Tunis, and 136 m. N.E. of Constantine. The town, with modern ram parts outside the Arab wall, is in the coastal plain of Bona at the foot of the wooded gneissose Edugh. Its general character now is that of a flourishing French city, but some streets are very steep. At the northern end is the quasi-Byzantine cathedral of St. Augustine. The Grand Mosque is built out of ruins of the ancient Hippo. The Kasbah (citadel) stands on a hill north east of the town. The inner harbour, covering 25 acres, has quays at which vessels drawing 22 ft. can moor. Beyond is a spacious outer harbour, built 1857-1868 and enlarged 1905-1907. Bona communicates with Marseilles direct and ranks after Al giers and Oran in Algeria. The port's shipping in 1925 reached 2,924,115 tons. It imports general merchandise and manufac tures, and exports especially phosphates, iron and zinc, but also barley, sheep, wool, cork and esparto. There are manufactories of native garments, tapestry and leather. The draining of marshes at the mouths of the Seybuse and Bujema rivers, which enter the sea to the south of Bona has improved the sanitary condition of the town, which has the advantage of abundant water from the Edugh hills. There are cork woods and marble quarries, and the valley of the Seybuse and neighbouring plains are rich in cotton and other agricultural produce. The population of the town of Bona in 1931 was Bona is identified with the ancient Aphrodisium, the seaport of Hippo Regius or Ubbo, but it derives its name from the latter city, the ruins of which, consisting of large cisterns, now re stored, and fragments of walls, are about a mile to the south of the town. In the first three centuries of the Christian era Hippo was one of the richest cities in Roman Africa. St. Augustine lived here as priest and bishop for 35 years. Hippo was captured by the Vandals under Genseric in 431, after a siege of 14 months, during which Augustine died. Only the cathedral, together with Augustine's library and mss., escaped the general destruction. The town was partly restored by Belisarius, but sacked by the Arabs in the 7th century. The place was named Hippo Regius (Royal) by the Romans because it was a favourite residence of the Numidian kings. Bona (Arabic annaba, "the city of jujube trees") was built by the Arabs, and the rulers of Tunis built the Kasbah in 1300. From the beginning of the 14th to the middle of the 15th century it was frequented by Italians and Spaniards, and in the 16th it was held for some time by Charles V., who strengthened its citadel. Thereafter it was held in turn by Genoese, Tunisians and Algerines. From the time of Louis XIV. to the Revolution, the French Compagnie d'A f rique maintained a very active trade with the port. The town was occupied by the French for a few months in 183o and reoccupied in 1832. Since then industrial growth has been rapid and has depended on the iron ores of Ouenza and the discovery (1883) of phosphate beds at Tebessa.