Cherchell

thumb|250px|right|The port of Cherchell thumb|250px|right|Cherchell bay with Mont Chenoua in the background thumb|250px|right|Road to the neighborhood of Tizirine thumb|250px|right|Archaeological Museum of Cherchell. Cherchell () is a town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, west of Algiers. It is the seat of Cherchell District in Tipaza Province. Under the names Iol and Caesarea, it was formerly a Roman colony and the capital of the kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania.

==Names== The town was originally known by a Phoenician and Punic name that included the element (), meaning "island". Yol is often attributed to the name of a local divinity of the sea as the word "Ilel / Yelel" in local etymology meaning sea in Tamazight This may have been , meaning "Island of Sand". The Punic name was hellenized as Iṑl (Greek language:Ἰὼλ) and latinized as Iol. The modern name Cherchel and Cherchell are French transcriptions of the berber word Šaršār (Achercher) to signify "Waterfall".