Batna ([bat.na], Arabic: باتنة‎‎ Bātna) is a former French département in Algeria. The département of Batna existed between 1957 and 1974. Considered as an integral piece of French territory, Algeria was departmentalised on 9 December 1848, and thereby was administratively structured in the same way as metropolitan France. Three civil zones (départements) replaced the three beyliks into which the Ottoman former rulers had divided the territory. The easternmost of the three original Algerian departments was called Constantine. For over a century the town of Batna, was a sub-prefecture in the département of Constantine: this changed in 1957.