The toponym of Tizi-Ouzou has been translated into French by Col des Genêts. It is, in fact, to the abundance of this thorny shrub, with yellow flowers, on the pass and its surroundings that the city owes its name.
The wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou occupies an area of 2,957.93 km² and has 1,190,176 inhabitants (2015). About a hundred kilometers east of Algiers, it is limited to the north by the Mediterranean, to the east by the wilaya of Bejaia, to the south by the wilaya of Bouira and to the west by the wilaya