History
Oran was founded in 903 by Moorish Andalusi traders but was captured by the Spanish under Cardinal Cisneros in 1509. Spanish sovereignty lasted until 1708, when the city was conquered by the Ottomans. Spain recaptured the city in 1732. However, its value as a trading post had decreased greatly, so King Charles IV sold the city to the Turks in 1792. Ottoman rule lasted until 1831, when it fell to the French.
During French rule over Algeria, Oran was the capital of a département of the same name (number 92). In July 1940, the British navy shelled French warships in the port after they refused a British ultimatum to surrender which was designed to ensure the fleet would not fall into German hands. The action increased the hatred of the Vichy regime for Britain but convinced the world that the British would fight on alone against Nazi Germany and its allies. The Vichy government held Oran during World War II until its capture by the Allies in late 1942, during Operation Torch.
Before the Algerian War, 1954–1962, Oran had one of the highest proportions of Europeans of any city in North Africa. However, shortly after the end of the war, most of the Europeans and Sephardic Jews living in Oran fled to France. A massacre of Europeans, four days after the vote for Algerian independence, triggered the exodus to France. In less than three months Oran lost about half its population.
| Start year | End year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 910 | 1082 | Oran became a perpetual object of conflict between the Umayyads of Spain and the Fatimides of Kairouan. |
| 1082 | 1145 | Presence of Almoravides. In 1145, Ibrahim ibn Tashfin perished in Oran while fighting against the already victorious Almohades troops in front of Tlemcen. |
| 1145 | 1238 | Presence of Almohades. 1147 marked the beginning of persecution against Oran's Jews. |
| 1238 | 1509 | Presence of the Zianides of Tlemcen and then the Marinid dynasty of Fes. The protection by the Emir, the customs system (tariffs), trade with Marseilles, and the Italian Maritime Republics of Genoa and Venice, with whom, in 1250, Oran signed a commercial treaty of forty year's duration, made the Oranians rich. So much so, that toward the end of the 14th century, celebrated Arab historian Ibn Khaldoun wrote the following, "Oran is superior to all other cities by its trade. It's a paradise for the unhappy one. Those who arrive poor in its walls, will leave it again rich." The city excelled in the exportation of lead, wool, skins, fine burnous, carpets, haïks, cumin, nuts, and galls, without forgetting the draft of black slaves. |
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