Tourist Offices. Lubin, Galerie Perez, Boul. Séguin; Syndicat d’Initiative, Hôt. de Ville (p. [180]); R. Heckmann, Place de la République 7.
Consuls. British Vice-Consul, Thos. A. Barber, Quai Ste. Marie 4 (Pl. B, 2).—U. S. Consular Agent, A. H. Elford, Rue Charles Quint 14.
French Prot. Church (Temple; Pl. 13, C, 3), Rue de la Révolution; service on Sun. at 9.30 a.m.
Theatres. Grand Théâtre Municipal (Pl. C, 3), Place d’Armes; Théâtre-Casino (Pl. 14; C, 2), Rue Philippe; Cirque-Théâtre des Nouveautés (Pl. C, 4), Boul. National; Alhambra (Pl. D, E, 3), Rue d’Arzew 38bis.
Music (in winter, 4–5 p.m.). Sun., Promenade de Létang (p. [181]), near the Restaur. Aquarium; Tues., at the Cercle Militaire (p. [180]); Thurs. (fortnightly in both), Place de la République and Square du Palais de Justice; Sat., at the Hôpital Militaire (Pl. C, 2).—Concerts in the Salle Musicale (Pl. D, 3), Rue de Paixhans.
Two Days. 1st. In the forenoon, Place d’Armes (p. [180]), Grande Mosquée (p. [180]), Promenade de Létang (p. [181]), Old Town (p. [179]); afternoon, Belvédère (p. [182]) or Plateau du Marabout (p. [183]).—2nd. Forenoon, Mers el-Kébir (p. [183]); afternoon, Promenade des Falaises (p. [184]).—As to visiting the mosques, see p. [174].
Oran, Arabic Warân, the capital of the province of that name, with 110,000 inhab. (29,700 being foreigners, mostly Spaniards, 16,000 Mohammedans, and 13,200 Jews), is a strongly fortified place, the headquarters of an army corps and a torpedo-boat station, and has been an episcopal see since 1867. Next to Algiers it is now the greatest seaport and commercial place in Barbary. The town lies in 35° 44′ N. lat. and 0° 58′ W. long., on a bay of the spacious Gulf of Oran (p. [126]), between Jebel Santon (1043 ft.; p. [183]) on the W. and the Pointe Canastel (784 ft.; p. [184]) on the E. side. At the W. end the quiet streets of the old town, overlooked by the bare limestone rocks of the Pic d’Aidour or Montagne de Santa Cruz (1221 ft.), ascend the ravine of the small brook Raz el-Aïn or Oued Rehhi to the hill of the Kasba, the ancient Moorish castle. The modern industrial quarters lie to the E. of the hill of Château-Neuf and beyond the ravine of the Aïn Rouina, extending far over the plateau of Karguentah (about 250–390 ft.), a tableland which descends abruptly to the sea and slopes gradually to the S. E. down to the plain of the Daya Morselli and the Plaine du Figuier (p. [185]). The town is defended by several old forts of the Spanish period and by a number of modern coast-batteries, and, like most of the Algerian towns, is enclosed by a wall for protection against the natives. The chief suburbs outside the gates are Gambetta, St. Eugène, Lamur, and Eckmühl-Noiseux.
Oran is essentially a modern town, which is being extended and embellished with feverish zeal, but notwithstanding its French veneer it derives a certain individuality from the preponderating Spanish element in its population. The Mohammedan element is diminishing here even more rapidly than in Algiers. Owing to the scantiness of the rainfall the environs and their vegetation are quite African in character, and the neighbouring shotts, or salt-lakes, resemble those of the Hauts-Plateaux (p. [169]).
The Gulf of Oran, where the Portus Divinus (Mers el-Kébir, p. [183]) was the only Roman settlement, was unimportant in ancient times. Native tradition ascribes the foundation of the town of Oran to Moorish merchants of Andalusia in 902, but it was not till the late middle ages that the town began to thrive. After the rise of the kingdom of Tlemcen (p. [188]) Oran superseded the neighbouring ports of Rachgoun (p. [185]), Honeïn (p. [125]), and Arzew (p. [199]) as the chief staple of the W. Algerian coast, its trade being chiefly carried on by Italians.
Jealous of the successes of Portugal in Morocco (p. [96]), and eager, after the capture of Granada (p. [75]), to carry their crusade against Islam into African territory, the Spaniards sent an expedition against Melilla (p. [124]) in 1496, while the all-powerful Card. Ximenez, archbishop of Toledo, proceeded to attack the Ziyanides (p. [188]). In 1505 Mers el-Kébir, which had been twice occupied by the Portuguese in the 15th cent., was attacked and after a brave defence captured, and in 1509, on a second expedition, Oran fell into the hands of the cardinal. Thenceforth Oran formed the base of the further campaigns of the Spaniards, who in their victorious career soon captured all the important towns on the seaboard as far as Tripoli, and penetrated inland to Tlemcen. The Spanish governors succeeded in defending Oran against all the attacks of the barbarescos down to 1708, when the Bey Bu-Chlar’em bombarded the Spanish forts from Jebel Murjajo, captured them, and slew the entire garrison. A Spanish army under the Count of Montemar gained a brilliant victory over the Moors at Aïn et-Turk (p. [184]) and recaptured the town in 1732, but the Spaniards soon found themselves again overmatched by their enemies. In 1790 the town was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, and in 1792 the Spaniards at length withdrew their garrison.