Under the bey Mohammed el-Kebîr the town was erected into the capital of the province of W. Algeria; but in consequence of the earthquake, the interminable wars, and its entire separation from the inland regions during the centuries of the Spanish occupation, Oran had declined so lamentably that when it was occupied by French troops in 1831 it scarcely numbered 4000 inhabitants. Its rapid recovery since that period has been due to its favourable situation, its proximity to the Spanish coast and to the rich inland district of Tlemcen, and particularly to the extension of the Algerian railway system as far as the Sahara and to the promotion of trade with Morocco by the opening of free marts at Lalla-Marnia (p. [197]), Aïn-Sefra (p. [202]), and Beni-Ounif de Figuig (p. [203]).
a. The Harbour and the Old Town.
The Harbour (Pl. B-D, 1, 2), 72 acres in area, is bounded on the E. side by the Quai Ste. Thérèse, 330 yds. long, and is sheltered on the N. by the Grande Jetée or Jetée du Large, a pier 1200 yds. in length, with a lighthouse at the end (Phare; Pl. D, 1). The shallow Vieux Port (Pl. B, C, 1, 2), now the S.W. bay of the new harbour bounded on the N. by the Quai Bougainville, was the harbour of the Moorish and Spanish periods. The rapid increase of the shipping trade (now exceeding 4 million tons annually) is being met by the construction of an outer harbour (Pl. D-G, 1, 2). The chief imports are sugar, coffee, rice, English coal, timber, petroleum, candles, and paper; the chief exports wine, grain, flour, fruit, early vegetables, alfa, ‘crin végétal’ (dwarf-palm fibre), tobacco, cattle, hides, wool, marble, and onyx.
From the Douane (Pl. B, 2) the Rue d’Orléans (Pl. B, C, 2; tramway No. 1, see p. [176]) ascends in a curve, skirting the Quartier de la Marine and the Quartier de la Calère, the Spanish quarters, to the upper part of the town. Halfway up, to the right, on the parapet of the small Place d’Orléans (Pl. B, 2) are seen the Spanish Armorial Bearings (1789).
Beyond the Palais Consulaire (Pl. 8, C 2; Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Court) the street reaches the two chief squares of the old French part of the town, the Place de la République, with the Fontaine Aucour (Pl. C, 2; concerts, see p. [177]), and the Place Kléber (Pl. C, 3). Adjoining the latter is the Boulevard Malakoff (Pl. C, 3), constructed over the vaulted channel of the Raz el-Aïn (p. [177]), with a fine avenue of planes.
On the S.W. side of the Place Kléber, between Boul. Malakoff and Boul. Oudinot, rises the Préfecture (Pl. C, 3), the seat of the provincial government.
The Boul. Oudinot leads to the Magasin du Campement (Pl. C, 3; military stores; adm. by leave of the military authorities), in the garden of which we perceive the minaret of a Mosque (about 1800) dedicated to Sidi el-Hawâri, the chief saint of Oran.
The Rue Larrey leads past the E. side of the military stores to a terrace above the harbour-quarter, on which rises the—
Church of St. Louis (Pl. 12; C, 2), an unimportant edifice of 1839, whose choir-niche is a relic of the Spanish church of the time of the Count of Montemar (p. [178]). The Wall of the Rue de Berlin (Pl. C, B, 2), which leads hence to the Porte du Santon (p. [182]), is of Spanish origin.
We return to the Boul. Oudinot and glance at the Quartier de la Kasba, the oldest quarter of Oran, lying on the hill-side below the Kasba (Pl. B, C, 3; adm. on application at the guard-house), the old citadel. The old Moorish castle on this site was succeeded in the 16th cent. by the Spanish Castillo Viejo, the nucleus of the Spanish fortifications, and now occupied by French barracks. Above the Porte d’Espagne, a side-entrance at the end of the narrow Rue du Vieux-Château (Pl. C, 3), are still seen the arms of Spain.